More Digital Photography Talk

[tomlin403]

Is there any way to capture or transfer a collection of old 35mm slide transparancies into a digital format and onto a disk to save?

[ShutterbugGail]

Is there any way to capture or transfer a collection of old 35mm slide transparancies into a digital format and onto a disk to save?

Hi there tomlin403, and welcome!

You have two choices:

Use a professional service, or,

Use a scanner that has a 35mm slide transparency holder and scan them yourself. This may take longer time but is probably much less expensive.

If you opt for the latter, visit sites like Canon and Epson to see what scanners are available that will meet your needs.

[marzipan]

Good afternoon tomlin403,

If you can afford it, have your transparencies digitalised professionally.  I have a large collection of 35mm piccies.  I digitalised some of them with a Canon iP4300 scanner that was highly recommended for that task, but the result was moderate.  Displayed on a screen, those images are nowhere like being perfect.  Colour balance is disappointing and they are just slightly out of focus.  I have seen both professional and DIY digital images, of the same piccie, and they are as different as chalk and cheese.

So, I am going to bite the bullet.  In a couple of weeks time I shall take them to a professional digitaliser.  It will not be cheap but these 1454 piccies are over forty years old and are very special.  The original transparencies have been stored under perfect conditions and none have deteriorated, but that cannot last for ever.

There are dedicated digital scanners, like the Nikon scanners, but one of those would cost twice what I will pay for the services of a professional.  You could buy half a dozen Epsons or Canons before deciding that they are no good, or you have found one that is satisfactory.  If you want the best, you must put your hand in your pocket.

Good luck.  Marzipan.         
     

[ShutterbugGail]

Great advice, marzipan!

I went through years of photos and scanned them, it was a very tedious task; huge files, need for editing, countless hours, etc.

If I had a lot of photos, I'd have them done professionally.

[marzipan]

Hello tomlin403.

At last my transparencies are being digitalised.  I have received the jpeg digital images of the first box of 200 and I am delighted.  And the man who is doing them has sent me a 'before' image and an 'after' image of a transparency from the second box, to show me the mould that is growing on it.  It looks like spider's web or those dividing stringy rhyzomes you often see under the bark of a decaying tree.  They have been in a cool dry place for years.  I am now wondering how long it would have been before they were beyond redemption. 

So, I highly recommend professional digitalisation.

Yours sincerely,   Marzipan.