Reccomendations please for a slide scanner?
Discussion
Finally brought the box down from the attic with a few hundred slides taken by my late father, all good quality & colour & would now like to now preserve them digitally, not looking to spend a three figure sum & wondered what experiences have been had?
I know I could send them off & get them processed professionally for much the same cost as buying a new scanner but there would be no fun it that.
Thanks in advance
Will
I know I could send them off & get them processed professionally for much the same cost as buying a new scanner but there would be no fun it that.
Thanks in advance
Will
OK. That opens up the field ...
There are options.
1. Pay someone to do it for you on a commercial basis.
2. Obtain a flatbed scanner with film/slide scanning capabilities and sell on after use.
3. Obtain a dedicated film scanner and sell on after use.
4. Buy a low ish cost adapter or set up a lightbox as per stu above, if you have a digital SLR.
5. Project the slides and take a photos of them.
Of those options ...
1. is unlikely to be cheap.
2. requires some time and patience.
3. as per 2 but the results may be better although that will only matter if yoyu are looking for absolute quality.
4. not sure, suspect the comments for 2 and 3 apply.
5. Only if desparate.
Scanner technoolgy is pretty good and has been relatively static for some years. Few people manufacture quality dedicated film scanners these days - Nikon being about the last and the orices are high. However a good S/H market exists. As time goes by computer driver compatibility becomes an issue.
I would suggest going through the slides to see how many you REALLY want to have digitised. Cull hard. The number you end up with may dictate your approach. All approaches are valid and have their own cost models, time plans and media risks. (e.g sending stuff away to be processed.)
This can become a huge subject and there are ar many opinions as there are people with scanners and slides. We can dive into that pool when the time is right.
There are options.
1. Pay someone to do it for you on a commercial basis.
2. Obtain a flatbed scanner with film/slide scanning capabilities and sell on after use.
3. Obtain a dedicated film scanner and sell on after use.
4. Buy a low ish cost adapter or set up a lightbox as per stu above, if you have a digital SLR.
5. Project the slides and take a photos of them.
Of those options ...
1. is unlikely to be cheap.
2. requires some time and patience.
3. as per 2 but the results may be better although that will only matter if yoyu are looking for absolute quality.
4. not sure, suspect the comments for 2 and 3 apply.
5. Only if desparate.
Scanner technoolgy is pretty good and has been relatively static for some years. Few people manufacture quality dedicated film scanners these days - Nikon being about the last and the orices are high. However a good S/H market exists. As time goes by computer driver compatibility becomes an issue.
I would suggest going through the slides to see how many you REALLY want to have digitised. Cull hard. The number you end up with may dictate your approach. All approaches are valid and have their own cost models, time plans and media risks. (e.g sending stuff away to be processed.)
This can become a huge subject and there are ar many opinions as there are people with scanners and slides. We can dive into that pool when the time is right.
LongQ said:
OK. That opens up the field ...
There are options.
1. Pay someone to do it for you on a commercial basis.
2. Obtain a flatbed scanner with film/slide scanning capabilities and sell on after use.
3. Obtain a dedicated film scanner and sell on after use.
4. Buy a low ish cost adapter or set up a lightbox as per stu above, if you have a digital SLR.
5. Project the slides and take a photos of them.
Of those options ...
1. is unlikely to be cheap.
2. requires some time and patience.
3. as per 2 but the results may be better although that will only matter if yoyu are looking for absolute quality.
4. not sure, suspect the comments for 2 and 3 apply.
5. Only if desparate.
Scanner technoolgy is pretty good and has been relatively static for some years. Few people manufacture quality dedicated film scanners these days - Nikon being about the last and the orices are high. However a good S/H market exists. As time goes by computer driver compatibility becomes an issue.
I would suggest going through the slides to see how many you REALLY want to have digitised. Cull hard. The number you end up with may dictate your approach. All approaches are valid and have their own cost models, time plans and media risks. (e.g sending stuff away to be processed.)
This can become a huge subject and there are ar many opinions as there are people with scanners and slides. We can dive into that pool when the time is right.
