Re: digitizing slides advice??

[eric nelson <emanphoto@gmail.com>]

Heh, I'd settle for a tent lakeside at this point.

I don't have any experience with your volume of scanning but since quality is an issue for getting good digi-negs, I'd decide what that level of quality is vs how much is being charged for it, plus factor the risks of sending originals to the vendor.

If you go the DIY route, there is an automatic method using the Nikon 5000 and a mounted slide feeder attachment where you can set it up to scan a stack of up to 50 slides and walk away.  Someone who's worked this way can contribute further as to quality and speed.  My experience with scanning older slides is that they are always dirty and having built in software like ICE (as the Nikon does) would be a godsend.  It does slow down the process whether using and Epson or Nikon as it takes time for the software to do it's thing.

On Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 8:44 AM, Christina Z. Anderson <zphoto@montana.net> wrote:

Dear All,
I know that some of you who have worked as professional photographers for many years or have inherited family pictures have this same problem.

I inherited over 25,000 slides/negatives from my family of origin--both my parents were very much into photography. No one else in the family wants to handle them so it fell to me. To be even more accurate--25,000 slides, 1400 bw large format negs, 3500 16x20 imagesetter negs, and untold numbers of medium format color film.

Over the years I have brutally culled that collection first to 8000, then 5000, then now about 2500 (tho I didn't remove all the past husbands of the 7 divorces in my family of origin much to my sisters' chagrin--too much "revisionist history" for me). That is the absolute lowest amount I can cut it down to. There is just too much historical and excellent "vernacular" work in there to throw out.

I have a student scanning the large format BW negs for me, I can scan some of these images myself with my flatbed and my Canon 35mm.  But there are 400 glass slides in there as well.  I have found a place in Michigan that will scan these for me, but it is not cheap.

I cannot tell you how many hours/days/weeks/years I have spent doing this. I am not completely complaining, because the Family of Origin project on my website is primarily from these images.  But I was wondering what choices any of you have made with this issue of digitizing your former film/slide images? And how much can you expect to pay for this kind of service?

The nice thing, of course, with the digitizing process is all those great gum diginegs that can be produced from it.  The sad thing is there is NOTHING that comes close to kodachrome with a great 35mm lens.  I don't know what lens my mom had on her Nikon but the images are just glorious, some of them. I am waxing poetic about the "good ol' days" here I suppose, but I am a sucker for nostalgia, and when "lake living" in MN actually meant an unwinterized teeny cabin on the lake with barefoot summers instead of 20,000 sq.ft. second homes.
Chris


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Christina Z. Anderson
http://christinaZanderson.com/
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