35 mm Slides to Digital

[Hokie]

What is the best option for scanning older 35 mm slides? I have about 200 of these I would like to get on CD. Sams Club wants $0.20 per slide to do this. I think that is probably too much. Any ideas?

[Ready4Change]

1. Slide scanners are available.

I've no idea what they cost. But at $.20 a slide, Sams Club might be cheaper.

[salvorhardin]

2. 20 cents per slide seems fair

If you were to have them processed in any way (color correction, dust/scratch removal, etc.) then you could expect to pay about $1 per slide.

[jayfish]

3. Do You Really Want To Leave That Up To Sam's Club?

I'd go with a scanner that has slide scanning capability. You can probably find a decent, used one on eBay.

Jay

[salvorhardin]

4. I wasn't suggesting the OP leave color correction, etc. up to Sam's Club

They were asking if it was a fair price. It is. Chances are they'll do fine with the slides though. It depends on what the OP is looking for. It may not be in their budget to buy a slide scanner for a one-off project.

[Hokie]

5. It appears this is a decent price

I forgot to ask them what resolution they scan them. It appears that 600 dpi is the minimum you want. Slide scanners run anywhere from $200 to $2000 depending on quality and automation. I found some on line sites that do this but the prices were $0.29 and up depending upon the quantity.

[salvorhardin]

6. Re: Resolution

4800dpi is what I would recommend as a minimum. It depends on your intended use. If you plan on making large prints (8" x 10" and up) then you want the highest resolution possible. Also, see if you can find out what equipment they use and check it out online to see if it's decent quality.

[idiosyncratic]

7. I bought an HP PhotoSmart slide scanner on eBay

I had hundreds of slides to scan, so it was worth the investment . . .

I thought.

The scanner broke down after a couple hundred slides and HP wanted a $100.00 to replace it with a refurbished unit.