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  1. Member
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    I have a large collection of 35mm color slides from years ago that I would like to transfer to DVD's for viewing on the TV. I would like to be able to see each slide individually ( slide shows). What is needed and how do I achieve this. I assume that I need some type of scanner. My computer has a DVD burner. What software is needed and how is this accomplished?
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  2. Member zoobie's Avatar
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    Yep...slide scanners. Maybe you can rent one or have them transfered to disk professionally by your local lab. You can then assemble your slideshow with a variety of editors (Ulead, Adobe, Sony). Then you can burn your DVD. Since HD is all the rage now, you may want to inquire about scanning to a HD-DVD or Blu-ray disk and assemble from there...
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  3. Member thecoalman's Avatar
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    The answer to this question depends on how much time you want to invest and what's your budget. The hard part is digitizing them.

    This is a lot of work no matter how you do it if your digitizing lots of images so IMO it's best to do it once and do it right. If you have the negatives, you can skip scanning the slides and scan the negatives directly. One thing to understand is no standard video format is capable of displaying the full resolution available from a slide or negative, they are not even in the ballpark. So what you'll want to do is scan at a very high resolution and archive for the future.

    The biggest issue when scanning is dust, this is especially true for slides and negatives because that little particle of dust becomes enormous. To prevent this you can purchase a scanner with Digital Ice, this is "flaw" removal system but works differently than software methods. Digital Ice detects physical imperfections (such as dust specs or scratches) before the creation of the scan and isolates them for removal. These types of scanners have come down quite a bit in price but are not cheap comparing to a standard scanner. You will also want to get some canned air to blow as much dust from the slides as you can before scanning.

    You'll also want to look for a self feeding model.

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    Having said that you can get some good results from a standard scanner. It's just going to add a lot of work, manually inserting hundreds of slides and manual dust removal is very long and laborious task.

    The other option is to have someone do it for you but make sure you are getting high resolution scans.

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    Once you get them scanned form there the choices are endless, I haven't used it but I've seen nothing but good reviews of Pro Show Gold for slide shows. You could just simply burn them to disc as data files, most DVD players support image playback. The options will vary by model but being able to select an image is pretty standard.
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  4. If you have a digital camera with a lens that can focus really close, try photographing them. I did a ton of them and got really good results. I set up a rig to hold the slide, then backlit them. I shot in .raw format, converted them and used Photoshop to fine-tune them. They might have looked better if I had a closer focusing lens.
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  5. Member zoobie's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by thecoalman
    If you have the negatives, you can skip scanning the slides and scan the negatives directly.


    Originally Posted by Slowburn
    If you have a digital camera with a lens that can focus really close, try photographing them.
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  6. Member thecoalman's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by zoobie
    Originally Posted by thecoalman
    If you have the negatives, you can skip scanning the slides and scan the negatives directly.
    Just mentioned it because you can, not too familair with slides so i don't know if anything is lost between negative>>Slide. it would certainly be easier because you can at least insert 4 negatives at once if you using a scanner that need to be manually fed.
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  7. Always Watching guns1inger's Avatar
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    Generally slides are shot on Slide film - there is no negative
    Read my blog here.
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  8. Member thecoalman's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by guns1inger
    Generally slides are shot on Slide film - there is no negative
    Well that would explain Zoobies confusion as to my response. I've never worked with slides....
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  9. Member zoobie's Avatar
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    I know...

    Slides are special film the Pros use...
    With it, the negative is turned to positive.
    The positive is then inserted into a individual holder.

    This is what they're looking at on a light table...with that little black magnifying glass...to check out the actual quality of the film itself...and the shot of course.

    For the consumer masses, they get standard film for prints...or just go digital with no film at all.
    I still shoot slides with my kick ass Konica SLR which, incidently, is like ~40mp cam.
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  10. Just take it to a store & ask them to do it for you. You can also get prints from slides & then scan that photo into your computer.
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  11. Member oldandinthe way's Avatar
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    Many flatbed scanners have built in slide adaptors which will scan up to 4 slides at a time. Some have automatic color correction software, which can be important on older slides.

    Check out HP scanners. You should be able to acquire the hardware and software to digitize your slides for under $100. I bought an open box HP scanner for $25.00 and had to download the latest software. It will separate the 4 slides into four separate images automatically. Of course if you want to spend more, you can purchase a flatbed with a full transparency adaptor.

    If by take it to the store and have it scanned you mean the drugstore, expect crappy results. If you mean one of the last remaining camera shops or a photo lab bring a fat wallet or a credit card.

    In my opinion, the results with a digital camera with good optics and macro focusing capability will leave much to be desired, even if you have a good setup with a copy stand and shoot the slides on a lightbox.
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  12. If I have 400 slides and scan them at 4800dpi, what size storage roughly would I need please-thanks
    PAL/NTSC problem solver.
    USED TO BE A UK Equipment owner., NOW FINISHED WITH VHS CONVERSIONS-THANKS
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  13. I don't understand why you need to ask. Just scan a few, look at the file sizes, and then do the multiplication. If you use a reasonably high quality setting for JPEG (if you are saving them in this lossy format), I'd expect that they will be 5-8 MB each. 400 will therefore be 2-4 GB and will fit comfortably on one SL DVD.
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  14. ah I am not doing it myself but wondered what media to give the person doing it-usb flash drive or as you say DVD, appreciate your help.
    PAL/NTSC problem solver.
    USED TO BE A UK Equipment owner., NOW FINISHED WITH VHS CONVERSIONS-THANKS
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