large ohoto/slide scanning project

[cityshapes]

The proposed project is to gain some degree of control over some

approx. 15,000 slides and 5,000 print/negative images accumulated

over the years. The goals in digitizing these images are to make it

possible to find and image, allow the images to be viewed as digital

slideshows, and allow the digitial modification/enhancement and

printing of images.

 

What is the commercial cost of scanning slide images at 4000 dpi and

storing on DVD?

 

A proposed solution is to buy the equipment ourselves and pay an

experienced image technician to scan all the images and file them in

an image database. The proposed equipment is:

 

Nikon Coolscan 5000 with 50 slide feeder ~$1350

Epson Perfection 4870 flatbed scanner (or other high res

flatbed) ~$450

Dell P4 desktop with twin, mirrored 200GB HDs, and high speed DVD

burner ~$3511

 

What is the best software for managing large quantities of images,

both on the HD as well as stored on DVDs? What about iMatch from

photools.com ($50.-). Does it allow us to catagorize the photos in

many dynamic ways, store a screen resolution image in the database

for slideshow and image identification purposes and will track the

location of the original image (slide box number) and the digital

image (DVD#).

 

So the question becomes, does anyone have actual experience either

doing this sort of process or with any of these tools? Is there

better hardware or software we should look at? Does anyone know of

any service that is so significantly better priced that it makes

sense to go with that as opposed to owning the hardware ourselves?

[ellis_vener_photography]

For software try Extensis Portfolio 7. Do not forget that each image will need a

set of "keywords" to describe the contents of each image so to help search for

images.. Intelligently keywording in a generally useful maner will be your

biggest headache.

[scott_robertson1]

<p>I have the Nikon Coolscan 5000 and bulk slide loader which I use to scan my own stock library as well as for my <a href="http://www.slrobertson.com/scanning.htm">slide scanning service</a>. I can say that the bulk loader works very well for most plastic-mounted slides and perfect-condition cardboard slides. However, if your slide mounts are warped, are frayed or damaged they frequently jam in the loader. The design of the SF-120 just isn't that great, frankly, but I wouldn't think of attempting to scan 15,000 slides without it.</p>

<p>In spec'ing out your PC, if you haven't already bought it, get as much RAM as you can. I have 1.5 GB in mine and sometimes I still wish I had more. I scan my own slides at 4000 dpi, 16-bit per channel and this results in 125 MB files. You'll run out of disk space quickly as well with only 200 GB (mirrored) of HD space. Plan on adding external drives as you go.

</p>

<p>For image cataloging, I use iMatch and I really love it. I'm a software engineer by training so I appreciate and use the embedded scripting language to do all sorts of things like exporting groups of cataloged images to my web site. It can keep track of off-line media, like CDs and DVDs, and you can create your own image property database to store things like slide box numbers and such. The dynamic category system is much better than simple keywording as well.</p>

Scott Robertson<br>

<a href="http://www.slrobertson.com">slrobertson.com - Travel, Editorial, Assignments, Prints & Slide Scanning</a>