by Carl Farley for Harry House . . .
Harry “cleaned out” over 800 slides that were about 50 years old. Now, he wants to digitize them but knows it’ll be a big job. See the many suggestions offered below.
by Carl Farley for Harry House . . .
Harry “cleaned out” over 800 slides that were about 50 years old. Now, he wants to digitize them but knows it’ll be a big job. See the many suggestions offered below.
August 28, 2007 at 10:31 pm |
by Carl Farley for Steve Kennedy
I suggest checking with “One Great Photo Lab”, recently relocated to Texas Ave. near Bay Area Blvd. I have done business with them (long ago) and had a good experience. Here is the website:
http://www.onegreatphotolab.com/
Here is a link to their scanning services, including slides, with a link to a price list at the bottom:
http://www.onegreatphotolab.com/prod03.htm
I think I’d negotiate a volume discount … B-}
August 28, 2007 at 10:32 pm |
By Carl Farley for Margaret Maes . . .
I do not know of any specific place that will scan your slides, however I do believe the places Carl mentioned will do it but it won’t be cheap. If you do have them done at a commercial place, please be sure to specify what your outcome for these slides will be. (printing and the size of your prints, web use, archiving for future printing. Make sure they give you a copy with enough size and resolution to print at least an 8 x 10)
However……George Roy at the SLC asked me to give a little presentation with my slide/negative scanner one time. During that meeting, he was discussing with the group, the possibility of having a scanner available at SLC for the membership to use. This was a flatbed scanner with slide capabilities. You might want to check with George and see if he ever got that perk going over there. It will probably take you a few visits but you could choose your favorite slides first and give it a try. If you need any help with scanning your slides the HP website does have an online course on scanning and they do bring in scanning slides. It is free.
I do my own scanning. I bought my own slide/negative scanner, since I also have thousands of slides. That way I can do them as I want and I can do them at my own pace.
Good Luck!!
Margaret
August 28, 2007 at 10:34 pm |
by Carl Farley for Dale Martin . . .
While I’m sure WalMart or Sam’s or Walgreen’s, etc., do a creditable job, check that they clean slides before they scan and find out what file/image sizes are available.
On the other hand, commercial processing houses will generally include cleaning as part of their scanning process/fees.
Also, you want to be sure that they give you the highest resolution and image size. Personally, I would ask for 8×10 (or larger) TIFFs at =>3000dpi, if at all possible. Then, you can convert them downwards to whatever size/res you want.
One of the most respected houses in Houston is Houston Photo Imaging. When I worked for the Houston Zoo, the graphics office had about 800 slides from their slide collection converted by HPI. I was working in another area then so wasn’t in on the pricing part of it. I’m guessing HPI’s rates are going to be a commercial-level rate. There may be other houses who do a good job for less. You get what you pay for.
Have you done a search on yahoo.com using keywords like ‘houston professional slide scanning’ ?
Check out
https:/www.slidescanning.com/order/slidescanorder.htm
You can play with the numbers there and see what options are available and the effects on overall cost.
Maybe HAL-PC should think about buying one or two used slide scanners (Nikon 4000/5000) to rent out to members.
August 28, 2007 at 10:35 pm |
by Carl Farley for Harry House . . .
Carl’s group has been most helpful in providing me with “slide scanning” suggestions. I have them listed and am “at work” screening the list. Local Internet search is an idea I had not considered.
Appreciate your response and …yes,… everyone has suggested TIFF formatting, 3000dpi. Something I did not even consider…
You are most supportive… thank you.
August 28, 2007 at 10:37 pm |
by Carl Farley for Indu Sharma . . .
My case is identical to Harry’s case. If anybody is willing to digitize the slides, I will appreciate. I am willing to pay.
From:
Indu S. Sharma
13614 Hidden Dell Court
Houston 77059
U.S.A.
August 28, 2007 at 10:38 pm |
by Carl Farley for Bob Pischner . . .
If anyone comes up with a good place, I also would be interested. We have seven years of slides from Puerto Rico that should be scanned and cleaned up.
