Digitizing old Photo slides
 

I've got some old slides (about 200) I want to digitize to put on my pc. I'm considering buying a scanner but am wondering if it wouldn't make more sense to use a photo lab. Has anyone used such a service in Spain?

PS. If you want to recommend someone I think forum rules require a p.m.

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

Do you have a digital camera?

I made an adaptor for my camera out of beer mats and toothpicks and it works very well.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/P5270001.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/P5270006.jpg

However it only just comes in the focal range of my Olympus SP 590 UZ and will not work on an Olympus SP 570 UZ

The only cost was the pint I bought in the pub I got the beer mats from ;)

Original slide from Lisbon in 1976

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/P5253796.jpg

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

This might be no help however:

I have no knowledge of a transfer service in Spain, they must exist.

Scanner from distant memory (20+ years) the scanner needs to come with an adapter specifically for 35mil slides, and I will stand to be corrected, you scan the negative so you will need them.

It's a long job

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

Times have moved on a lot in 20 years

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sugex...w=1920&bih=895

However all the ones I found reviews for gave mixed reports, that's why I made my own

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

OK corrected I be

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

There are loads of film/slide scanners available.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=430591031

I bought one from Lidl for about €50 some time ago.

They work fine.

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

I did about 50 slides from the late 60's / early 70's and used a slide scanner like Fred mentioned for it. Takes time, but the results were good.

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I have seen scanners for sale for 50 or 60 euros. I only need to process a fairly small number of slides then I would never use the scanner again (I could always sell it I suppose). That's what made me think it might be better to pay to have them done at (hopefully) high quality by a photo lab but I don't know what that would cost.

How good are the results from a cheap scanner? Epson make a flatbed scanner (about 100 euros on Amazon) with an attachment for slides which is supposed to give quite good results.

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

The tower type scanners seem to work better than the flat bed scanners. You can also see whether the slide is positioned properly and since the picture is displayed on the PC it can be edited more easily wuth the provided software. Have a look on E Bay. Lots of them on there (presumably from people who have scanned their slides and then don't want them any more?)

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

I'll have a look on E bay.

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

The flat bed scanners aren't really designed for copying negs or slides so the results vary depending on the quality of the scanner.

The tower sort we have been discussing aren't scanners at all. They are actually crude cameras. They illuminate the neg/slide and take a digital picture of just like Fredbargate effectively does with his camera. They use a normal memory card as well. The resulting images are in JPG format.

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

Well, these are slides taken in 1969 with a Kodak instamatic iirc. I used one of the strip slide converters .... a flat bed scanner wouldnt do it I dont think.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...oneGlacier.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...rland19694.jpg

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

What model converter did you use? I'd be very happy with that quality of result.

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

Colors are slightly strange, but maybe down to the film :)
I'll ask. I borrowed it from someone at the photo club in Monte Pego, and I know he bought it from (would you believe) Aldi!

It looked like the Veho VHS in Freds link ... put the slides in the strip and then link to pc

Re: Digitizing old Photo slides
 

I remember now, I got it in Aldi - Lidl had run out.

It's a EnVivo - whatever that is. There are loads around and they all look much the same but the quality would depend on the resolution. Mine is 5184x3360 pixels.

On the Amazon link I posted it looks most like the Agfa.

If the colours are a bit off it's easy enough to tweak them on the PC.