Slide scanning: I have a huge collection of 35mm slides that I would like to digitize or have someone digitize for me. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. Should I buy a...

Outdoorsafe Loc: Colorado Springs

I have a huge collection of 35mm slides that I would like to digitize or have someone digitize for me. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. Should I buy a digitizer and if so which one do you recommend, or should I send my slides to a company that will do it for me and if so which one?

Peter

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Outdoorsafe wrote:

I have a huge collection of 35mm slides that I would like to digitize or have someone digitize for me. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. Should I buy a digitizer and if so which one do you recommend, or should I send my slides to a company that will do it for me and if so which one?

Peter

Peter, I'd first get a quote on what a scanning company might charge. Also, make sure you get an accurate bid on what they will provide.

Then check what a scanner would cost you. I'd recommend Epson. They make a great product. (I've been using one I purchased in 2001 or 2 and it's been trouble free). Compare the price of the scanner with the cost of having this done by a vendor. Also consider the amount of your own time you'd be investing, but also consider the care you'll put into doing this.
--Bob

Outdoorsafe Loc: Colorado Springs

Thanks much Bob - I appreciate you taking the time to respond

Peter

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Outdoorsafe wrote:

I have a huge collection of 35mm slides that I would like to digitize or have someone digitize for me. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. Should I buy a digitizer and if so which one do you recommend, or should I send my slides to a company that will do it for me and if so which one?

Peter

A dedicated film scanner sure be best, but they don't come cheap. If you decide to have a company do it for you, the most reasonable (cost) is probably ScanCafe (which on average charge about 23 cents for a 35mm slide or negative and around 85 cents for a medium format slide or negative. They will clean the material before scanning and that is incl. in the price. After scanning you will receive a DVD (or several - in case) with all your scans.

Outdoorsafe Loc: Colorado Springs

Thanks much - I appreciate the advice

Peter

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

I'm going to HAVE to do this too :-/
Keeping an eye on recommendations and issues to watch out for :-)

GT

Outdoorsafe wrote:

I have a huge collection of 35mm slides that I would like to digitize or have someone digitize for me. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. Should I buy a digitizer and if so which one do you recommend, or should I send my slides to a company that will do it for me and if so which one?

Peter

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I too recommend Epson. Recently I purchased a refurbished Epson V550 for just over $100 to scan my slides and negatives, and I've been very pleased with it.

Outdoorsafe Loc: Colorado Springs

Thanks for the tip

Peter

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I bought an Epson and was totally unsatisfied with it; I found that keeping the glass clean was a real issue, and I believe that glass was also causing some distortion. I am getting much, much better scans with my dedicated slide scanner made by Plustek, which puts nothing in the optic path the light goes through between the slide and the sensor. I also have an elderly dedicated scanner made by Nikon that works even better than the Plustek, but it requires old Win-XP software and SCSII hardware; these days I use it just enough to keep the lubricated parts from getting stiff (I might retire it, but the lamp on the Plustek doesn't seem to be up to the task of very dark media). Regrettably, Nikon has bowed out of this market; presumably they think that this is now a shrinking market.

BebuLamar

You can take pictures of the slides using a digital camera.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

BebuLamar wrote:

You can take pictures of the slides using a digital camera.

And on-line vendors used to sell devices which made it easy to "copy" a slide by taking a picture of it ... but I've never seen anything like that which provided anything of any quality at all. I always wonder whether the people who use lower quality copying methods also post process the quality pictures taken with their modern cameras.

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

I've been considering this option also.

It gives me the full resolution of my camera plus a raw file to work with.

Geez, I just did some quick math in my head.
It will take a LONG time to shoot all of them, not to mention the processing time!
I don't know if I'll be alive that long :-/

GT

BebuLamar wrote:

You can take pictures of the slides using a digital camera.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

GTinSoCal wrote:

I've been considering this option also.
It gives me the full resolution of my camera plus a raw file to work with.

And why on earth would you need a raw file??

The software that comes with a scanner will help you with some of the stuff that you would want to deal with in post processing. A badly scratched slide/neg may still need extra work, but scanners can often fix dust, scratches, etc before you ever get to the image. Likewise, some can deal with the fact that different slides /negs may have different optical qualities.

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

There is WAY more information in the raw than a converted jpeg.

I have found I always do a better job at dust and scratch removal than a scanner.

GT

rehess wrote:

And why on earth would you need a raw file??

The software that comes with a scanner will help you with some of the stuff that you would want to deal with in post processing. A badly scratched slide/neg may still need extra work, but scanners can often fix dust, scratches, etc before you ever get to the image. Likewise, some can deal with the fact that different slides /negs may have different optical qualities.

BebuLamar

It's not very easy to set up a good rig for copying slide with a camera. However, once you get the setup and setting down pat it's much faster than a scanner and really you don't really have to PP each slide differently.