67 Responses to “How do I scan thousands of 35mm slides”

1. photoenhance says:

   February 9, 2010 at 3:05 pm

   I would suggest taking them to a photo lab and having it professionally done, when I worked in a lab we charged $2.82 to put 100 slides to cd. (I suggest going to a smaller photo lab that cares about your pictures, not just making money-I worked at Walmart, but a small one-I’ve found the Supercenter’s to be pretty much horrible) Hope this helps.
2. wackywallwalker says:

   February 12, 2010 at 3:05 am

   If your final output is to video you are in luck because video(television or computer monitor) does not require the high resolution scans that say a large print would require. In this case having your photos scanned at a photo finishing shop would be sufficient for your purposes. Of course if want to make any enlargements of the slides, or if quality of scan is a concern your best bet is to purchase a cheap but robustly featured scanner like an Epson 4490. However, from my experience most people don’t have the patience, knowledge nor the time to dedicate to scanning that many photo’s. Let me be honest to say that most older slides are going to need some kind of color correction or restoration and you will have to use a software like Adobe Photoshop. But if this were my father I would take the time to learn, so that I may preserve his lifes work. I included a link to some books that are helpful regarding the subject
3. bigonegrande says:

   February 15, 2010 at 8:37 am

   Contact they will scan and put on CD
4. Darrius says:

   February 17, 2010 at 5:14 am

   You have two options if you wish to buy a scanner: You can purchase flat bed scanner with a slide adapter, or you can purchase a dedicated slide scanner like the Nikon Coolscan 4000.

   Dedicated scanners will set you back close to 1000 dollars, well, that was the price the last time I looked, they may have gone down since. But they scan much better than the adapters – there really is no comparison. The slide adapters that come with flatbeds do not do the slide justice.

   Either option is going to be very time consuming though. The east way is to find a lab in your area that will slide the scans for you. Very advantageous if you have lots. But thousands will run you quite a bit of money.

   There’s really no easy way to scan such a large amount. My best advice is to narrow down what you wish to digitize and then have a lab do it. That will prevent you from needing to buy something you won’t need once your scanning job is over.
5. Beaux H says:

   February 19, 2010 at 10:31 pm

   This is a big project that you have to reduce into small portions.

   1. I have an HP Scanjet 3970 scaqnner and for less than $100 US you can get two slices at a time. There are more expensive HPs that can scan 25 or so at a time.

   2. I would sit with a family member and cull the slides keeping only the best of the best. This will reduce you investment in time and effort when it comes time to scan

   most photographers shoot too many shots anyway,

   3. try to arrange them in chronological order to tell a story of his life as a photographer.

   4. Good luck on a worthwhile project.

   beaux

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