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Slides to Digital

skysailorskysailor Registered Users Posts: 139 Major grins
edited November 13, 2012 in Accessories
Time for a really DUMB question. I have hundreds os slides I'l like to place on an SD/CF card. How do I do this? Looking for a winter "project". Without breaking the bank. Knew you guys would know.
Lyle
Gear: D200, G9, Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6, Nikkor 35 f/1.8, Vivitar Series 1 28-105 f/2.8-3.8, Sigma 18-200 f/3.5-6.3

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    ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 23,852 moderator
    edited November 13, 2012
    For "proofing" both negatives and reversal film in 35mm and medium format I can vouch for the Epson Perfection V500 flatbed scanner with its included transparency lid. I don't recommend it for ultimate quality but it will work fine for many applications.

    The Perfection V700 and V750 are arguably better, and you can get third party film holders to improve their results even a little more, but they are quite a bit more money. The V750 even allows "wet" scanning.

    For any better quality you really should look at the Nikon Super CoolScan 9000 ED film scanner, but now you're talking pretty serious money.

    For "art" quality originals consider using a scanning service that uses a drum scanner.

    If you should get a film scanner also look at getting VueScan software for much better control over the process.

    http://www.hamrick.com/

    There are multiple services available to scan slides and film, with different levels of quality and cost. You can search DGrin for people's impressions about the different services.

    Finally, if you want a "MacGyver" solution, I have taken an old "film copier attachment", along with a close-focus adapter on a lens (a true "macro" lens works best), and then used a flash as illuminator, diffusing the flash and allowing some flash to spill onto the shooting side of the media (bias light, to help control contrast.) I was pretty pleased with the results. Slow going, but very cost-effective.

    In the following image, the yellow arrow points to the purchased slide copier unit:

    i-X6VXDbB-L.jpg

    No matter what method you use to digitize your originals, plan on lengthy sessions of cleanup and post-processing. Ultimately, properly exposed and properly focused originals will yield similar image quality to a 6MPix digital camera. My best results came from Kodachrome originals. Manually cleaning the originals beforehand will save a considerable time later. Charged brush cleaning works very well for common dust.

    The Epson and Nikon scanners I mentioned above have some corrections for dust and spots, especially if you allow their Digital ICE setting, which takes a second exposure using IR light (to create a mask to aid in auto-removal of dust and spots during processing.)
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
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