Scanning Slides - What do you do?

You can get them scanned at some photo places like Kodak etc but I don't think Hardly Normal or such could do them. It depends on how many you have as to whether your own scanner or 'contracting' out is more economical. Google 'slide scanning' for more options.

Bob Hi,
Had literally hundreds of 35mm slides. About 3/4years ago after a bit of research, settled on a Canon MP970 printer/scanner. Has proven to be an excellent printer and the scanning function is first class. Not the cheapest option but!!!
You would need to check with Canon re the current models, HP and Epsom are also good equipment.
Hope this helps.
Mike.

Hi Bob,

We rigged up a homemade "thingy" which worked a treat for the relatively few slides that we needed to scan. Found a plastic lid of the right size to just slip onto the front of the lens, (admittedly we were using a mount that came with some other lenses) cut a slide shaped hole in it and slots to hold the slide, put the camera on macro setting, point the camera at a uniform light source eg bright overcast sky (not blue sky) - and that was it.

Some of our slides had deteriorated and we were able to correct this a bit by using our standard photo editor (XnView - free to download). We also cropped off the edges of the slide mount etc this way.

We use the cameras for most scanning tasks these days, including copying colour prints - easier than a scanner and good resolution.

Cheers,

Val

Hi Bob - I think the quality of the outcome depends on the quality of Slide.

I purchased a very economical 'QPix' digital scanner from Officeworks and scanned my slides and negatives (4 at a time) with mixed results - but those in good condition are great in reproduction.

Keep in mind that batches of Kodak negs were quite varied in colour back in the 70's - some varied from emphasis on reds to greens - I figure depending on how often the solutions were changed - bit like changing the cooking oil for fish 'n chips I guess.

The product came with little in the way of instruction, but after a bit of experimentation, I found the gadget quite useful.

Have over a hundred odd scans turning over on the screen saver these days and quite enjoy them.

Your pic appears to be on Carlton or Ivanhoe - if that is Carlton Hill in the background. Great country.

Good luck.

Regards - Phil

G'day Bob

I bought an Otek digital film and slide scanner fS-501-S. Around $80 from memory. Have had good results thus far on a limiyed sample of about 20. As others have said, imperfections show up, but clarity and colour have been good.

Cheers
John

As mentioned above, the top end Canon multifunctions with the slide scanning lid do a terrific job.

Image Could Not Be Found

Photo taken in 1977 in PNG.

Flares, beard, OMG !!

G'day Bob
I too had/have a bunch of slides to digitise. Did a lot of research and a fair bit of head scratching. Forgetting the top end dedicated slide scanners, most of which aren't made any more, there is still a lot of difference between the bottom end and the middle of the range in price and quality.

There ain't no cheap and easy way to get slashing scans in no time at all. What you need depends on the end quality of the files you want and what you want to do with them. If you just want digital copies you can store and maybe print small versions of, then a basic scanner or multifunction device will do. At the other end of the scale if you want poster size prints then you need a high resolution and high quality flat bed scanner built with photography as a primary rather than incidental concern.

The quality of the outcome will also depend on a bunch of other things like careful setup of each scan, the quality of the scanning software and how much time you are prepared to spend with post scan processing.

FWIW I decided 1) to be very discerning in what I chose to scan 2) to scan at medium/high resolution and 3) to get the best of bunch, the one or two in a roll of film shots, scanned professionally as and when I wanted to print biggies.

With all that in mind I chose an Epson V600, used the proprietary scanning software and Lightroom to post process and manage the files. Your mileage may vary. Managing the files as a database is an important part of the deal. Otherwise you get a large digital mess that is a copy of the analogue jumble.

Cheers
Mark

This is a copy of a half frame slide taken in April 1970 using a home made holder and compact fluro in front of a digital camera.


(West of Coward Springs, on the way to Billa Kalina)
I have just purchased a commercial version of the same thing, but not used it yet......

