How to convert old colour slides to digital form?

How to convert old colour slides to digital form?
They are 35mm ... some mounted in card and some between glass.
What's the best way to do it, preferably without spending a fortune?
--
Chris

Chris wrote:
> How to convert old colour slides to digital form?
> They are 35mm ... some mounted in card and some between glass.
> What's the best way to do it, preferably without spending a fortune?

There was a long thread about this recently. Go to Google, then Google
Groups, then this ng, and search for the topic, You will find three
basic approaches: rephotographing with digital camera, dedicated film
scanners, and general purpose scanners. I might that that, IMO, this is
the only worthwhile use for Google Groups.
Allen

"Chris" <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
news+bZruBbz4iGFwUa@[127.0.0.1]...
> How to convert old colour slides to digital form?
> They are 35mm ... some mounted in card and some between glass.
> What's the best way to do it, preferably without spending a fortune?

It's called "scanning". It takes time. It's fun in small quantities, but can
get old fast. (You may need to remount the glass mount ones, and you may
want to unmount all of them since the mounts crop the image somewhat.)

If you do it yourself, the Epson 4490 (I think that's the number; their
cheapest 4800 ppi scanner that does film; under US$200) is cheap and will
give you 2 or 3MP dcam quality from your slides (maybe better, but it takes
a lot of Photoshopping to turn the mush that comes off the scanner into
sharp, contrasty images). The Nikon Coolscan V and Coolscan 5000 will give
you better quality (8MP dSLR quality from sharp slides) but are more
expensive.

Check out http://www.scantips.com/ for everything you need to know.

If you don't do it yourself, quality scans are expensive, but some places
that do developing also produce low-res scans for proofs and email (Kodak
PictureCD is low quality (oops: PictureCD may be negatives only, i.e. no
slides), Kodak PhotoCD and ProPhotoCD are better, but may not like mounted
slides). Ask at your local store/lab.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

"Allen" <allen@nothere.net> wrote:
> Chris wrote:
>> How to convert old colour slides to digital form?
>> They are 35mm ... some mounted in card and some between glass.
>> What's the best way to do it, preferably without spending a fortune?
>
> There was a long thread about this recently. Go to Google, then Google
> Groups, then this ng, and search for the topic, You will find three basic
> approaches: rephotographing with digital camera, dedicated film scanners,
> and general purpose scanners. I might that that, IMO, this is the only
> worthwhile use for Google Groups.

Hrrumph. Blinkered idiot. (Me, not you.) I forgot about the idea of using a
slide duplicator on a dcam or dSLR. I haven't seen a discussion of anyone
who's succeeded (I'd try it, except that all my slides are 645 and 6x7, not
35mm), but if one's needs are email and 4x6 prints, I can't imagine it not
being the best way to go.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

David J. Littleboy wrote:
> "Allen" <allen@nothere.net> wrote:
>> Chris wrote:
>>> How to convert old colour slides to digital form?
>>> They are 35mm ... some mounted in card and some between glass.
>>> What's the best way to do it, preferably without spending a fortune?
>> There was a long thread about this recently. Go to Google, then Google
>> Groups, then this ng, and search for the topic, You will find three basic
>> approaches: rephotographing with digital camera, dedicated film scanners,
>> and general purpose scanners. I might that that, IMO, this is the only
>> worthwhile use for Google Groups.
>
> Hrrumph. Blinkered idiot. (Me, not you.) I forgot about the idea of using a
> slide duplicator on a dcam or dSLR. I haven't seen a discussion of anyone
> who's succeeded (I'd try it, except that all my slides are 645 and 6x7, not
> 35mm), but if one's needs are email and 4x6 prints, I can't imagine it not
> being the best way to go.
>
> David J. Littleboy
> Tokyo, Japan
>
>
In 1994, recently retired and time on my hands, I realized that
practically all of the pictures of my two children were slides. This was
before high-quality digital was with us, at least not at a price I could
afford. Prints from slides were also quite expensive. I rigged up the
equivalent of one of the slide duplicators, using a wood rail system,
extension tubes and/or bellows and an old but very sharp 50 mm lens. I
copied them to print film, with fairly decent results. My goal was to
copy 100 slides, but--no surprise--the results were decent. I put them
in Printfile pages in three-ring binders and gave them to the children
for Christmas. When they unwrapped those, further gift opening came to
a halt for at least a half-hour. Two years ago I decided to do the same
sort of thing for my grandchildren, but I broadened it to include
pictures of all the ancestors that I could photos of, their parents, and
of course themselves. My Canon scanner was very busy scanning prints,
but I also rescanned some of those old slides; the results were slightly
superior to the re-photos, partly because I could see the results
immediately and correct any errors. Incidentally, the books weighed 8.5
pounds each.
Allen

