[Hidden-tech] best way to convert slides to photos/computer

[B. Kimo Lee]

Hi Jill,

Haven't had to do this for a number of years, but I have had good  
results with the Nikon Coolscan slide scanner. It scans slides  
individually. Some flatbeds come with an adaptor that will allow you  
to gang up various slides to batch scan. But scanning in a batch won't  
compensate for variances in exposures, i.e., dark vs. light shots —  
which means that you'll more than likely lose detail in the dark  
areas, or might have bright spots "burn out" in your light exposures.

Sounds like you are doing this just to archive old personal photos so  
finding a service bureau with a decent Frontier scanner who has a  
cheap rate might work out best for you. Scanning requires a clean work  
environment and doing some kind of cleaning to each slide prior to  
scanning to remove dust.

For web quality work (72 ppi resolution) I use a company named Bokland  
Custom Visuals over in Albany, NY. <www.bokland.com> It's been awhile,  
but for low-rez scans on the Fuji Frontier scanner they were only  
charging something like $.35 or $.40 per scan, which is great. You may  
need a higher-rez scan to print photo prints from. Talk to the techs  
and they will tell you what you need. I figure with driving time and  
gas to drop off slides around here, I may as well pay for FedEx. Plus,  
I usually save on what companies in this area charge per scan.

Good luck finding someone around here at a similarly inexpensive rate.  
I'd be interested if others have some local companies to recommend  
with similar rates.

The Frontier scanner is a flatbed but the quality was quite good,  
especially for the price. For press-quality work it is always best to  
use a drum scanner, though you can squeak by if the source image  
quality is good.

If you buy a slide scanner, the most important thing is that your  
scanner have a reasonably high dynamic range of at least 3.6 or  
higher. A higher dynamic range means that you capture more detail in  
the shadow areas. Good software is also important. Most have plugins  
to Photoshop, but there's a great open-source option called Vuescan. I  
haven't actually tried it myself, but it's supposed to be powerful.

Good luck,
Kimo



AZURELINK  ::  "Simply Connected!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Web Site Design & Scalable, Managed Web Hosting
Joomla! Content Management System Implementation
eCommerce Development
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
321 Main Street, Suite 4
Amherst, MA 01002
(413) 549-2020
Skype-In: (413) 306-4248
Fax: (413) 825-8344
For more information, please visit: www.azurelink.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------






On Feb 27, 2010, at 9:36 PM, jill logan wrote:

>   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's  
> area.
>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
>
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I have a bunch of slides from the 60's  70's - I want to convert to  
> photos
>
> or convert / scan into my computer.   Does anyone know the best way  
> to do this?
> 1) I would like to do it myself so if you have had experience with a  
> slide converter could you
> tell be the brand and rough price and how satisfied you are with  
> this product - and if it was easy to do
>
> 2) or i would consider having someone else do it as long as they are  
> local
> I wouldnt want to mail my slides off to anyone
>
> Thanks for any help you can offer
>
> Jill Logan
> MediaLogan at yahoo.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net
> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
>
> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion  
> list.
> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members
> page on the Hidden Tech Web site.
> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.hidden-tech.net/pipermail/hidden-discuss/attachments/20100228/2b597656/attachment.html