So, I have a whole bunch of old slides. Is there any type of gadget or gizmo that could scan them into digital photos or something?
Thanks.
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Slides to Digital Photos
- Thread starter RobotCaptain
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RobotCaptain said:
What is your budget and criteria for quality? Do you need to capture every detail in the slide like you would need to if you wanted to make large prints or are the digital files for use on the web? How many slides do you need to scan?
I'm pretty happy with a high-end flatbed 4800 DPI scanner from Epson.
balamw
Moderator emeritus
Yes. It all depends on the quality you're after what's involved.
You can get a reasonable scan usable for web posting, e-mail etc.. from many < US$200 flatbed scanners, but if you get a dedicated slide/negative scanner you can produce digital images that are far more detailed than current digital cameras can do... However these will generally cost you >US$1000. (The good ones, with Digital ICE and similar features for removing scratches and dust).
B
You can get a reasonable scan usable for web posting, e-mail etc.. from many < US$200 flatbed scanners, but if you get a dedicated slide/negative scanner you can produce digital images that are far more detailed than current digital cameras can do... However these will generally cost you >US$1000. (The good ones, with Digital ICE and similar features for removing scratches and dust).
B
Ya, there are scanners made specifically for scanning slides. Oftentimes they'll do negatives too.
Edit: Opps, I was a bit late on the draw there.
Edit: Opps, I was a bit late on the draw there.
Thanks for the replies. I wasn't sure if a regular scanner would work or not because a slide is so small. I would want the photos to be of high enough quality that I could put them on a slideshow DVD, so I guess that'd be 640X480 right?
Chip NoVaMac
macrumors G3
RobotCaptain said:
A scanner like the Epson 4990 or the new V700 series would be great for this, and allow you to scan at a res that would allow for 8x10/11x14 prints as well. Along with Digital ICE to help remove dust and such.
balamw
Moderator emeritus
You're the photographer, but IMHO they all seem like overkill for the job at hand. At 4800 dpi you end up with a ~4800x6400 image = 29 Megapixels! To be more precise a typical 24mmx36mm negative or slide image scanned at 1200dpi should turn out to be 1134x1700 pixels. Still close to double the required resolution. 1200 dpi slide capable scanners should be available for < $100.Chip NoVaMac said:
FWIW, the native resolution of NTSC DVD frames is 720x480 and this is used in anamorphic widescreen, so that's the best resolution picture you would get on a DVD. Neither the 16:9 widescreen or 4:3 standard lend themselves particularly to 35 mm film which if 3:2. You either have to crop off the ends, or sides, or leave a border around each picture...
B