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RobotCaptain

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 27, 2006
23
0
So, I have a whole bunch of old slides. Is there any type of gadget or gizmo that could scan them into digital photos or something?

Thanks.
 

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,828
2,033
Redondo Beach, California
RobotCaptain said:
So, I have a whole bunch of old slides. Is there any type of gadget or gizmo that could scan them into digital photos or something?

Thanks.

What is your budget and criteria for quality? Do you need to capture every detail in the slide like you would need to if you wanted to make large prints or are the digital files for use on the web? How many slides do you need to scan?

I'm pretty happy with a high-end flatbed 4800 DPI scanner from Epson.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,365
979
New England
Yes. It all depends on the quality you're after what's involved.

You can get a reasonable scan usable for web posting, e-mail etc.. from many < US$200 flatbed scanners, but if you get a dedicated slide/negative scanner you can produce digital images that are far more detailed than current digital cameras can do... However these will generally cost you >US$1000. (The good ones, with Digital ICE and similar features for removing scratches and dust).

B
 

reh

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2003
639
1
Arkansas
Ya, there are scanners made specifically for scanning slides. Oftentimes they'll do negatives too.

Edit: Opps, I was a bit late on the draw there.
 

snap58

macrumors 6502
Jan 29, 2006
310
0
somewhere in kansas
ChrisA said:
I'm pretty happy with a high-end flatbed 4800 DPI scanner from Epson.

I see Epson has the V700 and V750 out, very high marks, you don't have one of those do you? If so I would really like to know what you think about it?
 

RobotCaptain

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 27, 2006
23
0
Thanks for the replies. I wasn't sure if a regular scanner would work or not because a slide is so small. I would want the photos to be of high enough quality that I could put them on a slideshow DVD, so I guess that'd be 640X480 right?
 

Chip NoVaMac

macrumors G3
Dec 25, 2003
8,888
31
Northern Virginia
RobotCaptain said:
Thanks for the replies. I wasn't sure if a regular scanner would work or not because a slide is so small. I would want the photos to be of high enough quality that I could put them on a slideshow DVD, so I guess that'd be 640X480 right?

A scanner like the Epson 4990 or the new V700 series would be great for this, and allow you to scan at a res that would allow for 8x10/11x14 prints as well. Along with Digital ICE to help remove dust and such.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,365
979
New England
Chip NoVaMac said:
A scanner like the Epson 4990 or the new V700 series would be great for this, and allow you to scan at a res that would allow for 8x10/11x14 prints as well. Along with Digital ICE to help remove dust and such.
You're the photographer, but IMHO they all seem like overkill for the job at hand. At 4800 dpi you end up with a ~4800x6400 image = 29 Megapixels! To be more precise a typical 24mmx36mm negative or slide image scanned at 1200dpi should turn out to be 1134x1700 pixels. Still close to double the required resolution. 1200 dpi slide capable scanners should be available for < $100.

FWIW, the native resolution of NTSC DVD frames is 720x480 and this is used in anamorphic widescreen, so that's the best resolution picture you would get on a DVD. Neither the 16:9 widescreen or 4:3 standard lend themselves particularly to 35 mm film which if 3:2. You either have to crop off the ends, or sides, or leave a border around each picture...

B
 
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