Digital converter for slide and negatives

[Michele]

Anyone seen or heard of this before? Maybe I'm behind the times, but it's new to me.

I saw it in Walmart yesterday. $99.97

 

[boBQuincy]

It partly depends on what level of quality you are looking for. My brother bought one of these and returned it the next day, the quality was not what he was looking for.

Slides are easier than negatives, some slide duplicators fit on a dSLR and give good results.

 

[bob100]

It partly depends on what level of quality you are looking for. My brother bought one of these and returned it the next day, the quality was not what he was looking for.

Slides are easier than negatives, some slide duplicators fit on a dSLR and give good results.

I've got very good results of digitizing slides by just putting the slide on the end of a short 4 in. cardboard tube (macro mode)

 

[11290]

Check out this link for a method of copying slides:

http://www.pbase.com/lowthian/digitizing_old_slides

 

[handicap18]

A bunch of us, last year IIRC, were discussing how best to convert slides to digital.

YEKCIM came up with the idea to use your digital camera (dSLR is even better especially with a sharp prime lens) and photograph the slide as it is displayed on a the screen. You'll have to crop it once it is downloaded, but it is very easy and pretty quick. Use a sharp aperture, low ISO, tripod and remote shutter release.

I tried doing it 2 ways. One way with a slide scanner and one way with my Nikon D50 and 50mm f/1.8 lens. In the end my D50 was easier to use and needed less post processing for contrast and saturation and things like that. Only really needed to crop it.

 

[DueyDooDah]

Then there's this. It takes a bit getting used to but once you have it, i's pretty nice. It attaches to your dSLR lens via an adapter, much like a filter. It can also be used as a +10 close up lens.

 

[Shutterbug]

I have a minolta slide/negative scanner.
I get good results but just time consuming especially if there is dust on the negatives or slides

 

[seashoreCM]

Anyone seen or heard of this before? Maybe I'm behind the times, but it's new to me.
I saw it in Walmart yesterday. $99.97

Does it say on the box anything about the "resolution"?

I would want at least 2400 dpi optical (non-interpolated) resolution equalling about 2400x3600 for a 35mm slide or negative. Serious photographers often want twice that. About 1000 dpi will make satisfactory HDTV (1080i; 1080p) quality pictures. About 800 dpi will make satisfactory office or eBay or Flickr (XGA; 720p) quality pictures.

Using a macro tube or photographing a slide as projected on a screen will introduce any lens aberrations of the new taking camera into the finished picture..

Digital camera hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/digicam.htm

 

[Groucho]

Does it say on the box anything about the "resolution"?

I would want at least 2400 dpi optical (non-interpolated) resolution equalling about 2400x3600 for a 35mm slide or negative. Serious photographers often want twice that. About 1000 dpi will make satisfactory HDTV (1080i; 1080p) quality pictures. About 800 dpi will make satisfactory office or eBay or Flickr (XGA; 720p) quality pictures.

A couple years ago, I called one of the top local "pro" color labs to see if they do slide/negative scanning. They claimed to use a drum scanner, and I asked the resolution and was told 300 dpi. I explained that there's no way they're using high-end scanning equipment and scanning the negative/slide at 300 dpi and they argued that they were the best in town. I'm sure they meant that you could print at 300 dpi, but at what size? Some places just can't grasp the digital way of things...

I haven't tried using a macro lens for photographing a slide, but that's exactly what macro lenses were originally designed for. A proper macro lens should be nearly free of any aberrations and be consistently sharp across the frame.

 

[Gdad]

Then there's this. It takes a bit getting used to but once you have it, i's pretty nice. It attaches to your dSLR lens via an adapter, much like a filter. It can also be used as a +10 close up lens.

That is interesting- have you used this? And if so can you post an example?

 

[boBQuincy]

The old duplicator lenses still work well and can be found on eBay for low prices:
http://cgi.ebay.com/SLIDE-DUPLICATO...oryZ3323QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Those of you with full frame dSLRs (you know who you are<G>) have it easy, the duplicator works as is. Those of us with 1.6x crop cameras may have to adjust the camera-to-lens distance by moving the threaded barrel or adding spacers to the internal lens.

The results are good, film grain is even visible:

It works for negatives but the conversion is too much work to be worthwhile.