Scanning Slides into my Computer

[KWhit]

My father has hundreds of old slides (family snapshots) that are just sitting around because he cannot find a slide projector that fits his old carousels.

I would like to surprise him by converting them to digital images and creating a slide-show DVD to show at family functions. Creating the DVD is no problem (I know how to do that), but have never scanned slides before.

I have read some about it online and there is a school of thought that I should purchase a dedicated slide-scanner. Supposedly, the quality is much higher than using a normal flat-bed scanner with a slide scanning attachment.

Have any of you tried either method before? Any first-hand knowledge would be appreciated.

TIA

[gstelmack]

I've done a few slides with my HP flatbed, and in every case have to manually color-correct the slides. The current PCMagazine has a review of a new flatbed that is set up for slide/film scanning that allegedly does a good job. I would definitely go with something set up to do slides rather than using a regular scanner built for paper that includes a special attachment for slides.

I will tell you that doing this can be VERY time consuming. Especially if the slides are old and are fading, in which case you'll need to manually touch up each one even if you do get good color from the scanner (you may need to brighten up slides that are darkening to near black when shown in a projector).

[cartman]

I have a HP scanner that does slides, negatives, and 4X6 prints. It works great. It's the HP Photosmart S20. I got it a few years ago, and it still works great. It scans slides and negatives at 4800dpi, and I've had no problems with it at all.

After a quick check of the HP site, it appears mine is a discontinued model. It appears to have been replaced by the ScanJet 4070 and ScanJet 5530. The 4070 is only around $100.

In any case, you will get much better results with a scanner that is designed to scan slides and negatives, then trying to adapt a paper scanner.

[kcchief19]

If there are a lot of slides and you want them to look good, check with some of the higher-end photo shops in town. We took a ton of old slides and had them converted into digital files and they did a great job -- much better than with a flat-bed scanner. Granted, it will cost you -- I think we paid maybe .50 to a $1 per slide -- but it will save you a ton of time with color correcting and done professional will look better than on any personal scanner.

[Eaglesfan27]

I echo what kcchief19 has said. I paid to have a great deal of slides done, and they did a great job with it. The amount of time I saved (I tried doing just a few myself) was well worth the cost (In my case it was about 50 cents per slide.)