Advice please. 35mm slides to digital

[Lee_Again]

Hi All,

Not rail related unfortunately, but I do have a number (approx 100) of 35mm colour slides (c. 1969) that I'd like to convert. During this lockdown period all our local shops are closed. Any advice on which companies I can use. I'm really concerned about the slides being 'lost in the post'.

I live in Stevenage if anybody knows a local(ish) person/company that could do this.

Thank you,

Lee

 

[gazthomas]

Have you thought about doing this yourself? A number of people recommend the Epson v370 scanner. I know your volumes are low but it may still prove cheaper:

Perfection V370 Photo

www.epson.co.uk

It would mitigate your concern about risk too.

 

[Lee_Again]

Hi,
Will a scanner have the resolution? I have a scanner (albeit a cheap one - Canon something !!) and I tried but it failed spectacularly. Professional services are about £40 for 100...but I like the idea of not sending in the post. That will also incur a cost.

 

[gazthomas]

Absolutely, this particular scanner scans at 4,800 DPI so almost up there with lots of high end SLR cameras

Have a look on YouTube for DIY for examples:

About 11 mins in on this video, but there are many examples out there.

The going rate for one is about £130 (WEX)

 

[Lee_Again]

Good work. Quite thought provoking...

Appreciate the effort. Thank you.

Lee

 

[Romsey]

Just a warning about using higher definition when scanning older slides. Over 600 dpi my epson V200 scanner picks up the grain of the emulsion. Attachment IR041 was scanned at 500 dpi and when enlarged shows a mottled effect on the clouds from Agfa film. Kodachrome has a better grain structure but older Ektachrome can be a bit patchy for grain. Again modern E6 developing processes are much better than the bulk developing in years gone by.

Various editing software packages can correct colour cast and light. If the colour is really bad, try going no colour at all so you get a grey image, sometimes that can be quite effective. Image C1639 was a very basic b&w scan of discoloured Agfachrome 200 which started going orange after 15 years. For just removing spots, correcting alignments and brightening the image, the basic image editor on Windows 10 is OK.

 

[najaB]

If the colour is really bad, try going no colour at all so you get a grey image, sometimes that can be quite effective.

If the colour cast is uniform then it should almost always be possible to get pretty close to the original colour with some time and effort. It may help to separate the image into RBG layers and treat each of them as if it was black and white. My dad had some old (c. 1965) Ektachromes that on first glance appeared to be irretrievable but we were able to get some pretty decent results in the end.

 

[1369]

I have and still do send some of my slides and negatives to Mr Scan Ltd.

I am happy with results.

 

[Dmedia]

www.digitizemedia.co.uk has done scans for the national trust and some other high profile people and companies and there rates are very good