I'm like many people in that, I took hundreds of slides through the 60' and 70's. That was the super technology at the time. So guess what? When I married, that meant two of us with slides. The 35 mm cameras took excellent photos.
For some time now I have been thinking about changing my slides to digital. Many times I've done a post and had a great photo that could have been used but it was not changed to digital. I've been hoping to find someone who's finished with their scanner and would sell it to me or maybe, even better, just let me use it. I have not been beating the bushes to find a scanner. I have looked on Kijiji.
One day my wife was talking with Melanie and they happened to get on the topic of slides and changing them to digital. Melanie said, "I have a scanner and you can try it." But she said, "I bought the scanner and I have a Mac but the scanner is for a PC." But she said, "I can't find the disk that goes along with the scanner." She thought that she had given the scanner to a friend and somewhere the disk had disappeared.
So I offered to try and find a driver for her scanner on line. I searched and searched. I could find drivers but I did not trust the sites. I asked my son to search. I asked my friend for hints. None of it worked. I was stumped. It was frustrating to miss an opportunity because one piece of the puzzle was missing. The only thing I achieved was to find a manual for Melanie's scanner.
Today Melanie said, "Guess what I found?" So she found the disk in the bag that the scanner came in. Now she said, "When I found the disk I had to quickly go back to the Thrift Store and get my scanner back!"
So here I am six months later and I will try to scan my slides. So it was frustrating for Melanie and me that one piece of the scanner held up the whole process.
Now for using Melanie's scanner I have offered to scan her slides. I hope she doesn't have thousands of slides!
oh, glad both pieces came back together and landed in your hands. i hope it works well and goes smoothly!
ReplyDeleteI've got some good help!
DeleteWell, that was a saga!
ReplyDeleteMy husband had some slides digitized at Costco. But he did sort through all hundreds of them first and only had the good ones scanned. Just a suggestion.
That's a suggestion I never thought of . Thanks.
DeleteI was still shoting slide in 02, the definition was always so nice.They don't make a projector either.
ReplyDeleteYes, the quality was excellent. I gave up on my old projector years ago so these slides have not been seen for years. they are well labeled.
DeleteRed, get to the job. It's one for rainy days.
ReplyDeleteMake sure that the slides and the scanner are spotlessly clean. Use an anti static brush or something similar and wear cotton gloves. Your local museum should have boxes of them.
If the scanner has a setting that says Remove Dust and Scatches turn it off if you can. The automated software can assume that fine detail is a scratch or spot of dust.
Get rid of them manually in PS later. If you don't know how then e-mail me a copy of a scanned picture and I'll do it with screen grabs to get you going.
Thanks for a ton of information. I may have questions once I get going.
DeleteIt is a lot of work to have them digilized, but the results are so nice. You see photos you had forgotten for a long time. Wish you succes.
ReplyDeleteI know what I'm in for as far as time is concerned. Many people have started and quit.
DeleteIt's a sign! Everything has fallen into place, so it's all going to work!!!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds great.
DeleteI have lots of slides, too, and have wondered about getting some of them changed over into digital. Don't they offer that service at Costco? Hope it all works out, Red! :-)
ReplyDeleteI remember a post that Pete liked on polar bears. I do have the pictures on slides. I know he was disappointed not to see them and I was frustrated not to show them.
DeleteOur local library bought a scanner for that very purpose......I need to do the same thing but at the rate I'm going it might be a while before I get to the task. This one also is to scan negatives and that's a whole other job:(
ReplyDeleteYou have an excellent library. I phoned my library right away and they don't have a scanner.
DeleteOh I've thought about doing that also. My sister had hundreds - if not thousands of slides that out Dad took back in the day. Good for you. I'll look forward to seeing some of your digitized images.
ReplyDeleteI know it's a lot of work, but I've looked at some of the slides and I can't believe how good they were.
DeleteIt's amazing what one can today with the proper equipment!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to give it a try anyway.
DeleteI bet she does have thousands of slides.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling you're right.
DeleteRed, I very much look forward to seeing some of the finished product ! :)
ReplyDeleteSo do I look forward to them . There's so much of my life on the slides.
DeleteRed, this is definitely worth trying, all those memories would come forth. A lot of work but you might start with a selection and see how it goes. Fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteI know it's a long tedious job but I'm looking forward to the results.
DeleteFor me, it was a trip to Costco - no hassles and easy enough, with proper aid from the clerk. Glad I did not have thousands to do - great little "missing piece of the puzzle" SAGA.
ReplyDeleteA few to Costco OK. But I have many slides.
DeleteScanning your slides sounds like an interesting project. And so nice of you to offer to scan Melanie's, too. Good luck and hope it isn't too difficult.
ReplyDeleteIt won't be too difficult... just a long slow process.
DeleteBoy, have I been there and done that! I'm glad she got her scanner back, it would have been worse if it had been sold. GOOD LUCK! I too hope she doesn't have thousands.
ReplyDeleteLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
Now that sounds like a good blog post sometime.
DeleteI converted thousands of slides in the last few years. A few were seriusly faded but most turned out great....:)
ReplyDeleteThis makes me feel better. I just have to be prepared for a long slow process.
DeleteMy late parents had thousands of slides. I narrowed it down, had the rest scanned. Unfortunately, I didn't get the ones I thought, and lost some good ones. sigh. Good luck with this!
ReplyDeleteRed it's phenomenal that you're going to scan all of your photos, a lot of work, but to me it's totally worth it. I also hope your friend doesn't have 1000s of photos, we might not hear from you until Christmas! lol
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great project! That ought to keep you out of trouble for a bit! :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your project! I have a slide adapter for my scanned, but it only does four slides at a time and I think I have at least 15 carousels of those things. It's taking me awhile. :)
ReplyDelete