August 28, 2007 at 10:39 pm |
by Carl Farley for Jim Thompson . . .
When I needed to scan my Dad’s collection of several hundred slides, I bought a scanner and did them myself. Never even considered a scanning service; I expected they would be too expensive.
August 28, 2007 at 10:43 pm |
by Carl Farley for Tom Hill . . .
Having digitized many of my own slides, I know how tedious and time-consuming this task can be.
If I had to do it all over again, this would be my recommendation:
o Buy yourself a good scanner which includes the slide reader attachment. I bought my HP Scanjet 3270 model for about $120 several years ago. I’m sure they are cheaper nowadays.
o Install the software that comes with the scanner, make sure it works as designed.
o Test out the menu options and physical components needed to scan slides.
o Proceed to scan about 10 slides so that you know how the process works.
o Then, hire some kid age 10 to 13 who is good at playing video games to sit down at the PC and scanner to process your 800 slides.
o Teach him or her the process you learned by doing the scanning yourself, but save the mind-numbing iterations of 800 slides for your younger student.
o Offer to buy the kid some new video games in lieu of an hourly salary for completion of all 800 slides.
August 28, 2007 at 10:45 pm |
by Carl Farley for Harry House . . .
Tom:…. I have rec’d many suggestions from Carl’s SIG folks….. yours provides the answer to all my concerns….. many thanks for your input…..
Harry M House
PS: And, I have a neighbor kid who could do a great job…!!!
August 29, 2007 at 12:16 am |
I can’t compete with the neighbor kid. hahahaaa
August 29, 2007 at 11:41 am |
I have two scanners, one of them is a scanner meant for 35 mms negatives and slides and another has attachments for scanning negatives and slides. I have some negatives and slides which I intend to scan and make CDs. I am a good photographer, but lack the skills as “computer person”. If any one is interested in working with me, please contact me at 281-488-1210. You may use my equipment to scan your own slides and negatives and inturn, show me the “computer part” of the techniques.
August 29, 2007 at 2:03 pm |
by Carl Farley for Guy Thibodau . . .
Don’t remember if I posted my reply on a blog or sent it to you. It doesn’t show up in your latest release. I just Googled scanning slides digitally and got lots of hits. Take your pick. You can get them for as little as 29 cents each, maybe lower, and they are sent to you on CD’s or DVD’s.
August 29, 2007 at 11:51 pm |
by Carl Farley for Harry House . . .
Again, I must commend you on the (Slide Scanner) SIG Folks. I am amazed as to how much information they provided me. They were all most helpful in my ultimate decision.
BTW… Smart Computing, Aug issue, has an article “Give your old Slides New Life”. Follows what your folks passed on to me….
This SIG meeting date is circled on my calendar…
Thanks again for opening this door for me….
August 31, 2007 at 7:47 pm |
Thank You ! However I do have one question . How do you clean the 35mm slides,if you do your own scanning ?
September 2, 2007 at 1:12 pm |
by Carl Farley for Harry House . . .
After all of the support from your SIG, I have reached a conclusion
on how to scan my 900+ slides…. use ScanCafe. That was the consensus of your group.
I have looked everywhere and could not find the conversion of a 35mm slide into a 3000 dpi scan. What size of file does that make? Is it as simple as determing the amount of square inches in the35 mm area area then multiply it by 3000 dpi? That does sound so simple!
Now the next question. Which is a better media to “burn” those 900+ slides into, a CD or a DVD?
Hopefully, when I get all this settled, I will be able to add sound and music to the presentation. Which would be the easiest to do such manipluations?
September 2, 2007 at 1:30 pm |
To Jack Cohen . . .
When I scan slides, I just wipe them off with a soft cloth. If liquid is required, I only use water. Make sure they fit straight in the adapter and do not warp or lift off the glass platen.
