mr. sullen Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Anyone know the best way to do this? I'm reading around but as usual I'm getting inundated with info. Just hope someone out there with actual experiance in scanning slides to pc with good results can lend a helping hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCL Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Don't know the best way. Been doing it off and on for a couple of years with a scanner. It's tedious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Buy the highest res scanner you can find that is also fast. Alas, most of us end up compromising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_gentile Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 If you're going to be scanning slides, you might want to check out <a href="http://www.scantips.com/">A Few Scanning Tips</a> by Wayne Fulton. A <em>wealth</em> of information in an understandable form! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seandepuydt Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Shay, a dedicated film scanner will do the trick. I use the Nikon 5000. - Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronald_moravec1 Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 You will need a good scanner to capture the full range of tones in slides. Neg films require less. Flatbeds probably will not do it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charles_stobbs3 Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 A flat bed scanner may be OK for Emailing pictures but probably not for archival purposes. This one was a 35mm slide scanned on an old Canon flatbed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lake_photography Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 I believe Costco scans slides to a disk and then you can load that on your computer. This is fast and easy but can be costly depending on how many slides you have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_henderson Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 The important thing about scanning is that you have to decide how you are going to use the files to conclude how big a scan you need and (therefore) what options you have to do it or get it done. Naturally enough the bigger the scanned file, the more expensive it tends to be to get it done and you will need more expensive equipment to do it yourself. Rather than go through all the options where most might be irrelevent, perhaps you can tell us what size film you are starting off with. 35mm? 120? large format? what you intend to do with the scans? Just to look at your pics on screen/email/upload to online sites? Ot all these things plus making prints ? And if so what size? About how many scans do you want to make? Is this per year or a one-off quantity? Do you want to scan all the slides you make or only a propoortion of them? Without giving this information any advice you get may not be appropriate to your purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_ferrante Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Dedicated slide/film scanners are very expensive. There are a couple of flatbed Epson scanners that are supposed to approach that quality. The new V500 is reasonable, approx. $250, and has had good reviews. The Nikon dedicated scanners are supposed to be the best but are in the $1000+ range. Either way they are take a very long time and are tedious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charles_stobbs3 Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 I second David and Paul's comments. In any case a scan will never have the quality of the original image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. sullen Posted January 1, 2008 Author Share Posted January 1, 2008 Thank you everyone for your help. Dave, yes I should have been specific. These are 35mm color slides. Most are just for looking at on computer screen, some I may want to print but these are mostly snapshot type family photos from the 50's and 60's so I more than likely won't be wanting to make any large prints. It is a one off quantity, probably a few hundred, I don't mind doing one at a time. There may be some slides I don't scan. <br><br>I find Bob Gentile's link rather informative, thank you. I just realized thanks to Sean Depuydt that there is such a thing as "dedicated slide scanners." Further research on the web led me to learn a little about "drum" scanners and others that get as high as $50,000! Wow! Not needed here, this is just a hobby. I am not getting good results with my scanner, "Canon MP830" I realize now after some reading that because the slide is a couple millimeters off the glass focus is an issue so I guess I would need a scanner that I can manually focus. <br><br>I really don't want to spend too much and really don't expect anyone here to do my shopping for me but I thank you all for the input, I thought this would all be simple, lol, I didn't realize what an extremely expensive venture it could be. I have no idea how Charles Stobbs got such a nice photo from scanning a slide, that's as good enough quality as I would need. <br><br>Well here is an example of what I'm getting. The scanner software has lot's of tweaking I can do for adjustments and I of course would have to do some photoshopping but aside from the focus issue I am still not happy with the result from where I would be starting from as far as the scan goes. Others I have tried are much worse than this;major fading, underexposed sort of issue and other unworkable scans.<br><br><img src="http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s256/shaybshay/scanexample.jpg?t=1199221086.jpg" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_ferrante Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Just for the record, that Epson V500 will scan 4 slides at at time and comes with Photoshop Elements 4 as well as special software to clean up old photos and slides of scratches, dust etc. I'm looking at it myself because I have several hundred slides from a 2 1/2 month cross country trip I took 30 years ago in a VW Camper. Saw the Grand Canyo, Yosemite, Crater Lake, Mount Rushmore and a ton of other places, Ah, those were the good old days, who would leave their jobs for 3 months now (who could afford the gasoline?)