35 mm slides converted to digital format

[m7040]

I have many old 35 mm color slides that I would like to save in a digital format. There are several hundred of them and I may want to save perhaps a hundred of those. What is the best way to do this and what is your experience with buying a copier or using a service to convert them?

 

[Borane4]

You could DIY with one of these. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=35+mm+sl...fix=35mm+slide+copier,aps,84&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
There are a range of 33mm slide copiers and scanners. From stand-alones to attachments for your phone camera. Document copiers dont have the resolution to make good copies IMO.

 

[m7040]

I have many old 35 mm color slides that I would like to save in a digital format. There are several hundred of them and I may want to save perhaps a hundred of those. What is the best way to do this and what is your experience with buying a copier or using a service to convert them?

Yes there are copiers available. What is the experience in using these and what is the experience in using a service to send them in to be converted?

 

[reb]

I copied several of my 356mm slides, using a scanner at maximum dpi.. Found it a chore to clean them up. Dust showed up. My daughter said she would do it. She said she had no problems with dust. Turned out she scanned them at 300 dpi. If you want to view them enlarged, it is necessary to scan them at high dpi.

 

[cqaigy2]

I've not used a service. In the past, many years ago, i've used copiers and scanners to do the scanning. It depends on how picky you are. More picky, more expensive for scanner or service.

If money and time are not a problem, you can purchase some pretty expensive slide scanners, and take your time with scanning the slides. Some scanners have automatic feed, which is nice if you are doing a bunch of them. Then do post processing of your images. I had some slides that were almost completely black looking, way under exposed and was able to manipulate the image to get an adequate picture from it.

If i was to do slides that are mostly people oriented, the quality of the image is not as important as being able to recognize the people and have a pleasant viewing experience, i'd be tempted to try a service out. The down side of sending to the services is loss of slides, either from shipping or the facility that will do the processing.

I've also used a digital SLR to take picts of 35mm slides. A stand for this is desirable. The pro for this is if you have the camera, doesn't need to be a SLR, you can try it out and see how it goes. A light source like a light table or something similar will make it easier.

 

[MossRoad]

Yes there are copiers available. What is the experience in using these and what is the experience in using a service to send them in to be converted?

I've hear horror stories of people that send in photos, movies, etc. to have them converted and having the originals get lost. I'd do it myself, or use a local company before I sent them anywhere.

 

[JethroB]

A few years ago I used a local one man shop to convert several 8mm movie rolls (25 ft?) to DVD. I was quite pleased. $1.00 per foot as I recall. I too was concerned with shipping them off and them getting lost. I’d consider a nearby FedEx/Kinkos or similar today if I knew they did the work in-house.

 

[ronjhall]

I have the Kodak Slide-N-SCAN linked above. Works good.
Here is a slide I scanned with it. Using 22mb setting.

 

[RalphVa]

I have many old 35 mm color slides that I would like to save in a digital format. There are several hundred of them and I may want to save perhaps a hundred of those. What is the best way to do this and what is your experience with buying a copier or using a service to convert them?

I bought a Digitnow one that does both slides and photos. You can do photos on a flat bed scanner, but this thing does them quicker and easier. It has a rack that takes 4 slides/load. You have to slide each of the 4 slides into position and do the copying.

Other models are available that will do more slides racked up.

I had several hundred. A long while back, I'd somehow made up a gizmo to do slides on my flat bed scanner but lost that method. This Digitnow thing was better and not very expensive.

 

[BigBlue1]

Back in 2003 I scanned in over 2200 old slides that my parents had to get them into a digital and usable format. I can't recall the specific scanner I used, but it had a slide holder that held 5-6 slides and automatically scanned them. Took a lot of time sitting by the computer reloading the holder and clicking 'scan' over and over, but it was worth it.

Closest thing I can find now are these, but they are ridiculously expensive. Something like this should cost around $120 these days.

https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Image-PrimeFilm-Slide-Scanner/dp/B07K2JCJVC/

https://www.amazon.com/Plustek-OpticFilm-135i-Automatic-Resolution/dp/B07ZXZRR24/

Something like this is what really should be available these days, though this one has horrible reviews and is apparently junk:

Amazon.com

RalphVa's one mentioned above sounds like it may be a decent option.

Rob