scanning slides (1 Viewer)

not sure if this is the correct location for this thread but cannot find another which fits!

With a collection of a few thousand K64 slides from years past I have been looking at ways of getting some onto digital---today I noticed a few Faltbed scanners, Canon, transparency adaptors built in----does anyone have any experience as to what sort of results you get from these type of scanners on slides? I did have a Nikon Coolpix slide scanner but always found it very slow and the results it produced never seemed to be up to the quality of the slides; when it was in-compatible with my new computer I sold it---

I use an epson flatbed with slide adapter and have not had any problems. My stepfather wrked for WHOI and traveled the world and we have about 25 large boxes full. i WAS tranfering them but I burned out and had to stop.

I never had prints made of my scans but they came out all right for web posting

One of the big advantages of a dedicated slide scanner is that most allow you to feed a big stack of slides, say 20 at a time. With a flatbed scanner, you usually can only do 4 or 6 at a time. So, if you have a huge number, and don't want to cull them out first, it is much easier to use a slide scanner.

Not quite the same as this involved transparancies, but I undertook the task of uploading all of the late Mike McDonnell's prints onto the KOS website. I looked into scanners etc then decided that I would investigate another option which was to take them to a photo developers and let them do the hard work for not a lot of money. They weren't overly happy doing it but they did a good job and you can see the results on www.kentos.org.uk

Not wishing to state the obvious to such a seasoned birder/photographer as yourself Graham, but if you do go down this road then do them in small batches just in case some get lost etc :eek!:

RAH said:

One of the big advantages of a dedicated slide scanner is that most allow you to feed a big stack of slides, say 20 at a time. With a flatbed scanner, you usually can only do 4 or 6 at a time. So, if you have a huge number, and don't want to cull them out first, it is much easier to use a slide scanner.

Click to expand...

Scanning in bulk would be a HUGE bennefit, let me tell ya

tizziec said:

Scanning in bulk would be a HUGE bennefit, let me tell ya

Click to expand...

If you've got a lot to scan, it may well be worth getting a Reflecta DigitDia 4000.

This is a 3600dpi slide scanner that looks like a slide projector, but with no lens. You just load up a standard slide magazine and scan from that, so batches of up to 100 slides are possible.
Scan times: 87 min for 50 slides at 3000dpi/34MB files (unattended)

£590 + VAT, see www.nativedigital.co.uk

Considering time savings, it seems quite good value, especially if you sell it on once you've finished.

Info (including web address) from BJP 10-may-06

Edit:
also available as Braun Multimag SlideScan 4000

We have a whole bunch of 6cm x 6cm taken by my father in law that we want to archive. Having looked around, some sort of adapter that I can fit on the front of my 20D would seem like a reasonable option, and give decent quality. A couple that I have photographed by projecting onto a white wall came out all right, but of course there is the issue of the sensor being 4:3 and the slide being 1:1, but I can live with that. Its not a viable solution though for the rest because the projector broke and getting it fixed will be prohibitive!!

I can only find reference / ads for adapters which do standard size slides.

Does anybody know of anything suitable out there for 6x6?

BR
Ian

Ian,


I wouldn’t go down the road of projected light for these 6x6’s.


These are large enough to get a good scan of on a flatbed of any reasonable quality.


The better the scanner and software the more rewarding the final result.


As with any scanning you scan at the optimum levels of your scanner @100%. Treat them as individual scans. It’s a long process, but correctly done, you never need to do it again.


As for Graham’s original question, it’s a question of money and the use, I’m lucky enough to have high-end scanners and software.

Why not go to your local Boots and get them to scan to CD for you.

Hi Pe'rigin - Thanks for the feedback.

I do have a scanner (2400 dpi HP Scanjet 7400c) It has a number of slide masks but not a 6x6, so I made one up. You are right, it is a slow and tedious process. If I leave the scanner to pick its preferred resolution it goes for 200 dpi and image quality is rubbish, and if I set it higher to 2400 I end up with an 89Mb file which I thought was a bit over the top.

My reason for using the 20D was based on getting reasonable quality with only an 7Mb RAW file or 3Mb JPG, and I reckoned that if I could rig up an adapter I could speed the whole process up a bit. I am wanting to scan them so we 'save them for posterity' and can easily look at them. I wasn't planning to print them or anything.

Another fly in the ointment is that they have not been stored too well in the past, so a significant number (most) need to be thoroughly cleaned (to remove mould among other things!) before they are scanned / copied.

Perhaps I am going about this all the wrong way, and would appreciate any advice going.

BR
Ian