There are a couple of ways you can convert your slides to digital images on your computer. But first, why would you want to do this, you might ask? Perhaps you’re perfectly happy looking at your slides on your old slide viewer. Well, there are a couple of reasons, some more important than others.
- In digital format, your slides will be preserved forever. This will make them immune to the elements such as mould, damp, dirt and dust.
- Your slides will look better. That’s right, scanning them into your computer means the slides can be displayed on an LCD display or TV screen, which can offer improved quality over an old slide projector. Plus, you’ll be able to give each slide a good dusting before scanning it, meaning that any dirt which may impose on the picture quality will be removed.
- You can share your slides with others. The images you scan can be emailed to family, or uploaded to Facebook and shared with friends.
So, you’ve gone down into the basement and dusted off a box of your old slides from that trip to Florida. How best do you go about converting slides to digital formats? There is no easy answer to this question, as it all depends on your budget and how much free time you have. To help you decide, three of the main techniques to digitizing slides are outlined below.
Flatbed Scanner
A flatbed scanner is a common tool in the family computer room, and often comes equipped with attachments to scan in slides. If your scanner comes with one of these attachments, you can use it to convert slides to digital formats, but you might find that the quality is not as good as some other techniques. Slides scanned using a flatbed scanner attachment often lack contrast, and the technique can bring out dust and other artifacts which reduce the quality of the final image.
Flatbed scanner adapter for 35mm slides
Dedicated Slide Scanner
Dedicated slide scanners are becoming more and more popular and cheaper for consumers to access. Most of these scanners work based on the projection principle, where the slide is illuminated from behind, and then projected onto an image sensor similar to those found in today’s digital cameras. These types of scanners can produce good results when used correctly. There are a large number of dedicated slide scanners available and they all have different features, so it is important to read slide converter reviews before you buy one. For example, some scanners support the loading of multiple slides, which can make it a lot quicker to rapidly scan numerous 35mm slides. Other scanners have better quality image sensors which will improve the final quality of the picture.
Dedicated slide converter
Professional Services
Of course, none of the methods above are a substitute for professional slide scanning services. If you can afford it, or simply don’t have the time to scan slides yourself, it is worthwhile to have a professional convert slides to digital for you. Professionals will provide the care and attention that your slides need, individually cleaning and dusting each one, before using their industry-grade scanners to convert slides at the highest resolution possible. Your slides will be delivered to you on a DVD or flash drive in JPG, TIFF or sometimes RAW formats. You can then easily share these slides with friends.
When selecting a professional service, it’s important to consider the location of the provider – if you want to drop off your slides, choose local, if you don’t mind posting them away, you might be able to find cheaper services elsewhere. There is always an inherent risk sending your slides to somebody else for processing, so if you value your images and don’t feel like you can trust a company to give them the attention they deserve, you might be better off investing in your own slide converter.
There are many different products and services on the market to help you convert slides to digital formats. A little bit of background research into the topic can go a long way into helping you decide which method is best for your needs.