Transparancys

[daveatcopleigh]

Help needed

I have about 3000. Photos my late dad took that are fading so I need to scan them
and save them to disk!

They are 2x2 inch transparency’s (not 35m) all mounted between two glass sheets, sealed with tape edges that is braking up (I can still rember Dad spending hours mounting them)

Any suggestions as to how best to go about this as I want to preserve this family history

[simpo two]

The simple/quick/cheap answer is to rephotograph them on a lightbox using a close-up lens and tripod (assuming you have a DSLR). If not then a scanner is the other way - never done it myself but my esteemed forum colleagues have (Ed!) and will be along shortly

[V6GTO]

I've scanned both trannies and negs on my Canon 5000F, but only 35mm I'm afraid. I'd try my friendly high street store for proffesional advise.

Martin.

[te51cle]

If you have access to a digital SLR then a good way to copy 35mm slides is to use a traditional slide copier attachment (Ohnar make a good one as well as the usual suspects). Stick a slide in, snap, next slide in, snap etc. until your memory is full. Then download to wherever you want and make any corrections for age that you need in your favourite manipulation program. Friend of mine uses this technique to good effect.

[parrot of doom]

I'd send them off and have them done professionaly. It will be expensive (but memories are valuable), but the scanning process if done correctly will eliminate dust/hair from the scans with a good scanner.

[daveatcopleigh]

Thanks for advice I wanted to get it done professionally and have asked at local shops, all seemed keen to start with, had to check with someone else to get price----never got back to me!

Camera Idea seems possible, will Canon EOS20D be OK

Still prefer to get it done professionally if I can find someone to do it.

[parrot of doom]

Try taking it to a local photographers, don't bother with the high street processing places.

[ehasler]

A flatbed scanner like the Epson Perfection 4180 Photo, 4870 or 4990 should do the trick. They come with tools that help restore colour to old photos, and remove dust and scratches, so should be ideal for scanning old slides.

[simpo two]

ehasler said:

A flatbed scanner like the Epson Perfection 4180 Photo, 4870 or 4990 should do the trick. They come with tools that help restore colour to old photos, and remove dust and scratches, so should be ideal for scanning old slides.

Do they handle 2 1/4 square?

And yes, if you decide to go the direct photography route, a 20D will do fine. But for best results you'll need a lens that gets the slides full screen.

[ehasler]

They should do - they're A4 scanners, and have adapters for M/F slides. I don't use one though, so hopefully someone that does can confirm?

[FunkyNige]

We have an Epson Perfect 2400 Photo, that comes with this adaptor thing for holding negatives and something else:



But it doesn't hold 2 1/4", it only holds 2" -



Maybe the mewer models hold different sizes.

HTH

[simpo two]

I suppose you could forget the holder, put the neg on the bed, crop in preview mode and just scan the area you want?

[beano500]

FunkyNige said:

Maybe the mewer models hold different sizes.

That's put the cat amongst the pigeons!

[FunkyNige]

simpo two said:

I suppose you could forget the holder, put the neg on the bed, crop in preview mode and just scan the area you want?

The holder lines the negs up to a white light on the inside of the lid that shines through the negatives when scanning. I'll take a pic to show you what I mean when I get home (back at work now).

Pic - the white bar on the lid lights up when it's folded down.



Are these the worst pics ever to grace the P&V forum?

>> Edited by FunkyNige on Friday 18th February 14:52

[te51cle]

The Epson 4870 and its successor will handle a couple of 5"x4" transparencies/negatives, 24 35mm negs, or up to 8 35mm slides at a time. I've scanned 6x7cm negs at full resolution and ended up with 400Meg images !

[Zad]

Just a note to say that flat bed scanners will give "ok" results, but because they scan through glass and at a fair distance from the transparency, there is a limit to the usable resolution. I use an Epson Perfection 1640SU which will scan at 1600x3200 dpi, but at that resolution you can see the degradation due to the scan method.

Mike