To Harry House . . .
o Each slide you scan will create a file size of about 27 MB (1 in. x 1 in. x 3,000 ppi x 3,000 ppi x 3 Bytes per pixel if scanned in uncompressed .tif format. About 5 MB if scanned in compressed .tif.).
o 900 slides will take up about six DVD’s (27 MB x 900 slides / 4.7 GB per DVD).
o Still want 3,000 ppi? How about 1,200 ppi? This should make a nice 4 x 6 when printed out. Will only need about 2 DVD’s.
o I suggest trying a slide or two before sending the 900 down the tubes.
o Later, when you want to add sound and music to your slide presentation, you can start learning about MovieMaker (already on your computer), or, start looking in your photo editing program (if you have one), or, buy ProShowGold (Margaret Maes can help).
September 2, 2007 at 4:28 pm |
My background of working with slides includes 3 years in Manhatten, as director of the slide/filmstrip department. All slides were scanned individually. Due to color and exposure adjustments. All slides were cleaned with a soft cloth or lens tissue with Edwal’s Film cleaner. It can be purchased at any camera store. Try Wolf Camera or Ritz.
Scanners and their capabilities depend on price you pay. Nikon has some excellent ones. I have one. Mine will scan only 1 slide at a time, but if you wish to pay more you can get one that will scan 5 or 6 at a time, or more. Dedicated slide/negative scanners will produce better quality than a flatbed scanner with an adapter. Wether the average person can see the difference, depends on how fussy the person is. Of course the flat beds with the adapters are cheaper.
Remember you get what you pay for.
I do all my own slide/negative scanner, so I am not familiar with any commercial houses that provide the service. But if you want top resolution, large size (letter size) it will not be cheap. My scanned slides are running between 25 and 40 MB per slide as a file space. I save at the highest quality jpg. Originals are not touched. I then burn them to my external drive. Then based on Hewlett Packard’s recommendation I again back them up on DVD or CD. They recommend archiving precious photos twice, on two different media.
My recommendation: To find a place locally, or within a reasonable distance, I would suggest calling one of the Universities……they all have media departments. Ask their recommendations. I did not feel safe mailing mine off and decided that for the price I could buy the scanner. I have over a thousand slides.
I have offered to meet with anyone at the SLC center to talk to George if he still has the scanner with the slide adapter. He did mention at one time that he was considering letting member use this scanner for personal use.
Hope my info has helped.
Margaret
September 2, 2007 at 5:05 pm |
>I have looked everywhere and could not find the conversion of a 35mm
>slide into a 3000 dpi scan. What size of file does that make?
http://www.digitalmemoriesonline.net/scan/output/jpeg_vs_tiff.htm
Slide down to the Table named “35 mm Film Scanning: pixel & file size of a standard 35mm frame”
September 2, 2007 at 5:37 pm |
Picturation…..I scan my slides at 4800 dpi. I do use jpg. I make major color and exposure changes prior to putting the file on my computer. I also do necessary cropping prior to scanning to the computer. Thus the increase in file size that results. That file is then put on a CD, DVD and/or External Drive and not touched again. I always work off a copy of that file. Thus when I use the copy to edit the fine points, it has not lost anything due to jpg compression from the original scan. And any changes I make will cause me to do one “Save As”. Thus the naked eye will not notice any changes to the slide itself.
I use JPG because it is easier to work with. Personally I have 2 GB of RAM. Many people do not have that much. A TIFF file is extremely large when opened up in a software program, and unless you have a bundle of RAM, it’s going to lock up, when doing editing. The average person, for everyday uses, will find it easier to work with a JPG than a TIFF file, and they will not see the difference after 1 or 2 save as’. Changes are only noticable after about 10 saves, with the same file.
Hope this doesn’t confuse everyone.
Margaret
September 2, 2007 at 5:47 pm |
Let me clarify something in my next to last comments. When I worked in Manhattan, my work was with film. We copied individual slides with an Oxberry Camera, floor model. Exposures and Color were corrected prior to shooting. Negatives were then made. I just don’t want anyone to get the idea that I was doing it digitally. I turned digital in the past couple years. Cleaning film, remains the same. Color and Exposure corrections are still the same, just converted via a digital medium. My scanning information and experience came from Hewlett Packard when I helped them fix bugs in one of their slide/negative scanners.