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Hi Bob Y.
WE use a CanoScan 8800F and achieve great results with mounted 35mm (or half frame) slides, negative filmstrip or any printed images.

Have a look at the Canon site

It comes with Included Accessories and Software
• USB cable (USB 2.0 Hi-Speed certified type) • AC adaptor • Film guide for 35mm filmstrip • Film guide for 35mm mounted slides • Film guide for 120 roll film • CD-ROM (includes ScanGear CS 10.2, CanoScan Toolbox 4.8, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0, and Scanning Guide for Windows and Macintosh; ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5, ScanSoft OmniPage SE, and other software for Windows; ArcSoft PhotoStudio 4.3, ScanSoft OmniPage SE 1.0 for Macintosh)

I also have commercially available screw on lens adapters for mounting slides directly in front of digital SLR's - and went to the trouble of constructing a number of different light sources. The results were of varied success, but the Canoscan results are consistently good. Highly recommended.

Hi Bob,

I went down this path a couple of years ago and ended up buying a Nikon Coolscan 5000 scanner from the US with a slide feeder. Reason was that I wanted to scan mine and my dads old slides which add up to around 2500 slides. Buying a scanner that just holds a few of slides was never going to do it (time wise) and getting someone to scan them was going to cost close to the cost of bringing the scanner in.
I now have them all done and will be doing some friends slides soon.

How many slides do you want scanned? This will determine what path you go down. If its not a lot then the canon mentioned earlier will fit the bill. It holds 4 at a time and does the dust and scratch removal. Not sure though if it will restore faded slides though. Some have software that do and some don't.

Some of my scanned slides can be viewed here: http://bretthampson.smugmug.com/Slidescanning

The old navy ones are from the early 60's I believe and are kodachrome. Dust and scratch removal doesn't work as well for kodachrome and they need to be treated a little different by the software. So that would be another thing to check on the scanner if you have kodachrome slides. If you could see what those slides looked like originally you would be amazed at the difference.

Brett

Hi Bob,

Jaycar have some film scanners which are usb gizmos.
They are $45 at the moment Jaycar scanner

I have seen one recently for around $140 but I cannot remember where it was. It was in a flyer that I had but have since sent to the rubbish bin

They have another unit there also which is dearer.

Cannot give any advice on these units as I have not used them.

Like others I have a cannon D 1250 U2F flatbed with slide facility which cost over $300 many years ago.

Cheers, Bruce.

Everyone,

Many thanks for the valuable replies & follow-ups, to my post.

There's so much info here now I might have to print the thread out, and reflect on it at my leisure. Thanks for all your thougths, suggestions, and the photos. Especially the photos. There is so much talent within the EO family!!!

I am off this morning, for next 10 days, to drive Garry the Grader around some beautiful Diamantina country, so will be without phone and internet for that time. Except for the Irridium, to ring the Bride every few days.

Stay safe,
Bob.

While there may be many "proper things" to do slide scans, there is absolutly nothing wrong with setting up a projector and photgraphing the image.

There are "propper things" to do film to video conversions, but I know several people who do these professinally ( some major production companies) and they video the image off a screen.

I have done quite a few 16mm to video coppies myself and have had blokes from up the hill ( commercial television stations) comment that I got better results than their multithousand dollar "propper things"

here are the tricks.

A good quality bright projector helps

a dark room, pitch black not needed

a reasonable sized screen that is clean and white about 2 feet by a foot and a half is good.....plain white paper or a clean white bed sheet works better than a high gain screen..or simply a flat wall painted mat white.

set up an focus the projector well and absolutly square on.

set up the camera on a tripod, as close as possible to the line of projection and with the lenses level or the camera slightly forward and frame it up accurately.

white ballance with blank film or an empty slide

Done well the results can be exceptional.

one reason is that you are working with large images and not trying to scan an image that is 20mm x 30mm.

For many of us this will cost diddly squat.

I know a couple of duplicating houses that had these permanently set up under the stairs or in a cupboard

cheers