Scanning 35mm slides to computer
Discussion
Asking the question for my mum.
She has hundreds of 35mm slides which obviously are a major faff to view.
She has asked in Jessops and they provided the service (to DVD) but it costs £45 for 100 slides then 45p per slide after that. We both reckon she'd get better value by buying the equipment to do it herself.
So, can anyone recommend a particular brand / model of whatever it is that would do that?
Thanks
She has hundreds of 35mm slides which obviously are a major faff to view.
She has asked in Jessops and they provided the service (to DVD) but it costs £45 for 100 slides then 45p per slide after that. We both reckon she'd get better value by buying the equipment to do it herself.
So, can anyone recommend a particular brand / model of whatever it is that would do that?
Thanks
From yesterday's thread :
I've been going through the family archives over past few years and have tried various different techniques. The fastest way I use is to use extension tubes or a macro lens and a negative/slide holder to take copies with a digital camera. The results are OK and I have printed at small sizes with no issues. The quality is better from slides than negatives.
For better quality I use a Nikon Coolscan 5, slides have to be done individually but negatives can be batched from a strip of negatives (up to 6 at a time).
I used to use a flat bed scanner (Epson Perfection 2450) which did a good job but gave softer results with less dynamic range than the Coolscan.
Here is a comparison between the flatbed and the Nikon
Epson 2450
Nikon Coolscan 5
Here's one using the extension tube method, not bad for the age of the slide!
Canon EOS 7D 24-105mm @ 70mm + extension tube, original Vito B, Kodachrome 64
I've been going through the family archives over past few years and have tried various different techniques. The fastest way I use is to use extension tubes or a macro lens and a negative/slide holder to take copies with a digital camera. The results are OK and I have printed at small sizes with no issues. The quality is better from slides than negatives.
For better quality I use a Nikon Coolscan 5, slides have to be done individually but negatives can be batched from a strip of negatives (up to 6 at a time).
I used to use a flat bed scanner (Epson Perfection 2450) which did a good job but gave softer results with less dynamic range than the Coolscan.
Here is a comparison between the flatbed and the Nikon
Epson 2450
Nikon Coolscan 5
Here's one using the extension tube method, not bad for the age of the slide!
Canon EOS 7D 24-105mm @ 70mm + extension tube, original Vito B, Kodachrome 64
I love that last one Number31. I have some shots in the family album that are not dissimilar and a whole load of slides fomr a broadly comparable era that I really should do something abot in terms of scanning.
The questions ir, though, what do we want them for?
SO as far as the OP's mother is concerned are these images meant to be potential wall hangers with artisitic merit or are they intended to be memory joggers for which absolute quality is not a necessity?
The answer to that will provide guidance about the best method to adopt. In particular how much time one might justify to commit to performing the task. Slides and negatives, in my experience, are a lot more time intensive tpo scan than scanning prints.
There is no easy answer to this question. Having a clear objective for the outcome should help. Maybe look at going through what is available and only picking about 100 images to scan would make sense? Scanning a mass of images is a truly brain numbing task and often very frustrating in most cases - one of the reasons why I still have a whole stack of slides and a few films that have not been looked at for several years.
The questions ir, though, what do we want them for?
SO as far as the OP's mother is concerned are these images meant to be potential wall hangers with artisitic merit or are they intended to be memory joggers for which absolute quality is not a necessity?
The answer to that will provide guidance about the best method to adopt. In particular how much time one might justify to commit to performing the task. Slides and negatives, in my experience, are a lot more time intensive tpo scan than scanning prints.
There is no easy answer to this question. Having a clear objective for the outcome should help. Maybe look at going through what is available and only picking about 100 images to scan would make sense? Scanning a mass of images is a truly brain numbing task and often very frustrating in most cases - one of the reasons why I still have a whole stack of slides and a few films that have not been looked at for several years.
LongQ said:
I love that last one Number31. I have some shots in the family album that are not dissimilar and a whole load of slides fomr a broadly comparable era that I really should do something abot in terms of scanning.
The questions ir, though, what do we want them for?
SO as far as the OP's mother is concerned are these images meant to be potential wall hangers with artisitic merit or are they intended to be memory joggers for which absolute quality is not a necessity?
The answer to that will provide guidance about the best method to adopt. In particular how much time one might justify to commit to performing the task. Slides and negatives, in my experience, are a lot more time intensive tpo scan than scanning prints.
There is no easy answer to this question. Having a clear objective for the outcome should help. Maybe look at going through what is available and only picking about 100 images to scan would make sense? Scanning a mass of images is a truly brain numbing task and often very frustrating in most cases - one of the reasons why I still have a whole stack of slides and a few films that have not been looked at for several years.
Sorry, I was in a hurry last night so just cut and pasted my answer from the previous thread without any explanation. The questions ir, though, what do we want them for?
