RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

That's probably the light, and the film used, when I shot the originals. Minimal PPing on the digital copies.

mdougc Loc: Sarver, PA

A few years ago, I bought a Canon CanoScan 9000F (~$150). It is a flat bed scanner with adaptors for film scans. It comes with frames to hold 35mm film (2 strips of 4 frames) and slides (4 slides). The software is excellent for fading, grain and backlight correction. Without the adaptor, it is excellent for scanning photo prints.
The driver software can be used in auto detect mode, which is only good for casual copies - for email or social media sharing.
If you really want to restore and save your stuff, you need to set up the parameters manually. This is not difficult, and generally, one setup is good for all film that shares film type and age.
In manual mode, you set:
1. Degree of dust, sharpness, fading, grain and backlight correction.
2. Specify negative or positive film.
3. Choose DPI resolution. Note that enlargement of an image is inversely proportional to perceived resolution. That is, if you scan a 35mm slide (24mm x 36mm, or roughly 1"x1.5") at 1200DPI, and enlarge the image to 4"x6", the perceived resolution will be 300DPI. If you want to enlarge more, or if you want to do serious editing or restoration (as with Adobe software) , you will need to scan at higher DPI.

I scanned slides that are about 60 yrs old, and was quite happy with the results. Mostly I used 2400DPI, but for the ones I intended to print and frame, I used 4800DPI.
I scanned film 100+ yrs old. For some of this, I used 9600DPI because I really needed to do some detailed repair work with Photoshop.
I also scanned prints that were even older, but DPI is useful only up to the quality of the print. But even with newspaper clippings, the results were way better that I had thought possible.
Bear in mind that increased DPI equates to increased scan time and file size: 4 slides @ 4800DPI will take 30-45 minutes, and 35MB per image.
Also, be prepared to equip with emulsion cleaner, lint free cloth, and cotton gloves (for handling without finger smudge).

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

Which film did you use, Richard?

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

Good tips, there, Doug ... and thanks for the recommendation on that scanner ... 35MB per slide, huh? ... Well - don't THAT beat all!!!!

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Would have been something quite fast (for the day). Maybe daylight high sped Ektachrome. It was long ago.

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

And I'll bet you thought 160 ASA was pretty damned fast, at the time, huh, Richard?

Now, that 51,200 ISO is the norm ... and a push to 3.2M is possible with at least - one DSLR ....

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

I had used faster B&W film, TRI-X, in my real early days.

In 2006 when I purchased my first DSLR, a Canon 350D (Canon Rebel Digital XT ), I thought ISO 1600 and an image stabilised (VR) lens was heaven.

ISO 1600 1/13 @ F5.6 hand held.

(Download)

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

I'll bet you did, Richard ....

Ooooh, isn't that quaint!!!

A restaurant with an outside patio, called Sherlock Holmes !!!! .... and all decked out for Christmas!!!!!

A Merry One to You, too, my friend ....

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Thanks - Seasons greetings to you and your family.

It's a London pub, in Whitehall area, and the image was shot in september (on a saturday night).
Notice the drinkers sitting in the laneway - we couldn't believe it.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

A bit, but worth it.

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

Oh, I see ... London, is it? ... Whitehall? ... never got out that way, much ...

I was pretty much in West and Southwest London ...

Yes ... a lady's sitting in a chair in the road - isn't she?

Merry Christmas to you and your lot, and all, Richard ...

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

What option are you considering?

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

Yup, most definitely, Bill ....

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

Dunno, Gene ... maybe get one of those CanoScan 9000F scanners with provisions for scanning slides .... got a better idea, Gene?

ecotypes

I used a 100mm macro lens and made a photo of each one. I used a gizmo that I attached to the camera that had a holder for a single slide -- I found it on the internet. I also used a light table behind it so that I got consistent light. It took about 30 seconds per slide. Cost was about $50 -- about 20 for the slide holder plus about $30 for the light table. You have to be very sure the light table has uniform light -- many of the less expensive ones do not. (it took me 2 tries to find one that works).

This is fast -- the most time consuming aspect is cleaning the slides -- dust gets on them even if they were properly stored.


There is a dedicated, modified, carousel system that is used by professionals that works essentially the same way but cost about $3500.