Brilliant reply that will save me money too, going to now 'cull' my collection of 35mm slides and get them processed by someone else.There are options.
1. Pay someone to do it for you on a commercial basis.
2. Obtain a flatbed scanner with film/slide scanning capabilities and sell on after use.
3. Obtain a dedicated film scanner and sell on after use.
4. Buy a low ish cost adapter or set up a lightbox as per stu above, if you have a digital SLR.
5. Project the slides and take a photos of them.
Of those options ...
1. is unlikely to be cheap.
2. requires some time and patience.
3. as per 2 but the results may be better although that will only matter if yoyu are looking for absolute quality.
4. not sure, suspect the comments for 2 and 3 apply.
5. Only if desparate.
Scanner technoolgy is pretty good and has been relatively static for some years. Few people manufacture quality dedicated film scanners these days - Nikon being about the last and the orices are high. However a good S/H market exists. As time goes by computer driver compatibility becomes an issue.
I would suggest going through the slides to see how many you REALLY want to have digitised. Cull hard. The number you end up with may dictate your approach. All approaches are valid and have their own cost models, time plans and media risks. (e.g sending stuff away to be processed.)
This can become a huge subject and there are ar many opinions as there are people with scanners and slides. We can dive into that pool when the time is right.
Many thanks
Will
Will,
I think the bigger commercial labs may ask serious money for a full service with 'editing' but there seem to be a number of 'cottage industry' options on the net who seem to start their pricing at about 30p per slide for a basic scan. Others are nearer £1 to £1.50 but those also tend to offer additional improvement services should you wish for them. Prices improve with volume. This is also true for the basic (ie, no special cleaning, enhancement and recovery required) services of labs like Peak Imaging who have a good reputation for things related to photographic processing. Having checked a few prices the Pro Commercial providers seem to compare quite favourably, all things considered, with the cottage industry operators. I have seen prices as low as 30p but to be honest I would not want to think about firing up my scanner for commercial work at that price unless it was as a loss leader for something else.
Bear in mind that most of these services are postal based so you may want to think about the security of your favourite slides. Personally I like to hand deliver and collect when possible but that's just my preference. You may find a local provider, depending on your location.
One thing to bear in mind is the resolution offered for the scans. It depends on what you want to do with the results. 1200 dpi would be a minimum in my opinion. 2400 dpi is likely OK. Some will provide 3200 dpi which will result in some large files but the potential to print quite large should you wish to.
On the other hand you could always re-visit and re-scan some of the slides should you wish to once you have seen the initial digital results.
I think the bigger commercial labs may ask serious money for a full service with 'editing' but there seem to be a number of 'cottage industry' options on the net who seem to start their pricing at about 30p per slide for a basic scan. Others are nearer £1 to £1.50 but those also tend to offer additional improvement services should you wish for them. Prices improve with volume. This is also true for the basic (ie, no special cleaning, enhancement and recovery required) services of labs like Peak Imaging who have a good reputation for things related to photographic processing. Having checked a few prices the Pro Commercial providers seem to compare quite favourably, all things considered, with the cottage industry operators. I have seen prices as low as 30p but to be honest I would not want to think about firing up my scanner for commercial work at that price unless it was as a loss leader for something else.
Bear in mind that most of these services are postal based so you may want to think about the security of your favourite slides. Personally I like to hand deliver and collect when possible but that's just my preference. You may find a local provider, depending on your location.
One thing to bear in mind is the resolution offered for the scans. It depends on what you want to do with the results. 1200 dpi would be a minimum in my opinion. 2400 dpi is likely OK. Some will provide 3200 dpi which will result in some large files but the potential to print quite large should you wish to.
On the other hand you could always re-visit and re-scan some of the slides should you wish to once you have seen the initial digital results.
I bought a second-hand Nikon LS2000 film scanner for this task - worked brilliantly. Scans at 2700dpi and the quality is very good indeed. I'll just sell it on (when various family members have finished borrowing it), so the net cost of scanning all my old pics will work out to be very low indeed.
Here's one of the scans (from 35mm negative)
Here's one of the scans (from 35mm negative)
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