SO as far as the OP's mother is concerned are these images meant to be potential wall hangers with artisitic merit or are they intended to be memory joggers for which absolute quality is not a necessity?
The answer to that will provide guidance about the best method to adopt. In particular how much time one might justify to commit to performing the task. Slides and negatives, in my experience, are a lot more time intensive tpo scan than scanning prints.
There is no easy answer to this question. Having a clear objective for the outcome should help. Maybe look at going through what is available and only picking about 100 images to scan would make sense? Scanning a mass of images is a truly brain numbing task and often very frustrating in most cases - one of the reasons why I still have a whole stack of slides and a few films that have not been looked at for several years.
My scanning started out very hap-hazard, I'd select the odd image from a box or negative strip.it got me a few images to print but didn't make any inroads into my back catalogue! I now use the Nikon Coolscan for most of my work and yes it takes a while, about 15 mins per 4 negative strip. I have the scanner running when I'm doing other things. So it's not too numbing.
For slides my fastests method is with the camera and slide holder. I have the camera tethered to the PC and the speed is only limited by how quick I can swap the slides. I was scanning old achieve boxes with 200 slides in about 30 mins. The quality is not quite as good as the Coolscan but more than acceptable for small print or display on the computer.
If you are having work done commercially, check what the final resolution of you images will be as some of the work I have seen has been particularly low resolution that you'd struggle to print 6x4s from.
I converted something like 30,000 slides/B&W negs and prints to digital, it took what seemed like an age, but was great fun looking at images I'd taken whilst a schoolboy with my Halina Paulette electric!!
I used an Epsom 2450 - results are excellent though I spent some time playing with the epsom software scanning setting to obtain the best results, to get the best you definitely need to tweak the standard epsom scan settings.
If I had to do it again - I'd use the Epsom which is really excellent.
goood luck
I used an Epsom 2450 - results are excellent though I spent some time playing with the epsom software scanning setting to obtain the best results, to get the best you definitely need to tweak the standard epsom scan settings.
If I had to do it again - I'd use the Epsom which is really excellent.
goood luck
Just a quick note on what happens after you scan them, remember to get good storage! This isnt an exercise you want to go through more than once if you can avoid it. Depending on your likes/dislikes or review preferences, Drobo might be worth a look. Either that or two cheap hard drives and make yer own up
Thanks for the feedback guys.
Regarding use, I'm almost certain that main use will be for reminiscing. Having the pics on the laptop will make viewing so much easier.
However, some pics may be used to create pictures (for display). I imagine though that the slides won't be disposed of completely, so view using a certain "everyday" standard and if a higher resolution / better quality copy is required then the original slide is still available to copy from.
Regarding use, I'm almost certain that main use will be for reminiscing. Having the pics on the laptop will make viewing so much easier.
However, some pics may be used to create pictures (for display). I imagine though that the slides won't be disposed of completely, so view using a certain "everyday" standard and if a higher resolution / better quality copy is required then the original slide is still available to copy from.
We have one of these:
http://search.ebay.co.uk/170838419552
Simple to use, just load up the slides into the carrier - you can view them on the screen, then capture to SD card.
Not the last word in quality, as they're captured as JPEGs, but it's by far the easiest and quickest way to do it.
http://search.ebay.co.uk/170838419552
Simple to use, just load up the slides into the carrier - you can view them on the screen, then capture to SD card.
Not the last word in quality, as they're captured as JPEGs, but it's by far the easiest and quickest way to do it.
HeatonNorris said:
We have one of these:
http://search.ebay.co.uk/170838419552
Simple to use, just load up the slides into the carrier - you can view them on the screen, then capture to SD card.
Not the last word in quality, as they're captured as JPEGs, but it's by far the easiest and quickest way to do it.
If that does a reasonable job, then this is a really good deal:http://search.ebay.co.uk/170838419552
Simple to use, just load up the slides into the carrier - you can view them on the screen, then capture to SD card.
Not the last word in quality, as they're captured as JPEGs, but it's by far the easiest and quickest way to do it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veho-VFS-008-Smartfix-Nega...
Apparantly it's the same scanner as the Agfa but branded by Veho.
Just found this in my email. I have no idea if this is any good, but here you go.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/ion-slide-to-sd-scanner-5-...
http://www.maplin.co.uk/ion-slide-to-sd-scanner-5-...
A couple of christmases ago my old man set up the ol' projector and screen for a viewing of the family slides and seeing as that's a once in a decade (or two!) event I decided to take the opportunity to digitize them all by simply photograhing them on the screen with my SLR (mounted on tripod with 50mm lens). It was well worthwhile and the results are fine for viewing on a laptop screen. Took about 4hrs to do ~300 slides - the main time drag being switching from landscape to portrait perspective.
ps. took a few hours to crop the edges to make them perfectly square again btw.
ps. took a few hours to crop the edges to make them perfectly square again btw.
Edited by kerplunk on Friday 6th July 15:16
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