Digitized Media - Scanning 35mm Slides

I assume you want the 35mm slides to be scanned? Dedicated slide scanners are expensive

Some desktop scanners have the option to scan slides with a plastic adapter. The light source is in the lid as opposed to the typical light in the tray. Some people have made their own slide scanner just by placing the light source on the lid and scanning as normal with the tray light disabled. I am a purist though and don't like glass between the film and the scanning sensor, so I recommend you use the glass free dedicated slide scanner.

All scanning is generally done at the highest resolution and must be capable of several scans of the one slide that are then merged together to reduce noise artifacts and increase clarity. Merging is done at 50% transparency for two images of the one slide and 25% for four images if scanned without software and merged with Photoshop or similar...but that is a different story.

If this is a one off job, best option is to use a shop that will drum scan your slides.

Don't get second hand dedicated film scanners and if you must spend some money on one, nothing under 4000dpi resolution is satisfactory and go with the brand names such as Epson, Canon and Nikon. Avoid Plustek and Microtek cheapies at all costs as their globes and software suck big time.

Scanner purchased new must have scanning software (full version and not a lite one) and have abillity to do a multiple scan of the one slide and automatically merge those scans to the one file for noObs.

Software such as Vuescan, DiMAGE scan and Silverfast (the best) are ones to get packaged with your scanner.

...this was just an intro as I was not sure what you were wanting

Used to be you could go into Kinko's and get slides printed to paper that looked right good for 2.50 a print on eight by 11 paper.

For what you want to do there probably isn't any inexpensive way to get it done.p] Slides are pretty much not at all used for any amateur work, and less and less for professional work, where they held sway long after amateurs abandoned them.

What you might do is load a slide projector and project the slideshow to be videoed by a digital camera, and then transfer the show to a disc, or onto a computer.

This is an inexpensive solution that does not typically give great image quality, but does offer the option of narrative given out of the audience.

: I'm having a senior moment trying to remember by what process reversing the image becomes a problem.

Anyway my suggestion is you digitally film the "Del the cat" slideshow, as likely least expensive. It may well also have enhanced value if the audience provides significant information, like who is in the picture, and what happened then, and is the case now.

Digitizing slides to preserve and view is a requirement felt by most people. I would presume that your Big Sis herself or someone in the family must be a serious amateur or a professional photographer to be shooting slides. Cheapest method will be to copy the slides using a semi-pro digital camera. This dose not give you the quality of a proper scanner though, but is more than sufficient for the purpose. Few slides that are really important, can be drum scanned by paying a hefty amount to the Lab.

Copying slides is really much simpler than most people would imagine.

Onkar Singh.

The service to have it done is expensive not because it is technically challenging but because most people don't own the hardware. I used to work in the printing industry and I spent some time scanning slides; it was utter drudgery. I should have charged ten bucks a slide, but it was for a co-worker so I did it on the cheap. Hours of insert a slide, press the button, insert a slide, press the button. By the end of eight hours of that I wanted to pound a nail into my skull.

Anyway, if that was enough of a hard sell for you, the prices on slide scanners have come down considerably. I haven't tried any of these new-fangled contraptions, but here's a reasonably priced consumer model:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4689422&CatId=297

It's US$79.99, which I believe in English money is 45 guineas, a farthing and a partridge in a pear tree, quite a bargain since ten years ago you'd about have to sell your pedigree.

Still cheaper solution would be, project slides on screen and take photos on digital camera mounted on the stand, down load pics on picasa. Have nice viewing.

Suresh Sharma.

That could end up being the solution, except my Dad's old projector is hidden away in the loft and probably has fossilised by now.
Del

Hey Del,

You can hire projector it is available with AV people for hiring.

Suresh Sharma.

I'm Del the cat's Big Sis – here's more detail about the 35mm slides; between us we have several hundred of these dating back to 1960s when they were 'The Next Big Thing'. We would like digital copies so they can be e-mailed between us and decisions made – which ones are rubbish, which have high amusement value and which are real gems? Ideally the scanner would give us good copies of the gems.

several hundred of these dating back to 1960s ...

– which ones are rubbish, which have high amusement value and which are real gems?

I would say that all are real gems!

The HP scanner I use at work has a slide/negative carrier built in to the lid. I haven't used it for slides but it did a pretty good job of copying some negatives. I think the software even managed to reverse the colours.

I don't think you can buy this model now but it might be worth looking at the current version.

There used to be a contraption that attached to the front of an SLR camera that could be used to take a photograph of a slide; say a colour print and negative was wanted from a colour slide then all one had to do was attach this to the front, lob an extension tube in between the lens and the body, point it at a diffuse light source, and then snap away. Just substitute a digital SLR for a chemical-imaging one and "robert is your mother's brother".

Surely a top-end photo shop would have access to these things? Is there one in Harlow?

What about eBay (usual disclaimer)?

Heres a cheap version. As long as you consider $120 cheap.

http://www.heartlandamerica.com/browse/item.asp?product=digital-film--slide-converter-with-lcd-screen&PIN=80359&GUID=3A999975-06AC-4CDC-B71C-DDDA457B6883&BC=S&DL=SEH1

That's the thing! (#13)

scanners come in 2 versions, general scanners which can scan transparencies ( and of course negatives, both B&W and color ) of various sizes Plus documents, or specialized scanners for doing slides and film strips ( or negative strips ). As for document type (flat bed scanners ) they range from about 300 to 2000 dollars depending on size and features, specialized film scanners are available for as little as 100 dollars and UP! again depending on your needs and how big a print you want to make from the scanned images. I suggest B&H or Adorama in NYC or possibly try cyberguys ( www.cyberguys.com ) their site lists a scanner for 35 mm which produces 5 Mpixel Rez. This should be adequate unless you need to make large prins and need higher rezs (NOTE if you have a Digital cam you can buy a slide copier device and copy them using the digitial cam. ) good luck

Hi All,

Please just read what Del has asked for:-

They seem to come in two flavours, expensive and very expensive.
Anyone got the low down on these suckers?

Del

He does not want to spend money on new scanners but needs cheaper solution.

Suresh Sharma.

Hi Del,

I bought a Canon flatbed scanner about 3 years ago for $150 or so. Sorry don't recall the model number but it's something like CanoScan6200(?). It scans slides using a nifty little slide holder located in the top cover. Works like a charm unless you want to print the results in anything larger than 8 x 10 format.

Grae

Here in Mumbai the photo studios scan a film roll of 36 photos and charge Rs. 100(A little over $2) for the CD with scanned photos. The size of photographs is between 1 and 2MB for color photos. This works out cheaper than printing the photographs.

Do you consider this cheap?

If I may be so bold (been there and done that but no T-Shirt with scanning old slides!), buy a good "Automatic" slide scanner for on ebay. One that is still sold.

Get at least two slide holders, mine takes 4 (or is it 5) slides at a time and feeds them thru automatically. So I reload the other one while scanning.

Really good ones use the slide carriers from good projectors and can scan say 100 slides without any assistance.......wonderfull!!!

Make sure it has an ICE function that helps when scratches or dirt is on the slides.....accept nothing that does not have ICE (whatever it means, I have forgotten for the moment!).

It should have at least 2,500 DPI, more is better. Mine does 5,000 DPI, the results were really good, it was an old Acer automatic.....€110 on ebay.

When you have scanned in all your slides, sell it on ebay......you may even get more than you paid for it!!!

Flatbed scanners are very second best, no matter how good it appears to be.....also most of them do not have the ICE function as far as I am aware either. Mine was cheaper than a good flatbed and had better DPI as well......