SAVH Loc: La Jolla, CA

We are currently using the Covid-19 isolation period to try to organize our photos. A huge task. After 55+ years of marriage we have 54 old photobooks, some 10,000 slides, 10,000+ prints and over 46,000 digital photos. My current question is how to handle the slides. I looked at various slide viewers and most require one by one insertion with the caveat of most that the slides regularly get caught in the viewer and require extraction.
1. Does anyone have recommendations for simple slide viewers that don't jam regularly.
2. I reviewed several viewers that will digitize the slide onto a disk which seems to be the ideal solution. Has anyone had success with such viewers? In any case, it is going to require a one by one look at each slide to determine if it needs to be tossed or digitized to pass on to the kids and grandkids.
Suggestions and comments will be appreciated. I'm not currently interested in light tables which may, in the end, be a reasonable solution but if the viewing and digitizing works reasonably well, that sounds to be the most convenient.

Thank you.

Scotty

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

With the volumes you are talking of, purchasing a real scanner does make sense.

You will probably get a bunch of people recommending an Epson scanner. I faced a volume similar to yours - I did try an Epson scanner, but I noticed two issues
1. bright areas bled into dark areas.
2. surface imperfections were copied

I surmounted both issues by used a multi-scan unit. I purchased a refurbished Nikon slide scanner {no longer made} and a Plustek slide scanner. Both were better.

jwreed50 Loc: Manassas, VA

Withe the volume of slides you have, you will want a scanner that can do batch scans, and that pretty much limits you to the Epson scanners at present. The Plustek is a good scanner, but you have to manually advance each slide and scan them individually. The Epson slide holder will hold up to 12 slides at a time. I use the Epson V850 with Silverfast Ai Studio 8 software and have been getting excellent scans of old 35mm slides. Depending upon what scan settings you use, scanning a batch of 12 slides takes 20-30 minutes per batch on the Epson.

I know you said you were not interested in a light table, but I found that to be the best solution. I use a light table with a loupe and can quickly review a bunch of slides. My loupe has a slide holder, but it’s been faster and easier to simply lay the slides on the light table.

whfowle Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque

Good answers for digitizing the slides, however nobody has touched on his other question...a slide projector. I have the same question and have looked for answers all over the web. Found very little. My experience with projectors dates back to the 70's when I bought my only projector, a Leitz Pradovit. But on one of my many moves, it disappeared. Seems somebody wanted it more than me. Wish I still had it but have thought about the lack of replacement bulbs as being a problem. Wondering if anyone has any up to date experience using a slide projector and availability of replacement parts. Or is it a lost cause to try and view slides that way. Maybe just forget it and digitize them for viewing on a large screen TV.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Yes, it takes time to do it manually, but it can be done. It also takes time to go through the “PP” step to remove the surface problems left behind by the Epson. I did much of mine when I was still working. It all depends on what your priorities are and how much of a perfectionist you are. It can be done, and in my case, I chose to do it.

Richard West Loc: Finger Lakes Region in upstate NY

Look into a Nikon Super Coolscan ED5000 scanner. You’ll also want the bulk slide attachment for it. You can find them offered on eBay. Bulk unit can hold up to 50 slides at a time. I have the ED4000 model, which is the 5000’s slower predecessor, and the bulk feeder. Out of the box, the bulk feeder will jam with thin or warped slides, but after several modifications to it, I got mine to reliably transport the slides. Running Nikon’s software on Windows 10 proved to be a challenge, but I was able to find a solution on the internet to run the last version Nikon released. Nikon’s software has digital ICE and other features that are desirable and is very user-friendly.
The 4000 unit I have I bought off eBay. I found that there was “blooming” around the highlights and a general lack of sharpness to my scans when I first bought it. Turns out it was nothing more than a very dusty mirror causing the problems. I took it apart, cleaned the mirror and blew out the unit. Scans are now sharp and without the “blooming”. Got the unit specifically to do scans of long 35mm rolls and to handle bulk feed of 35mm slides. For slides that are warped or in mounts too thick to go through the 4000 I put them through my 8000 model which holds up to five slides at a time. As I have three generations of negatives and slides to archive, I’ve found working with these scanners to be easy and quick.
Cataloging is/will be done with a combination of Adobe Bridge CS6 and IDimager’s Photo Supreme v5 software, a digital asset management system.

crbuckjr Loc: Naples FL

I had a similar project a couple of years ago. I ended up with a process that worked well. We got a bottle of wine and ran the slides through a projector and fairly quickly selected the 20% worth keeping. I then sent those off to ScanCafe to be digitized. they then give you an option of deleting more before paying to have the remainder digitized.