On Jul 4, 2:55 pm, "David J. Littleboy" <davi...@gol.com> wrote:

>
> Hrrumph. Blinkered idiot. (Me, not you.) I forgot about the idea of using a
> slide duplicator on a dcam or dSLR. I haven't seen a discussion of anyone
> who's succeeded (I'd try it, except that all my slides are 645 and 6x7, not
> 35mm), but if one's needs are email and 4x6 prints, I can't imagine it not
> being the best way to go.
>

I've done this with a 90mm macro lens, a tripod and a projector which
has a single-slide "lightbox" on top: I put the slide on this lightbox
and the camera on a tripod with inverted centre column. The quality is
not bad at all (better than for 4x6 prints, I'd say). But it's rather
time consuming.

"Chris" <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
news+bZruBbz4iGFwUa@[127.0.0.1]...
> How to convert old colour slides to digital form?
> They are 35mm ... some mounted in card and some between glass.
> What's the best way to do it, preferably without spending a fortune?
> --
> Chris

I used two techniques to convert my old slides:

1. I used slide projector to project on screen that I then photographed with
digital camera.

2. I used same setup with video camera to record a 'slide show' with
narration by me and other family members. Its nice to have the voice of the
participants available for future consideration.

Have Fun!

NM

On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:04:43 +0100, Chris wrote:

> How to convert old colour slides to digital form?
> They are 35mm ... some mounted in card and some between glass.
> What's the best way to do it, preferably without spending a fortune?

Epson has several slide/negative capable scanners for sale on their web
site - look for refurbs for best prices.

"Chris" <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
news+bZruBbz4iGFwUa@[127.0.0.1]...
> How to convert old colour slides to digital form?
> They are 35mm ... some mounted in card and some between glass.
> What's the best way to do it, preferably without spending a fortune?
> --
> Chris
This depends really on what kind of film you are trying to copy. If, like
me, have some Ektachrome E2, Ektachrome E4, or any of several kinds of Kodak
color negative emulsions from the 1970s, your options are very limited.

The Ektachrome emulsions are all red by now (and have been for some time).
Some of them can be corrected by judicious use of levels or curves
adjustment of the individual colors. Most of them, though, need something
like Digital Restoration of Color which is included in the Nikon film
scanners.

The color negative film also have a serious problem with color shift. I
have some whose orange mask is now purple. I used Digital Restoration of
Color on these images as well.

I should note in passing that the images that I made with Kodak Ektar show
no color shift.

What you should depends on how important recovery of these images is to you.

Jim

Chris wrote:
> How to convert old colour slides to digital form?
> They are 35mm ... some mounted in card and some between glass.
> What's the best way to do it, preferably without spending a fortune?

The software nthat comes with the slide scanners is excellent for removing
colour casts, dust removal, correcting exposure, and of course selecting a
myriad of different scan resolutions. You should take account of this when
assessing whether a scanner is worth buying.

Some of the Far Eastern manufacturers are supplying market-leading software
with their scanners.

Try the Plustek 7200 for a high quality slide/film scanner at a realistic
price.


Dennis.