Re: 35mm slide scanning service On Fri, 08 Sep 2006 05:19:59 GMT, "Phil Schuman"
1. Where are you, in the world? Are you in North America? If so, where
in Canada, Mexico or the US [or France :-)] That will make a
difference to the response. There are services in each country, but
making a recommendation depends on which country, or province, or
state, etc.
2. I suspect you will NOT be happy if you simply send boxes of slides
off to be scanned to CD by 99.9% of the services that 'advertise' that
they do this.
If you have that many slides, they go back years. If they go back
years, some likely will be mouldy, others will be faded, a number will
also be warped in their cardboard holders, and so on, so it is not
only that you need them scanned, but you also probably need them
worked on/restored in the process.
I have a Nikon film Scanner with the APS option and have scanned 30+
year old slides. Each one needed some work, and some needed a lot of
work, even using software that restores faded photos and slides, etc.
They were that bad... [I can point you to examples if you email me.]
Unless you are prepared to PAY for that sort of work, all you really
should want is a scan at 2700 ppi or so, and then YOU will need to go
through those scans and do the repair work yourself. Be prepared to
spend up to an hour on ONE slide if you really want it and it is in
bad condition to start with. [Most will take several minutes, but
adjusting colour to your personal satisfaction for badly faded images
can take TIME...]
While some scanners will do 4000 ppi I would NOT bother using that
resolution with older slides... all that will happen is the impact of
grain in the older slide films will show up more, and you will not get
a better print, just more grain showing up in the print.
Note that even just having them scanned at the 2700 ppi resolution and
cut to CD is a lot of time and effort, AND that most services that
'advertise' cutting slides to CD do it via automated machinery that
does NOT look at the slide, nor at the results, so some of the scans
will be virtually impossible to work with. Manual scanning will be
needed with those slides.
Anyway, simply shipping off a shoebox full of slides to be scanned to
CD likely will NOT provide you with anything you would want to use,
from any service I am aware of, as they look as returned, particularly
if they are really old slides... The staff at most of those services
have never seen a real darkroom, and are NOT trained in restoration
work... they are production line workers. If you find someone who is
retired and has nothing else to do, willing to do it at about $1 per
slide, you likely should jump at the offer, for those slides that you
want to keep and that need that sort of attention to the scanning. The
30¢ per slide scan to CD will NOT leave you at all happy, in my
experience.
If you have other questions, feel free to email me directly... I've
been doing slide and old negative scanning for myself for years, and
have had a darkroom since the 1950s.
FWIW
RsH
RsH
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