Now I have all of them in Lightroom.....and have to do something with them!!

Good luck with your project!

SoTexPhoto Loc: Kerrville, Texas

I too had “a lot” of slides. I too discovered Scancafe and investigated. They said you don’t have to pre-select, just send them everything. Once scanned they send you a link and you can view them and delete them. Then they only charge for those kept. I have ever slide on two dvds. And the dvds arrive in a box with all your originals. Worked for me.

webbsk8r

Okay - I just finished "processing" 1,800 slides that I inherited from my Dad. Here's what "processing" means: I have a GAF slide projector with several (6) 100-slide carousels, a tripod, a remote release for my Nikon and a Nikon D600 camera. I set up the projector on a wooden dinner tray (very stable) and mount the Nikon on a tripod that I position as close to the projector as possible for an almost straight-on shot. The projector has a forward/reverse wired remote control and I can photograph all 100 slides in less than 1/2 hour. Sometimes it takes longer as some of the slides are over-exposed or under-exposed and that's when I have to adjust the ISO sensitivity - that's easier than it sounds. I shoot the slides in manual mode and have a button on the front of the camera that lets me change the ISO (Light amount) on any slide that needs it. After I finish photographing a carousel's worth of slides, I take the SD card and use a photo editor called PhotoScape X (Totally free) and edit each slide. I have it down to about 5 steps in the software to edit a slide from start to finish which takes about 30 seconds. It's not perfect but it works and does it fast. You can opt for another process using a cell phone app called SlideScan that works pretty well but costs 5.99 a month that works on one slide at a time. I can provide pointers if anyone is interested . . and I am not a professional photographer.

SAVH Loc: La Jolla, CA

To all who have responded so far, Thank You very much. I was hoping someone might have used or have a comment on the small machines that view and digitize the slides. I have looked at the Epson scanners and thought that may be the answer but they are rather pricey for just this project. I agree that setting up a light table and viewing groups of slides with a loupe may be the quickest way to weed out the obvious rejects.

Scotty

wicook Loc: Alberta, Canada

I've tried a couple of the small viewer/digitizers and found that they give poor results. The images that I've digitized are pretty washed out and blurry (the slides are higher quality than the scans). My next project will be to build a small frame to hold the slides, an extension tube on my 55mm lens, and use a daylight LED bulb (13 watt) to illuminate the slides from behind.

sabfish

I second Scancafe. With a huge number of slides, it is IMHO the way to go.

bob socks

I use SlideScan from Photomyne
https://photomyne.com/blog/slidebox

aberthet Loc: San Clemente, CA

I checked Sancafe prices for digitizing slides. At $0.25 per slide, if the OP decides to have them digitize his 10,000 slides collection, it would cost him $2,500 for the job.

The OP was also asking about slide viewers (projectors) that don’t occasionally jam. From my experience, to an extent, they all do especially if you are using cheap trays and/or old distorted slides.
The Kodak Carousel was one of the best slide projectors, as long as you are using the original Kodak carousel trays, or the 2”x2” inline trays. Also avoid going back and forth to often when projecting your slides. I am talking about the familiar “go back, go back” exclamation from your audience, is an almost sure way to cause a jam. This request may come mostly from the ladies in your audience. Ladies are very conscientious of the way they look in pictures, and if the picture shows an unflattering representation of them, you will be promptly asked to trash the slide :-)

I don’t think any brand-new slide projectors are made anymore. I saw a used Kodak Carousel 4200 in good condition for $440 on Amazon.

sabfish

That price for a Carousel is outrageous! I gave one to charity when I digitized my slides. Boy was I dumb!

Your point is well taken about the cost of digitizing 10,000 slides. On the other hand, how long would it take to scan and clean up 10,000 slides? I calculated that if total time per slide, including loading them in the scanner, the time to actually scan the slide and then cleaning them up with software is 10 minutes per slide, it would take 1,666 hours! If you spent 10 hours a day doing that it would take you 166 days, or roughly 1/2 a year doing nothing but that.