Scan Old Slides to PC

J_B

Digging through some memorabilia and found a load of slides.

We have borrowed a Maplin Gadget 5MP Film to PC Scanner which works reasonably well but is very tedious to use. (You have to manually insert three slides at a time into the fiddly holder, then push them through and click 'scan now' on each one, then remove and reload the next three!)

Just wondering if anyone has any better/faster suggestions?

flaneurs_lobster

Pay someone else to do it?

cymruchris

That's how slide scanners work. There's no 'fast' way unless you pay someone to do what you're doing.

It's not an ever-expanding market - so nobody is designing super duper super efficient super speedy slide scanners at the moment.

It's well worth scanning old images though for the memories, and if there any of 'places' - there are usually lots of fb groups that go wild to see new 'old' photos of everyday places from yesteryear.

J_B

cymruchris said:

That's how slide scanners work. There's no 'fast' way unless you pay someone to do what you're doing.

Thanks - was maybe hoping there might have been some sort of cartridge system, but .... hey ho!

PHK

There were commercial scanners but these are likely to be out of price range for a one off job. Remember though that there is still quite a bit of work as you’ll need to adjust the settings for each slide either before scanning or after. 

pseudodox

I still have a very old Epson flatbed scanner which scans slides & negatives.  There are various frames which sit on the glass bed & the slides are inserted 4 at a time, then it scans all 4 as separate images in one pass.  Will also process negatives of all sorts of sizes. Which is a bit easier than the feed through scanner which I had previously.  Not sure of model - something like Perfection 500?  Can check at weekend as I am away today.  Might still be available, maybe on eBay?  Here's something similar to mine
https://youtu.be/iSRyv6JEroY?feature=shared

Newcad

Carousel and magazine type scanning machines are available, how much do you want to pay?
https://slidesnap.com/product/slidesnap-pro/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflecta-DigitDia-6000-Slide-Scanner/dp/B005LOJ1KA/

But if you already have a slide projector (or can get one cheap) and a digital camera then how about a bit of DIY?
You could probably even rig something up using a smartphone if you haven't got a digital camera.
https://travelthroughpictures.com/photo-items/convert-35mm-slides-digital/

A low tech option would be to project onto a screen (white card?) and photograph it.
(I've done similar in the past to make negatives from slides, can't remember why though).

DUBVENDOR

https://www.diyphotography.net/old-slides-want-scan-cheap-easy-way-home/

J_B

Newcad said:

Carousel and magazine type scanning machines are available, how much do you want to pay?
https://slidesnap.com/product/slidesnap-pro/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflecta-DigitDia-6000-Slide-Scanner/dp/B005LOJ1KA/

Probably not $3600 or £1500 but thanks for looking!