Margaret
I didn’t want any wrong impressions.
September 2, 2007 at 6:12 pm |
Question, probably for Picturation? Would PPI maybe be a better term than DPI for slides? Since it doesn’t become DPI until it is sent to the printer. PPI would describe it’s quality on the computer. I’m curious now. I know they are the same size (literally) but the term PPI refers to the monitor, the DPI refers to the printer. Correct me if I’m wrong?
Margaret
September 2, 2007 at 8:46 pm |
Based on Margaret’s last comment, I suspect that many of you would benefit from looking over the Digital Photography web site (Educational section). Numerous hotlinks make it easy for all of you to get a better understanding of resolution, file size, ppi, dpi, print size, compression, digital photography terms, and general knowledge through various tutorials.
Check it out here:
http://www.hal-pc.org/~slcweb2/DigitalPhoto/DigitalPhoto.html
P.S. – BTW, the answers to Marget’s questions are IMHO:
Yes and no, yes (not only for slides but everything digital), p size is not the same as d size. QueenE gave us a detailed presentation on this subject about a year ago based on a lot of late-night sweat-and-tears research. Anyone remember? Warning: Do not use pixels and dots interchangeably when in her presence!
September 2, 2007 at 10:39 pm |
Carl, I’m not talking about size of a pixel as opposed to a dot of ink. I am talking about the physical size of the photos measurements. An 8.5 x 11 photograph will have the same physical size, in a print of 300 dpi or a viewed monitor image of 300 ppi. One is on your monitor and one is from your printer. But the physical size of the image is not any different.
September 2, 2007 at 10:41 pm |
I have read all of Liz material. We have been over this numerous times. dpi is printer. ppi is monitor. The measurements of the photo still remain the same. It’s just one is viewed on screen. One is in your hand just out of the printer.
September 2, 2007 at 10:42 pm |
Hahahaha I love Carl’s comments. I promise to tread lightly.
November 1, 2007 at 11:38 pm |
by Carl For Harry House . . .
I received lots of encouragement and suggestions from your SIG on how to scan my 965 – 35 mm slides. The job is done, and I did go commercial…ScanCafe.com.
They had my slides scanned and ready for review in about 2 weeks. When they were posted on their web site, I had 45 days to delete any that I did not want included in my DVD. After selection, I was notified the DVD has been burned and that I could expect the finished product in 3 – 5 business days. Cost… 25 cents each plus mailing charges.
I thought they did a professional job. They did keep my slides in order and the method of review was quite simple to follow.
Thought you would like to know my results.
November 3, 2007 at 5:57 am |
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2007-10-30-backup-side_N.htm
Saw the above USA Today article called How to digitize your life. Very timely. I took their advise and sent my shoeboxes of photos and also about 700 35mm slides to scanmyphotos.com. Very cool service, especially for how fast they are. Just got the confirmation email today that the order was ready and being mailed back, with tracking info too. amazingly fast and inexpensive. they charged just $50 for 1000 pictures, and separate rate for the slides. their website has all the info. I’m impressed.
November 8, 2007 at 1:09 am |
I also so the article in USA Today and I think I saw one a while back in the Wall Street Journal ..Finally got everything together and sent it out to a couple of the sites the articles mentioned including digmypics and britepix. The one I found the fastest and cheapest was fotobridge.com. They did a great job with 2000+ photos I sent them (2 shoeboxs full) and I had them back in about a week. I was impressed.
March 7, 2008 at 11:58 pm |
I run a family archiving service called Affordable Scans (www.affordablescans.com) in Sugar Land (just outside of Houston). We’re the guys in the HAL PC magazine listed to handle scanning questions. We only do scans / archiving (we’re not part of a photo shop) and we can tell you what works well in practice since we see so many jobs and have used pretty much every type of scanner. So if you need some help on what to do, just shoot us an e-mail. We’re happy to answer questions even if you’re not planning on using our service.