Kodak Photomaker??

[drgnfly30]

I came across slides of our families 1972 trip to the Magic Kingdom (I was 4!).. I was thinking about doing a "30th Anniversary" page in my scrapbook for my upcoming WDW trip... Has anyone used the Kodak Picturemaker? Comments, cost?

I'd love to get a scanner that accomodates 35mm slides (ALL of my fathers photos are on slides-he was a photographer at heart & there are thousands of slides in my closet!!

 

[J&D]

I have used the Kodak Picturemaker several times and have been pleased with the results. It depends on where you go, but I think it usually costs $6.99/sheet.

 

[drgnfly30]

Is it one photo (in choice of sizes etc..) per sheet or do they let you do lets say 3 different 4x6's on one sheet?? If it's $6.99 per photo, then it would be cheaper for me just to get prints from the photo lab... There was only one that needed some cropping..

 

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

I've never used it, but it's my understanding that you can choose the size of your photo/number of photos per sheets. Like an 8x10 or it's equivalent in smaller photos.

 

[GrammieMame]

I use this a lot, usually to enlarge and crop a 4 x 6 into a 5 x 7. However, I have taken an 8 x 10 piece of plain white paper and used photo splits to paste photos on. However many you can get on the sheet, it will generate an 8 x 10 copy, then you can cut them into 4 x 6 for use in your album. I have found that when doing older pictures, they do much better if I take the green color down 2 notches and add a notch of either blue or red, depending on the picture. The old pictures seem to have a lot of green tone that doesn't copy well.

 

[J&D]

it's my understanding that you can choose the size of your photo/number of photos per sheets

That is correct. Here is what you can get on one sheet:

1 8X10
9 wallets
3 4X6
4 3.5X5
2 5X7

If it's $6.99 per photo, then it would be cheaper for me just to get prints from the photo lab...

Yes, if you have the negatives and you don't want to edit your originals, then it is usually cheaper to just get prints.

 

[Janice]

Hi Christine - I am in the UK, and have not heard of Kodak Photomaker, so dont really know what you are talking about, but thought I would tell you about my experiences with Slides.

We had a period of time when we had our films developed into slides (late 70's, early 80's) and have literally hundreds. It costs about one UK pound to get a photo printed from one slide here (about 60 cents) and looking at the amount I wanted it was going to cost a small fortune, plus it takes a couple of weeks at a time!

So I shopped around and bought a scanner that has an adaptor that enables you to print your own photographs from developed slides or negatives. It is an Epson Perfection 1250 Photo. It cost me here 100 UK pounds but I know that you are able to buy this sort of equipment for a lot less $$$ in the United States than we are here in the UK.

I have printed some pictures off already and I have to say it is excellent quality - I am delighted with it.

I know this may not have been what you were originally asking, but thought I would share this info just in case it helped you as you have lots of slides

 

[drgnfly30]

Janice- Actually getting a scanner that accomodates 35mm slides is something I've been considering... my dad passed away last year & the thought of having all that "history" to go to waste sitting in a closet is sad My primary goal would be to save them on a cd & make prints of my favorites, but with 4 decades of slides I have hundreds of favorites!! I've checked into the photo lab but they are a bit pricey for reprints!
I was looking at reviews of the Epson 1250; the 2450 got better reviews but it is closer to $400! Is the 1250 slow to scan or difficult to get the settings just right (some things I've read)? Also what type of printer do you use? I'm not thrilled with the quality of mine for photos....

BTW the Kodak Photomaker is a "vending" machine at local walmarts etc.. that are essentially scanner/printers with photo editing software...

 

[Janice]

Hi Christine - well, I cant believe the similarity in our reasons for reproducing prints from Slides!!! My dad also passed away last July and this has been one of my main reasons for taking up scrapbooking and of course, this leads on to wanting to reproduce the slides!

Well - to answer your questions, I use an Epson Stylus Color 760 printer. Probably not the best in the world, but I have been more than happy with the photographs I have been able to re-produce. I just make sure the printer settings in the PC are set right, Inkjet Photo Quality Paper, Photo enhance Quality etc., and use the best quality paper I can afford, Kodak is quite good here and I stock up when it is on special offer.

I found the Epson scanner easy to install, I am a bit of a techie impaired person, so have to follow strict written instructions and I managed it fine. I have not mastered how to save the pictures from the slides to CD yet - I am sure you must be able to do it, but I haven't got that far yet - but printing them out is easy peasy.

I have a slide viewer, I look at my slides through this first to select which ones I want to print off, then print following the instructions on screen.

I have emailed Epson asking how to save to my PC or Disc but haven't heard back yet. The Customer Service in the UK is pretty abysmal and the US Customer Service dont always reply to enquiries from the UK. I'll keep trying though.

I know you wont be able to actually see the quality first hand - but I have some of the pictures I've produced from slides on the layouts in my link in my signature. The ones of my daughter Katie as a baby (Welcoming Katie) in particular.

The scanner I had before was a Mustek Bearpaw and it drove me nuts - so this one for me is brilliant. Quick, simple and easy. I only use it for scanning my layouts, photos etc so it is adequate at the money I paid.

Thanks for the explanation about the Vending thing - we have absolutely nothing like that here............we are just so behind the times!!!!!!!!! LOL

Hope this helps - if you wany any further info, I'll do my best!

 

[BevS97]

Hey Janice -
we have the Kodak Photomaker over here! i've seen it or similiar in Kodak shops, Jessops and Boots, - it's pretty expensive though so I don't usually bother with it.

If you just want a direct copy of a print, then Klick have a machine that will do A4 for around £3 - you can either enlarge a small photo, or have 4 4x6 pictures copied - the Klick machine doesn't let you edit the picture though. I used it quite a bit for my dad's album as I didn't want to mess with his originals.

Bev

 

[Janice]

<<Make note to oneself to take more notice when in shops!>>

............and me a renowned Shopaholic Bev? LOL

I honestly didnt know we had that sort of stuff here - but then again, I used to get my films developed at Costco's.

LOL

 

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

I'm taking this all in as someday I would like to update my printer. I had no idea that there were scanners out there that would give you the ability to print photos from slides! My husband and I will have been married for 5 years this fall and together for 8. His parents have a zillion slides of him as a baby and I STILL am waiting to see them. Apparently they are in the attic. Now that I know I can make actual prints from these slides (well once I get my hands on one of those printers), I will be a constant nag about seeing those slides!