? ;>) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rose_duclos Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 A few years ago, I had a similar project - taking a whole mess of my dad's old family slides, to convert to digital. I ended up also getting a canon scanner - the 8400f. It hadn't been all that expensive, and it didn't seem to do a bad job. It comes with a plastic attachment so that you can lay the slides straight on the flatbed - and also allows to do more at once. My issue was making sure that there was no dust on the slides before running the scan. The old slides, even when they were packed away and seemed to have been stored well - still had to be blown clean before beginning. for all that it's a flatbed - it seemed to do the job.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_henderson Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Given what you've said I wouldn't buy a scanner. There are services that can scan for you using a better scanner than you can justify at a total cost less than a half decent flatbed. Whats more you avoid a learning curve and a job thats going to take you many, many hours of repetitive tedious work. An organisation like Scancafe (www.scancafe.com)will give you a 3000dpi scan on a proper film scanner- not a flatbed) for 24c each. This is more than enough to support a medium sized print, and probably overkill for a screen image. if you don't fancy your slides being sent to India ( though my images for libraries are routinely scanned in several different locations overseas without any problem so far) then it should not be difficult to source a US or even locally based similar service for under a dollar a scan. Whichever service you choose I might be inclined to give them a test batch of say 100 and assess these before commissioning the rest. If you had an ongoing need to scan slides I may just take a different stance- but it just seems unnecessary to own a device you only need for one batch, learn how to use it and get bored out of your mind by doing the same task maybe 500 times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_ferrante Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 The services that I have seen average $0.75 per slide. If you have several hundred slides... well, you do the math and decide. Personally, for me, it would cost as much to have it done as it would to buy a scanner and do it myself. In the end you have your scans and a scanner to use for other projects whether is is making Christmas cards, calenders or sending emails and faxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_henderson Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 "it would cost as much to have it done as it would to buy a scanner and do it myself" My point exactly. How do you value your time? Do you think you're going to get as good a result from a flatbed as can be got from a Nikon film scanner, from a zero experience base? Scanning is not a skill-free task. What value do you place on being able to assess the available quality before committing to significant expenses? I accept that if you really do expect to make a continuing and significant use of a flatbed then the argument tends to swing the other way. And if you can get a decent scan for a quarter-and you can- then your "cost parity" argument doesn't hold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_ferrante Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 That is why I said "you decide". I haven't seen a service for 2x your 24c price. Maybe I'll check out that scancafe with a few, but, I'll be honest with you, I have reservations about shipping my one-of-a-kind irreplaceable slides halfway around the world, then having to wait weeks or months for them. I'd be a nervous wreck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. sullen Posted January 1, 2008 Author Share Posted January 1, 2008 I think something like this is what I am personally looking for. If it can give me as good as a result like the example Charles Stobbs posted then I'll suffer the hunded bucks and the time. I just didn't know they made scanners like this<br><br>http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=120&modelid=13810#ModelDetailAct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. sullen Posted January 1, 2008 Author Share Posted January 1, 2008 Well I decided to get a scanner. I needed another one anyway. Here is an example. All basic settings, untouched. I can see a big improvement already. You can scan four slides at once wich takes a bit less than two minutes.<br><br><img src="http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s256/shaybshay/scansidebyside.jpg?t=1199240717.jpg" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. sullen Posted January 1, 2008 Author Share Posted January 1, 2008 I want to thank you all for your time and responses, especially David Henderson which by the way has some very nice photography. I can see sending out slides like his to get done professionally but for the photos I'm doing and also a need for another scanner I'm happy with my choice. Well time to get to work, lol. Thanks all! Shay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. sullen Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 Final edit of this photo, not really spending alot of time on them. This was from one of my uncles trips. He can't remeber where it was taken.<br> <img src="http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s256/shaybshay/carpn.jpg?t=1199320345.jpg" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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