[slyfink]

Anyone know what the best way to digitize slides is? My dad's widow is cleaning house (she sold it and bought a boat!) and just sent me a couple of boxes of his old slides. These pictures will be my kids only connection to him, as he passed away before they were born. He also visited some pretty amazing places, and being a Rochester boy, he'd been taking pictures for a long time... Anways, I'd like to scan them and digitize them... is there a "best" solution for that? Just take a stack to a place that specializes in it, or buy a dedicated slide scanner to do it? There's easily over a thousand slides. I won't necessarily scan them all, but it might be cheaper if i do it myself...

 

[Adventurous]

There are things you could do yourself and things you should do yourself. I'd say this is the former. Unless its prohibitively expensive then you aren't stuck with a scanner and can spend that time riding your bike instead.

 

[jstuhlman]

not done it myself, bit seems a cheap, fast option if you have a good camera? http://www.scantips.com/es-1.html

 

[StiHacka]

It all depends on how much time and money you want to invest. Do you have a scanner at home? The DSLR method might work for not-too-high-resolution images but if you are after high-end conversion, dedicated tools (like a Nikon CoolScan 4000ED that I still have somewhere in my drawers). Regardless which method you use, dust is an enemy so be ready to spend a lot of time cloning it out from the scans if you seek good quality.

 

[Jim Mac]

I did this maybe 5 years back, opted for a pro to do it. I don't recall the quantity but it was approximately 10 "reels" of slides, maybe more...think it was 1K to do it. Just found 10 more reels....

 

[maddog17]

see if there are any pro labs or even inquire at a local camera store. I was looking to do the same with some 4x5 chromes i have.