Slides to digital? Negatives to digital?

[Iron Flatline]

Hi all.

I've recently been given a box with about 90 family slides. I'd like to digitize them. How do I do that?

Also, I've recently been given a bag with about a 1,000 negatives by a photographer who used to be our "official" photographer back in the day... when I had a record label, hair, and no kids... (1988 - 1992). Most of the images are irrelevant, but some are probably fun. How do I most efficiently evaluate them, and how do I digitize them?

Do I use services? I have a scanner (with a negative slide) but at the time I bought it I was warned that it is the weak part of the scanner, and big pain in the butt.

Thoughts? What should I look out for? None of these are high art, so I want to print a few of them 5x7 at best, but probably not at all right now.

 

[Mike_E]

Send them out if money is not a problem (which I kind of doubt, just saying for anyone else in this boat ).

You'll not do a better job (if you choose wisely) and it won't take a month of evenings either.

 

[Big_Flash]

I agree that sending them out would definitely be the easiest (and quickest) way to do that, otherwise search ebay for a cheap light box and a dedicated film scanner.

Who knows you may want to take film photographs sometime in the future. I own the Plustek Opticfilm 200i which can be found reasonably cheap and works really well for the money.

Buying a second hand one and reselling it once it's been used is also an option.

 

[dtornabene1]

There is a local pro shop in the western suburbs of Chicago. What they did was buy great equipment to do exactly what you want. Then they marketed this service to other pro shops (because of the decrease in demand).

You are likely to find a shop with similar setups. Unless you plan on doing a lot more slides, get them scanned for you like the others suggested. While 1,000 negatives would take a long time to scan if you cared about resolution, they are quick if you just want to see what's on them.

Just use you scanner even if it's not that good. You may be able to cut that number down two 250 negatives. A local shop can handle this for little money. Much better than going through the trouble of scanning yourself.

-Nick

 

[hossmaster]

The Nikon CoolScan V slide scanner is great for this type of stuff, but it's price makes it an investment.

 

[Battou]

Get a good Dedicated Scanner.....

If you decide to use a sendout service I would feel it is safe to assume you could prolly get acceptable 5x7 out of them, but the issue with that is the utter lack of control. If you send the whole shootin match they'll scan the whole shootin match and you'll pay for more than you really wanted, if you send only select ones out you still had to sit there and sort them manually anywho.

With the dedicated scanner it's a simple preview and scan. If resent dedicated scanners are anything like my antiquated dedicated scanner it should only take a couple hours to scan the whole pile at rezolutions capible of 8X12 let alone 5x7. Also with this you will also have a lot more control over the scan it self as well.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Thanks. My scanner can do slides and film (positive and negative). I ran a few through and it will be good enough for now.

HP scanner G4050

 

[Battou]

Thanks. My scanner can do slides and film (positive and negative). I ran a few through and it will be good enough for now.

HP scanner G4050

Ah, but I do want to ask what kind of time are you looking at as far as scanning times? From what I have read and seen with my own dedicated scanner, dedicated scanners scan dramatically faster, this proves useful with large numbers of scans.

 

[Iron Flatline]

If I'm scanning at 600 dpi it takes FOREVER... around 2 minutes per negative.

But no big deal. A dedicated negative holder can accommodate 5 strips of film (so 25 negatives). I put one in, and come back an hour or so later.