35mm scanning - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Craven Morehead · 08-16-2009, 08:37 AM

Looking for suggestions on scanning old 35mm slides. We have several hundred 35mm slides found at my wife's mother's house that are approximately 50 years old. Most are in pretty good shape. Would like to scan these to jpg and distribute to the rest of the family on CD/DVD. Anyone have any experience doing this?

By no means is this a complete list of what's available, just a few that I've found:

Services:
FotoBridge
ScanCafe - I really like their service, will post all scans on the internet and you only pick and pay for the ones you want burnt to media - however the scans are done in Bangalore!

Scanners (would only consider low end):
Plustek
Ion

The advantage of purchasing a scanner over using a service is that I would also be able to scan in 35mm color negative film. The disadvantage is the time it takes, which would be considerable.

Spanxxx · 08-17-2009, 09:31 AM

I bought a scanner a little while back since I kind of wanted one, and more exactly, I wanted to scan some old photos and film. I found that if I really wanted them to be done well, I'd probably send them to someone professional. I had the hardest time with the film. Trying to scan it was painful in that you really must know how to get the settings right to have color matching work out correctly. I took the old picture itself that came from the film and scanned it and it looked way better! I also had a lot of problems with dust particles on the negative. More so than the image itself.

I'm not sure I'd be okay with sending my negatives to Bangalore though. That's a bit worrying.

Craven Morehead · 08-18-2009, 06:54 AM

I'm coming to the same conclusion, its very time consuming. I have inquired at Walgreens and Walmart and they will scan in their store for a reasonable amount; $.39 and $.28 repectively. I'll probably check a few others. I doubt if there's much color correction but the lady I spoke to at Walmart indicated they do some adjustments. These slides are in various states of quality, some are very poor. Probably will have the whole lot scanned by whatever is the cheapest and then correct the ones that look the most interesting in Photoshop afterwards.

thanks

Jehu · 08-18-2009, 03:15 PM

Spend money or spend time. A low-end Epson scanner goes for less than $200. It comes with slide holders. The software does a pretty good job of finding the frames on the prescans but at 4 slides per batch, this would take you quite a while.

08-16-2009, 08:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
Craven Morehead Custom User Title	35mm scanning Looking for suggestions on scanning old 35mm slides. We have several hundred 35mm slides found at my wife's mother's house that are approximately 50 years old. Most are in pretty good shape. Would like to scan these to jpg and distribute to the rest of the family on CD/DVD. Anyone have any experience doing this? By no means is this a complete list of what's available, just a few that I've found: Services: FotoBridge ScanCafe - I really like their service, will post all scans on the internet and you only pick and pay for the ones you want burnt to media - however the scans are done in Bangalore! Scanners (would only consider low end): Plustek Ion The advantage of purchasing a scanner over using a service is that I would also be able to scan in 35mm color negative film. The disadvantage is the time it takes, which would be considerable.

08-17-2009, 09:31 AM	#2 (permalink)
Spanxxx Psycho Location: Under my roof	I bought a scanner a little while back since I kind of wanted one, and more exactly, I wanted to scan some old photos and film. I found that if I really wanted them to be done well, I'd probably send them to someone professional. I had the hardest time with the film. Trying to scan it was painful in that you really must know how to get the settings right to have color matching work out correctly. I took the old picture itself that came from the film and scanned it and it looked way better! I also had a lot of problems with dust particles on the negative. More so than the image itself. I'm not sure I'd be okay with sending my negatives to Bangalore though. That's a bit worrying. __________________ I think that's what they mean by "nickels a day can feed a child." I thought, "How could food be so cheap over there?" It's not, they just eat nickels. - (supposedly) Peter Nguyen, internet hero

08-18-2009, 06:54 AM	#3 (permalink)
Craven Morehead Custom User Title	I'm coming to the same conclusion, its very time consuming. I have inquired at Walgreens and Walmart and they will scan in their store for a reasonable amount; $.39 and $.28 repectively. I'll probably check a few others. I doubt if there's much color correction but the lady I spoke to at Walmart indicated they do some adjustments. These slides are in various states of quality, some are very poor. Probably will have the whole lot scanned by whatever is the cheapest and then correct the ones that look the most interesting in Photoshop afterwards. thanks

08-18-2009, 03:15 PM	#4 (permalink)
Jehu Upright Location: Reno	Spend money or spend time. A low-end Epson scanner goes for less than $200. It comes with slide holders. The software does a pretty good job of finding the frames on the prescans but at 4 slides per batch, this would take you quite a while.