slide conversion

[gimlit]

can anyone suggest a hardware solution to converting 35mm slides to cd on an iMac?

 

[MacInWin]

You will need a high resolution scanner. I have had a scanner from here: http://plustek.com

Works well. A bit old now, but they do have some very nice scanners.

 

[pm-r]

can anyone suggest a hardware solution to converting 35mm slides to cd on an iMac?

Depending on the number of slides, and your budget, and your time, you may want to check into having a service do them for you.

Our local COSTCO had a special on just such a thing not too long ago.

 

[chscag]

Depending on the number of slides, and your budget, and your time, you may want to check into having a service do them for you.

Actually, that's probably the most cost effective way and will save you time. Office Depot, Staples, Costco, and other places offer the service. Check for the best price.

 

[gimlit]

Thanks for the suggestions, will follow those leads up.

 

[RadDave]

Thanks for the suggestions, will follow those leads up.

Hi Gimlit - you've already received great advice, but about 4 years ago (just into retirement), I decided to select and scan the many boxes of 35 mm slides that I owned going back to the 1970s (hundreds!) - I had a Canon 9000F scanner (shown below) w/ a transparency adapter (right side of pic) - the highest resolution for this machine is 9600 dpi - so if you want to do the job yourself, a good quality scanner w/ a similar adapter and high resolution is needed - these high quality scanners are not cheap, so the suggestion to used a third party service is likely your best option - you might want to obtain an estimate because you have not given us a 'number', i.e. do your have a couple of hundred slides or thousands?

Just a few other points based on my experience: 1) Cull out the slides you do not want - I looked closely at all of my slides, many were poor, some were duplicates, and others were of little interest - I discarded well over half of the slides, so be merciless - you will save money and/or time; 2) For the slides that you want scanned, make sure that their surfaces are absolutely clean - even the tiniest speck(s) will be magnified - I used a magnifying glass and an appropriate slide brush; of course, imaging software can be used to remove these specks during (as in my case) and/or after scanning. Good luck and let us know your results. Dave
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