Dunatic

I have thousands of Kodachrome slides taken over the past couple decades. I could have my local Walgreens scan and put the images on a CD. However, they charge around 33 cents a slide and the CD holds about 30 images. Also, the quality isn't good.

I'd like to know if anyone has a suggestion on what equipment I'd have to purchase to scan the images myself?

I have tried flatbed scanners and the quaity isn't good. Any help you can give me is appreciated. Thanks, Cheryl

ShakyShutter Loc: Arizona

This is the technical approach using expensive but good equipment. E-bay could be your friend on this project both for buying a scanner and selling it when you are finished.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/3000slides.htm

This is a much less expensive alternative for equipment. If you apply some of the information gained from the kenrockwell site to a purchase decision from the komando site you might be able to develop a solution.
http://store.komando.com/c-124-gadgets.aspx#converters

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

Greg Loc: Maryland

The quality you get out of the flatbed is going to depend on a few factors. First and foremost, the quality of the scanner. Secondly the effort you put into the scan. You aren't going to just pop a slide on a flatbed or put it in a high end slide scanner and get a great image out. It's going to take work, and depending on the degradation of the slide a lot of work to get a good image out. Make sure your image glass is clean. SQUEAKY clean. Look into getting a better film/slide holder such as the products sold here:
http://www.betterscanning.com/
Clean your source image. To get it really clean, you will likely need to remove it from the cardboard/plastic holder and mount into one of the carriers. Finally, after you have your image, you'll need to color correct (unless it's a really new slide, I'm sure the color has shifted with age) and do dust/scratch removal. This is time consuming. To convert all your slides and get good quality images is going to be an investment in money, time or likely both.

BBNC

Greg is right, your results will depend more on how much time is spent with setup, regardless of the method. A professional friend who had over 10000 slides to scan put me onto the Canoscan 9000F, about $200.00 at B&H. Does a great job, see photo.

It is not a drop the slide in and scan, you have to use the software to adjust the scanner and preview before final scan. Takes time, but the results are worth it. The picture is a more than 20 year old slide as scanned, except for cropping in Photoshop.

It's also a great flatbed scanner.

SunnyH53 Loc: Wyoming

Consider this ... you have thousands of slides. Are they all truly excellent photos? Do you really need to convert all of them or only a few hundred really good ones? I'm a compulsive-obsessive type and one of the hardest things for me to do is delete a photo that's just ok, or maybe has one good section I think I'll crop. But I've decided I really need to work at overcoming my packrat tendencies and to delete all but the excellent or historical photos. I'm finding I don't miss the mediocre, just ok and good photos.

If you can do this, the 33 cents per slide won't be such a huge expense for quality scans.

SunnyH53 Loc: Wyoming

oops ... sorry, missed the part about Walgreens quality not being good.

90healy

I think I can solve your problem. As a 90 year old photographer with 4000 35mm slides, I needed to get them on CDs . I purchased a stand alone V 300 Epson color scanner for $100 that scans four slides per scan and working full time, scanned the 4000 in two weeks. Using Google'sPICASA FREE photo software, edited each slide and loaded them onto CDs at a cost of quarter of a cent per slide . Once I finished, I sold the scanner for $50. Will provide you with more details if needed

Dunatic

You are correct and no they are not all worthy of saving on a CD. I, too, am a packrat with my photos and tend to not know where the delete key is located. Maybe I should reevaluate them and get it down to a couple hundred or less. Either way, I certainly can't afford to process all of them.

Dunatic

Thank you all for your comments and feedback. I really appreciate it. Cheryl

Dunatic

This is a beautiful photo and thanks for your input on my question. Cheryl

Dunatic

Wow, this seem the most affordable way to convert my slides. I do have some very special photos my father took from when he and my mother used to travel. He was quite the photographer and I look forward to scanning those slides. They are 50+ years old. I do use Picasa to edit my photos. I think that I will go on Ebay to see if I can find that scanner you mentioned.

Everyone has given me great suggestions. Thanks, Cheryl

Greg Loc: Maryland

The Epson line of scanners work well too. Also, download Polaroid scratch and dust removal software. It's free and does a remarkable job of eliminating dust and scratches. Works standalone and as a PS plugin.