Looking for a way to convert Photo Slides to Digital Format

[Glengoyne]

My father-in-law has a whole bunch of slide photos that he is wanting to convert to some other format. Currently he is considering a digital destination. I've seen an HP scanner that will scan in photographic slides, but I'm wondering about the quality.

Does anyone have any experience doing this?

[kcchief19]

If it's a flatbed scanner -- which it sounds like it is, my experience has been that the quality is pretty poor. Not the worst in the world, but you'll definitely see a loss in color and clarity.

How many slides does he want to convert? I have converted old slides at my office to digital files by taking them to a high-end film developing shop; I think the rate was around $1-$2 per slide. Expensive, but less so when you consider the time it takes to scan and properly adjust the photos yourself.

If he wants to do it himself, I would recommend getting a specific film/slide scanner. You can get a decent low to middle of the line model for $500 to $800, probably less used or on eBay. I think a low-end film/slide scanner would be better than a flatbed scanner, and you can find those as cheap as $300. If he wants to convert 500 slides or more, a film/slide scanner might make a lot of sense; then you can sell it when you're done and get some of the money back.

[Draft Dodger]

I'll echo chief's recommendation. flatbed scanners with slide attachements really don't work very well - my sister got one to transfer all my dads slides and they came out looking like crap (this was an HP, btw). I've never heard of one that works well.

[Glengoyne]

If it's a flatbed scanner -- which it sounds like it is, my experience has been that the quality is pretty poor. Not the worst in the world, but you'll definitely see a loss in color and clarity.

How many slides does he want to convert? I have converted old slides at my office to digital files by taking them to a high-end film developing shop; I think the rate was around $1-$2 per slide. Expensive, but less so when you consider the time it takes to scan and properly adjust the photos yourself.

If he wants to do it himself, I would recommend getting a specific film/slide scanner. You can get a decent low to middle of the line model for $500 to $800, probably less used or on eBay. I think a low-end film/slide scanner would be better than a flatbed scanner, and you can find those as cheap as $300. If he wants to convert 500 slides or more, a film/slide scanner might make a lot of sense; then you can sell it when you're done and get some of the money back.
We are talking about hundreds of slides.

Do you know the manufacturers of these film/slide scanners? I'm doing an Ebay Search now, but was looking for a brand reccomendation.

[gstelmack]

Minolta makes a pretty good set of slide scanners. I just recently purchased this one:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001BG1SI/qid=1114913664/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-5641053-5206356?v=glance&s=pc&n=507846

It works well, but it is not built to do thousands of slides. It has a habit after a while of making you give the slide feeder a little nudge occasionally (gears getting a bit weak or something), and it takes a bit to do each slide (about 2 minutes apiece) but aside from that is absolutely fantastic. Good quality, will do four slides at a time, and has been working great for me going through 13 trays of slides (a few hundred total) for my parents. And you can't beat the price of under $300.

[Craptacular]

I don't know the brand(s) he got, but my Dad scanned his entire slide collection (and we're talking cabinets full of slide reels) himself with slide scanners. I think he wore out a couple of them. They're still definitely better than the flatbeds. I'll try to remember to ask him about the brand next time we talk.

[JediKooter]

Glengoyne,

Hey, not trying to spam you or anything, just trying help out a fellow FOFCer.

If you dont have any luck finding a scanner, let me know. I run a photo restoration business down in San Diego and can do 35mm slides and put them on a dvd or cd. I can also do restoration, touch ups or color correction (most scanners will do color correction as well). I'll cut you a good deal on the price for it. :D

If you're interested, let me know and I can send you my website address and you can see samples of my work. :)