35mm slides to digital (Page 3): Thank you so much for your instructions. This is what I had planned to do after I retired next year.

ALam

Thank you so much for your instructions. This is what I had planned to do after I retired next year.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

ALam wrote:

Thank you so much for your instructions. This is what I had planned to do after I retired next year.

Well, you do have lots of options. I have used scanners and cameras, and found that if you use good equipment and good technique, either will get the job done. I prefer the camera method — capture is quicker and the whole process is less costly.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Architect1776 wrote:

What are the size of the files?

Digmypics sends both TIFF and JPEG
TIFF and JPEG are both 10.91 x 7.167 @ 300PPI. 40.3 MB opened. File size Closed JPEG 3.84 MB and Tiff 20.1. These are from kodak slides from the 1960's and 1970's. The earlier ones are square, then they move to a rectangular aspect ratio.

I imported 1,142 of both JPEG and TIFFS for a total of 2,284 images, into Lightroom for further processing. That is where they reside now. I can use Topaz and Photoshop for processing. I did not calculate the time it would have taken for me to scan all of the slides, but I would have had to clean them, load them, scan them and that would have taken a long time. I just placed all of my slides in the box they provided, along with 8mm and Super 8 reels of film, sent it to them and got everything back on USB sticks and CD's a week or so later. I did not buy any equipment.

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

If you want to give them a quick review to sort out the keepers, take a photo of something white with your phone, adjust it as needed to make it white. Now you have a light box.
Give the slides a quick pass, sort out the keepers. Send them off to a scanning service.
If you have “lots” of time on your hands, buy a scanner.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Robertl594 wrote:

Digmypics sends both TIFF and JPEG br TIFF and JPE... (show quote)

Thx

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

coolhanduke wrote:

If you want to give them a quick review to sort out the keepers, take a photo of something white with your phone, adjust it as needed to make it white. Now you have a light box.
Give the slides a quick pass, sort out the keepers. Send them off to a scanning service.
If you have “lots” of time on your hands, buy a scanner.

Here you go. Download this, and save the download from your browser to your desktop. It is a perfectly white sRGB JPEG. I made it in Photoshop for the express purpose of turning a calibrated monitor into a light box to view slides!

I also use this to see dirt and smudges on my monitor so I can clean it properly.

Light Table.jpg — Click Download and Ctrl-click to download to your desktop.

(Download)

JBuckley

I have the same problem. My slide collection goes back to 1964 and the collection is around 2,000 slides of my entire life of travel and family.

To make it worse, I also have inherited my father's collection of slides, (He never bought film for prints).
That makes my problem of "which do I digitalize," and which ones to I just keep in the basement?

So, the collection of slides that I would like to keep, might be over 3,000 slides.
Fortunately, most of them are in great condition.

The days of [dragging out the slide projector], and sitting in the dark while we look into the 5x5 screen,
[are not fun anymore.] Besides, projector bulbs, now cost as much as we paid for the original Kodak or
Argus slide projectors.

......and then there are the 8mm and high 8mm movie reels......

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

I used Digmypics.com for all of my slides and my 8mm and Super8 film. I’m not sure if you can send them in the carrousel trays or not. I labeled each box with location and year, they created a folder for each.

sabfish

It is difficult to tell from your post how many slides you have. If you have thousands, the first step may be to use a lightbox and decide what is really worth keeping. Undoubtedly, many can be disposed of. If you are not planning to make high definition prints of the ones you keep, and don't want to buy a lot of equipment, I suggest you use a commercial scanning company. I used Scan Cafe and was very pleased with the results.

louparker Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

A kind of slow but the absolute cheapest way is after you select the slides you want to digitize use a slide copier attachment that you attach to a 50 or 55mm lens and "shoot" the image one slide at a time. That's what I did with a lot of my Kodachromes from the 1960's originally taken on my Asahi Pentax Spotmatic 35mm film camera. To digitize the slides I used my Pentax K10D and an old Pentax slide copier attachment mounted on the front of a 50mm lens (the slide copier will attach to any make of lens and work on any camera). I then did some correcting of the image in my photo editing program (ACDSee Pro) and have 16x20 prints and 24x36 canvases made from the final digitized slide and they are great -- very sharp, good accurate colors, etc., and look as good as original images shot with my DSLR.

swimweb1 Loc: Webster, NY

I bought one of these and then after I used it, have lent it to others: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1637237-REG/kodak_rodfs50_slide_n_scan_film.html?msclkid=38d02a942054156ba45e4f1e30b9c9c7

It is the: Kodak Slide-N-Scan Film and Slide Scanner

Just remember to blow off the dust from the slide before you scan it with any solution you use. I had to redo slides since I forgot to do that.

Bsimmonds Loc: Minneapolis

Thank you for your valued thoughts. I have a Pentax spotamatic so I’ll pursue your suggestions to see what I can dig up. Appreciate your comments

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

burkphoto wrote:

That was one of the few film scanners capable of pro level scans. Minolta's DiMage was another.

I got spoiled in the lab I worked for... I ran the scanning department of a school portrait lab, where we had half a million bucks' worth of Kodak Bremson HR500 and HR500+ scanners and the Kodak DP2 database lab engine to run them. What's really funny is that the camera setup I described in the paper linked above can yield similar results.

I hate to admit this but I have a brand new Minolta Dimage still in box with Silverfast software. Boxes and boxes of carousels stored in attic from Kodachrome, Velvia and Ektachrome days. How did we ever manage at ISO 25 and 64 with no digital editing. I am coming to realization I am more collector than user... Oh well. BTW, what do you think of GIMP ? Until I get my new LR/PS bundle I am not spending any more money. I downloaded and virus scanned it and will try it out today...

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Thank you very much Bill Burkholder for sharing your White Paper...
You, kind sir, are one of few reason's I even bother to check into UHH anymore...
And yes I concur that transparency copy via camera is indeed expedient and cost effective.
Besides I had a high value transparency damaged by a clueless commercial scanning service... Never again...

Wishing you much Joy and Continued Success on your career journey Bill.

btw, had to smile at your comments on the younger generation's mindset.
Working with many brilliant young aspiring fashion & beauty models who's enthusiasm is a priceless and precises gift in itself which keeps me keenly focused and on an even keel...

Team synergy latent on a commercial fashion/beauty set is an amazing thing, which likely so very few are actually aware of... each player from a multitude of disciplines bring there own expertise to the mix...

Cheers! and happy Holidays to all who practice in the Art and Craft of photography

bts with a 12 year old Beauty Genre Model aspiring to gain agency repersentation

(Download)

Model: @ariannaharrisofficial (Currently Unsigned); Make-up: @_sammyanthaa (resident MUA for Reston Studio); Hair Styling: @devonbaltimore (formerally with VOGUE NYC)

(Download)

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

MrBob wrote:

I hate to admit this but I have a brand new Minolta Dimage still in box with Silverfast software. Boxes and boxes of carousels stored in attic from Kodachrome, Velvia and Ektachrome days. How did we ever manage at ISO 25 and 64 with no digital editing. I am coming to realization I am more collector than user... Oh well. BTW, what do you think of GIMP ? Until I get my new LR/PS bundle I am not spending any more money. I downloaded and virus scanned it and will try it out today...

A {literal} attic is a lousy place to store slides - at least in the summer it is; the heat will speed up their “aging”. I scanned my slides basically as soon as I got a digital camera.

Incidentally, I use ‘gimp’ exclusively -both the Linux version and the windows version. I hear people have trouble with it, but, then, I’m a retired “software engineer”, so it was written by people who think like I do.