Converting old transparency slides to digital

ellay864

My mum has gazillions of photos as transparencies, as well as some old actual printed photos (but very few with the negatives).
I'd like to buy a scanner that will allow me to convert these slides to digital format. I'd be the one using it - she won't go near PCs so I'm planning to put them on DVDs for her.
I've done a bit of googling but would be grateful if anybody has any experience, recommendations. I've seen a Wolverine one and an ION one but they talk about slide size and I'm not sure what hers are. i imagine they'd be pretty bog standard - I just recall loads of little kodak boxes in our house growing up and knowing my parents they'd have just gone with whatever was routinely around at the time, so I hope that whatever I buy would deal with them OK

Gloomendoom

I'm also looking for a slide scanner and have singled out the Plustek range as the best value for for money.

It is also possible to get flatbed scanners that will scan slides as well as documents etc. I used to have a Canon one that was pretty good.

googler

Buy the best you can afford, by a manufacturer with a proven track record in optics - Canon, Nikon, etc.

You don't want to do the job once, find yourself dissatisfied and have to do it again.

They're most likely 35mm size if they're in the yellow Kodak boxes

andydiysaver

I have a onetouch 9020 which most people will call ancient but the picture quality is superb


it won't work in 7 or 8 (if anyone disagrees please tell me!) so I get round it by running it in virtual XP mode

MS1950

Older flatbed photo scanners regularly appear on eBay at a cheap price - like this one (ending soon):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Epson-Perfection-2480-PHOTO-Flatbed-Scanner-/321409641174?pt=UK_Scanners&hash=item4ad581ead6

Moneymaker

I agree with "MS1950". I bought a second-hand "Epson Perfection 4870 Photo" via ebay (but I chose a local seller so I could collect it in person).
That was 6 years ago and it's still going strong. I could have resold it and got my money back but I'm glad I kept it.

This model has masks for all the common slide sizes, including 35mm.
You might have to settle for a newer model but be sure to read the specifications carefully. The "EPSON Scan" software for your specific Operating System version can be downloaded from Epson's web site.
http://www.glodark.com/epson.htm

P.s. if you plan to bid for one on eBay this week, please state your intention here so you aren't bidding against each other!

googler

It's a good idea to have a magnifying slide viewer to preview them before trying to scan. There's nothing more frustrating than waiting a minute or so for a scan, only to be disappointed with the result.

Something like this, with a backlight and magnifier

http://www.reevoo.com/p/jessops-slide-viewer-sv8

ellay864

I've been told flatbed scanners are quite slow, and having got a decent all-in-1 printer/scanner I cant really run to another scanner just for the slides, for the space factor as much as anything.
I'm a bit concerned as everything I see seems to refer to the card-framed slides...my mum's are in a thicker plastic frame so want to make sure they'd fit in the holder. The alternative is trying to persuade her to sort them and then going professional with the soerted ones...but knowing my mum she won't do much sorting, she hoards everything!!

System

Both aldi and llidl have had them recently. I have one but the bind of saving them to digital is something that put me off, despite seeing things long forgotten.

Pondasher

I bought one from 7Dayshop a few weeks ago. Own brand, currently £34.99. Initial trial of a few seems fine but I have not got round to the job of copying all my slides yet.

Uxb

googler wrote: »

Buy the best you can afford, by a manufacturer with a proven track record in optics - Canon, Nikon, etc.

You don't want to do the job once, find yourself dissatisfied and have to do it again.

They're most likely 35mm size if they're in the yellow Kodak boxes

I don't think the responders on this thread are quite in the market for some of the serious level dedicated slide scanners in the £500 to £1000+ range from indeed the likes of Nikon!