Scaning slides to digital

pedro526

Senior Member
I am looking for suggestions to scan slides to digital. My dad and I have quite a number of slides that we would like to make into digital images. Does anyone have suggestions on who can do this based on quality and price?

Thanks for your help!
 

LensWork

Senior Member
Quality scans can cost quite a bit ($10-$50 each). Low-res JPG scans can be had for less, but if you have a lot of slides to scan, and you want hi-res, quality scans, buy a scanner and do it yourself. You can get a decent film scanner for less than $300.
 

PhotoAV8R

Senior Member
My scanner came with a flat plastic widget that holds about 5 slides. The scanner cover has a cord that, when connected, illuminates the slides from above. The scanner software then recognizes that the source is slides and separates them into individual files.

It's an Epson, but it's pretty old - in technology terms, anyway. I think the max resolution is 1200 dpi, so the scanned slides probably wouldn't make for very good enlargements. They're good enough for prints, though.

Depending on what you want them for, you might look around at current scanners.
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
buy a scanner and do it yourself

I agree. That's what I did. My mom was a photographer and her slides and negatives date back to the 1940's. They're too precious to me to ship off to anyplace to have them scanned. I have an Epson Perfection and a Minolta Dimage and both do great. It's not that difficult a job and you can scan, restore, enlarge, do hi-res (provided your computer has enough oomph).

There are several places on the net that advertise scanning slides for 20-30 cents. But then there are additional costs for "restoration" and you have to wonder at what point does color correction become restoration in their eyes. The biggest drawback there as I see it is letting those "only copies" out of your hands.

IMHO

Best Regards
 

Sandpatch

Senior Member
I have the same quandary, having many slides that I'd like to scan and will not send out (a) for risk of loss and (b) for the expense. I find the current (09/2012) selection of 35mm Slide Scanners puzzling, as I've never heard of the ~$300 middleweight brands like Plustek and Pacific Image and read of poor image quality on the more affordable brands like Ion and Wolverine. I'm leaning toward a flatbed unit like an Epson V600 or Canon, but they are designed for full page scans and consume a lot of desktop real estate. I once had a splendid little pre-USB HP Photosmart scanner that was expressly designed for 35mm slides and negative strips, but it's now hopelessly obsolete and very tired.

Can any of y'all recommend a decent quality 35mm slide scanner that's affordable? :confused: Digital ICE (Digital Image Correction and Enhancement) seems to be a desirable feature in reviews I've read. Thank you.
 
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AxeMan - Rick S.

Senior Member
A while back I had Wal-Mart 1 hour photo put some slides on a CD for me. It's been a while and don't remember the cost, but I did have all my slides and disk back the same day. I didn't care about the quality that much, I just wanted to get them on a disk before something happens to them or they got missed placed.

Something you might want to look into.
 

Sandpatch

Senior Member
Thanks guys -- I'll check those options out and see what's there. Yesterday I found a mirrored box in my Dad's stuff, designed for a projector to shoot an image in one end and have it reflected 45 Deg. onto a diffused screen for a camera to shoot on the other end. Today's experiments weren't too successful -- I lose a lot of sharpness and evenesss of exposure. If I could use my D5100 to record the images, I'd have phenominal resolution. An experiment shooting an image on a screen failed for lack of sharpness, but the overall exposure held up pretty well.
 
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