Converting slides to digital images

[AlanMiller]

My father has purchased a gizmo for transfering his old 35mm slides to digital images. The results are a bit disappointing. I don't know the details of the software or the hardware, but I'm wondering if his graphics card might no be up to the mark. I know it's a pretty nebulous question, without me having many details, but are there any things he should be checking in hardware/ software settings - any "traps for new players"? He does tell me he's having better luck with photo negatives than slides. Attached is an example - not especially typical though. Each sample he's sent me has its own set of faults.

Alan

[jscher2000]

Long, long ago, I bought a scanner for negatives. If I recall correct, there was software to control the settings of the scanner, and I got a 14 megapixel image. At the time, that was a big file. I didn't try slides, but either way I don't think the graphics card had much to do with the process until it was time to view the results.

I would try to see whether the software has profiles for different kinds of slide film, or other options that quickly get much closer, before looking at slider bars, color wheels, or other fine tuning.

[DaveA]

Find out what software and hardware he is using, many of the programs that come with these scanners, are not up to par.

Also the age of these "slides" may impact the out come, most are good for about 25-30 years, after that they go down hill real fast.

[stuck]

My limited experience of scanning slides has been with high quality hardware (Nikon Coolscan) but I've also seen slides scanned by my Father using a transparency adaptor for a Canon flatbed scanner (don't know model number). The later were good but not up to the same standard as those done on the Nikon.

If I remember the outcome of this thread correctly:
http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic. ... it=+slides
Skitterbug has had considerable success using an Epson flatbed.

In other words, it's a case of rubbish in rubbish out. To get a decent copy of a slide you need the best hardware you can afford and you most definitely get what you pay for.

I think some cheap devices are no more than a back light to illuminate the slide with a digital camera over it to capture the image. If so, something like that is never going to give you brilliant results.

Ken

[Bigaldoc]

My father has purchased a gizmo for transfering his old 35mm slides to digital images. ...

If the "gizmo" is one of those "square box" things rather than a flatbed scanner I can understand the problem. I tried one a few years ago and it WAS garbage time! Luckily, I WAS able to send it back for a refund with some examples of bad output.

I bought a CanoScan 8400F which did a fine job on all my slides. I do agree with Ken that there are better choices, albeit more expensive, but the Canon did a good job for my home use.

And Dave is right too! All my slides were 25-35 years old and some were getting fuzzy or blurry with age. That's one of the reasons I scanned 'em before it was too late.

So Alan, what is his gizmo?

Edit: Added a sample (reduced size) of a slide from 1963 (Kodak Instamatic!).

[viking33]

Alan,
I've had a HP 4890 flatbed scanner for a few years now. It does a good job on negatives and also has an adapter to scan 16, 35mm. slides at one pass. That along with HPs photo solutions program, does a really decent cleanup job on slides that are in poor condition. I'm amazed at how it produces a good quality image from a slide I would think would never be salvageable.