Re:Scanning 35mm slides to digital files

Photography is a hobby of mine so about a decade ago I bought an Epson Perfection 2450 to get my slides into my computer.  It's a flatbed scanner that has a light built into the lid so you can also scan slides.  It did a decent job but was incredibly tedious.  Now that I shoot digital, I rarely use the scanner anymore.

I'm not really up on the latest tech, but even those lower-end scanners should do a satisfactory job for most people, unless you're a professional who needs the absolute best quality.  A photography forum would be the best place to get an opinion. 

Steve S

Scan

probably, for only 50 slides, would be better to find a place that does this kind of work, instead of going thru the hassle of finding a decent scanner and the rest.

Interested in your findings

Ken,

I'll be interested to see what you find out.  I've purchased a number of prototype railroad slides on ebay that are originals purchased from someone's estate.  They have the original owners' data stamped on each slide and Walmart won't scan them with a release letter from the photographer / owner.  Since that person is dead I'm kind of stuck as I'd like to have them scanned so I make prints for framing.

I've been looking at slide scanners and reading about them and it would appear that the lower cost scanners "take a picture" of the slide which isn't the same (can't explain) as the high end consumer scanners which cost $600 and up.  My plans are to make 8 x 10 prints from the slides and I don't know if the low cost scanners will have high enough quality.

For your purpose (as someone else stated) it might be best to have your slides scanned by someone like Walmart since you can prove you have the legal right to do so.

Rick

Have a service do it

Have a competent slide scanning service do your slides - don't waste time trying to buy some low-budget do-it-yourself scanning option.

I can't recommend DigMyPics highly enough - slides are about 40 cents each, and they use Digital Ice cleanup software and hardware, along with manual correction. You can't even touch this sort of scan cleanup if you do it yourself.

Digital Ice takes advantage of the fact the IR signature of dust and scratches is different from film emulsion, and the hardware makes an IR mask of the dust and scratches so they can be eliminated automatically from the scan - giving you a much cleaner scan. You can buy a Digital Ice scanner yourself, but it will cost you over a thousand dollars.

DigMyPics also hand corrects your slide color, snapping the image up to the best it can be. You won't go wrong with DigMyPics, and at just under 40 cents per slide it's a bargain. You won't be able to get close to this quality of scan if you do it yourself.

When MRH needs scans done for publication from old film-based images, we use DigMyPics.

Thanks for the comments!

I am wary of the low end scanners and it appears some are not a good risk.

I thought about having a service do it. Walmart (really? - they do that?) would be convenient but the DigMyPics option, suggested by Joe F., sounds better than I imagined. I looked at their web site and I could do all 81 slides (yes, I had more than I thought) for less than $40 and have high res TIFF images. I can make jpeg copies for my self to post online or share with others. It is also cheaper than a scanner if I just do these slides. 

I was considering the possibility I might find other slides to scan at an estate sale or auction much like Rick did but, I don't know how likely that is. 

Joe, if you read this, is there something you would want me to put in the "referral code" field so DigMyPics knows you gave the referral?

Ken Glover

Chief Engineer, Kansas Pacific Railway

Just tell them Model Railroad Hobbyist sent you

Ken:

Just tell them MRH (Joe Fugate) sent you!

Scanning 35mm slides to digital files

Ken,

Another service you can use is ScanCafe (www.scancafe.com). Several pro photographers whose blogs I follow give it great recommendations. I'm not sure if the code is still good but try "focus". If it is still good it will get you a 20% discount.

Good luck,

Barry Rosier

DigMy Pics scaned slides.

I had sent Joe some slides a few years( it seems like yesterday) back of slides that are in my collection to be used  in the MRH Theatre. Some of the slides after I had scanned them had dust marks, some fungus looking black stuff . I sent them to DigMyPics to do the scanning and to clean them up. The slides are in the MRH Theatre "Raifanning the Kansas City Area in the 60 to 70's. The slides came back great and the service they perform was great working with them. http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/mrht_KC-railfan

Tom Wilson

Have someone else do it

I agree with Joe - have someone else do it.  Too much learning curve for a few slides (and I do this for a living - no slides, document management and imaging).  In fact, slides can be a pain.  Yes, have a service bureau do it for you.

Rick -scanner recomendation

Rick,

If you do purchase a scanner to scan slides, you can't go wrong with Epson.  Avoid HP; hardware is great but the scanner interface/driver is awful.  If you have photos that you want to scan, take a look at the Kodak i1220 or i1320; great image quality.  We use the i1320 here at Twin Imaging for volume photo scanning and magazine scanning.

Anyway, if you need any more input, contact me off line.

Take care,

Sean

Thanks, Sean

Sean,

I may have to buy a scanner just because I can't get the slides converted any other way.  I appreciate your suggestions on scanners.

Rick

Too bad you're not local

Rick,

Too bad you're not local.  I'd let you come by the office and scan them yourself.  I actually have two slide scanners that I keep on the shelf until we need to scan patient files (some contain slides).  Both sitting there doing nothing.

Slide Scanner

If you buy, try a Pacific Image PrimeFilm slide scanner.  They have relatively inexpensive models that are easy to use and do a good job.  It is a tedious process, however.  I once had an Epson flat-bed printer-scanner-fax that could scan multiple slides at one pass:  the results were pretty good, but not as good as the PrimeFilm.

Dante 

Ok, this was a great help. I

Get at least one hardcopy

Get at least one hardcopy [CD] and duplicate it yourself.  Then, put a copy of the whole CD onto your computer in your picture's folder.  This way, you have them all on your computer, and the hardcopy is available in the event your computer crashes, but it isn't being used daily and thus less likely to get damaged.

Results from DigiMyPics

It has been almost a year since I started this topic. Just this week I got my pictures back from DigiMyPics. I am very pleased with the results. I have used the results to ID some of the equipment and it has expanded my range of modeling possibilities.

Above are 2 Mo Pac GP15-1's 1555 the first GP15 for MP and 1575 the first "long nose" GP15 for MP. They are about 2 years old here. The pictures were taken in the Fall of 1978. Because I finally was able to figure out what these locos were, I tracked down an Athearn Genesis GP15-1 with DCC and Sound in MP paint. It will fit my layout and time frame.

I got my pictures back on 2 DVDs. One has TIFF images and the other has JPEG. I am really glad I finally did this and that I went with Joe F.'s recomendation.

Digitize slides or other media

For future reference:

http://www.costcodvd.com/services_and_pricing.aspx

Nikon Coolscan V

I have had one for several years, and I had a coolscan 1 before that.  Problem for you is the price.  4000DPI at the slide and it comes with Digital ICE technology.  And yes, I was shooting 35mm film just last week (The coolscan V has 2 adapters, one does 35mm negatives, the other does 35mm slides.)

Oh, and the two articles I just did for MRH?  Some of the images were digital, all of one article was done on film and scanned myself.

Each image will scan to about a 50MB Tiff file from a single 35mm frame of film.

Flatbed Scanner

I'm using an Epson V500. I can scan 4 35mm slides at one time. If you want something faster go for a V700 and you can scan 12 slides at once. I got mine last week at Staples for $149.00

Opteka Adapter

I bought an Opteka adapter that screws onto the end of my SLR lens and lets me copy slides.  Its not fast but it's cheap.  Under $50.  No software to load (other than using your digital SLR's).