«

Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
question recently.

My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.

She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
is more than my mom wants to spend.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.

Thanks,

Sky

On 02/08/2010 09:04, Skylamar Jones wrote:
> Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
> question recently.
>
> My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
> the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
> them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.
>
> She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
> cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
> is more than my mom wants to spend.
>
> I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
> digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
> Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.

Digitizing slides at home is extremely labor intensive, unless you have
one of these very expensive Nikon scanners with all their expensive
options that make it just plain labor intensive.

I'm facing the very same problem (except I'd be the one doing the
scanning) but I'm taking another route: reduce my Dad's 3000 slides to a
set of 100-200 worth passing to the next generations.

--
Bertrand

"Skylamar Jones" <> wrote in message
news:skylamar-...
> Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
> question recently.
>
> My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
> the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
> them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.
>
> She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
> cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
> is more than my mom wants to spend.
>
> I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
> digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
> Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sky

Here is a DIY approach. (costs nothing)
http://www.blighty.co.za/brsd/
Probably not for your Mom, but maybe you could do it for her.

Then you could have a select few properly scanned if you want large prints,
etc.

MG

Skylamar Jones wrote:
>
> Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
> question recently.
>
> My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
> the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
> them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.
>
> She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
> cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
> is more than my mom wants to spend.
>
> I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
> digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
> Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sky

does your mom have a computer etc? or is it feasible to put them onto
dvd discs or something like that for her? I don't know about prices
in america but I am sure the cost of slide scanners is coming down.
certainly you should be able to get a reasonable one for a lot cheaper
than the money you mentioned it would cost to have it done
professionally. having sid that many of the reviews I have read don't
make them sound exactly great. another option is the scanner with
slide facility, this one seems to have a good standing
Canoscan 5600F Film and Slide Scanner


--
Paul (we break easy)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

On Aug 2, 2:04*am, Skylamar Jones <skyla...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
> question recently.
>
> My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
> the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
> them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.
>
> She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
> cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
> is more than my mom wants to spend.
>
> I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
> digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
> Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sky

A real good machine for scanning and printing is a Canon MP printer, I
did about 300 quality Kodachromes that came out great. 3000 will take
forever, so go through them to weed out what isnt the best, mine only
does 8 at a time and its slow to do. Costco probably wont scan at the
highest resolution, but I have no idea on the quality that you have,
maybe have them do a few. If they are faded and not quality it may not
matter. There are also attachments to do it on a camera and even
projecting them then photographing them is an option if quality never
was there. it all depends on what you have in quality now.

Ofnuts wrote:
> On 02/08/2010 09:04, Skylamar Jones wrote:
>> Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
>> question recently.
>>
>> My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
>> the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
>> them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.
>>
>> She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
>> cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
>> is more than my mom wants to spend.
>>
>> I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
>> digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
>> Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.
>
> Digitizing slides at home is extremely labor intensive, unless you have
> one of these very expensive Nikon scanners with all their expensive
> options that make it just plain labor intensive.
>
> I'm facing the very same problem (except I'd be the one doing the
> scanning) but I'm taking another route: reduce my Dad's 3000 slides to a
> set of 100-200 worth passing to the next generations.
>
My first thought, too. Go through them with her, make notes and mark the
ones really worth keeping.
Good luck!

--
john mcwilliams

On 02/08/2010 09:04, Skylamar Jones wrote:
> Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
> question recently.
>
> My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
> the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
> them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.
>
> She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
> cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
> is more than my mom wants to spend.
>
> I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
> digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
> Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sky

Comme to think of it... if you have a decent camera, there are slide
duplicators such as this:

<http://www.soligor.de/src/product_details.php?cPath=134_232&pid=47900&langua ge=en>

This is a bit faster than the scanner.

--
Bertrand

On Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:16:49 -0400, John McWilliams
<> wrote:

>Ofnuts wrote:
>> On 02/08/2010 09:04, Skylamar Jones wrote:
>>> Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
>>> question recently.
>>>
>>> My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
>>> the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
>>> them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.
>>>
>>> She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
>>> cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
>>> is more than my mom wants to spend.
>>>
>>> I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
>>> digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
>>> Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.
>>
>> Digitizing slides at home is extremely labor intensive, unless you have
>> one of these very expensive Nikon scanners with all their expensive
>> options that make it just plain labor intensive.
>>
>> I'm facing the very same problem (except I'd be the one doing the
>> scanning) but I'm taking another route: reduce my Dad's 3000 slides to a
>> set of 100-200 worth passing to the next generations.
>>
>My first thought, too. Go through them with her, make notes and mark the
>ones really worth keeping.
>Good luck!

I think most of us of a certain age have gone through this with either
their own slides or slides taken by a parent. I did, and I culled the
slides down to about 10% "keepers" and scanned them myself.

The process of weeding them out is quite enjoyable. Going through the
slides brings back a lot of memories. The process of scanning is less
enjoyable, but can be done over a period of time.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

"tony cooper" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:16:49 -0400, John McWilliams
> <> wrote:
>
>>Ofnuts wrote:
>>> On 02/08/2010 09:04, Skylamar Jones wrote:
>>>> Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
>>>> question recently.
>>>>
>>>> My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
>>>> the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
>>>> them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.
>>>>
>>>> She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
>>>> cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
>>>> is more than my mom wants to spend.
>>>>
>>>> I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
>>>> digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
>>>> Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.
>>>
>>> Digitizing slides at home is extremely labor intensive, unless you have
>>> one of these very expensive Nikon scanners with all their expensive
>>> options that make it just plain labor intensive.
>>>
>>> I'm facing the very same problem (except I'd be the one doing the
>>> scanning) but I'm taking another route: reduce my Dad's 3000 slides to a
>>> set of 100-200 worth passing to the next generations.
>>>
>>My first thought, too. Go through them with her, make notes and mark the
>>ones really worth keeping.
>>Good luck!
>
> I think most of us of a certain age have gone through this with either
> their own slides or slides taken by a parent. I did, and I culled the
> slides down to about 10% "keepers" and scanned them myself.
>
> The process of weeding them out is quite enjoyable. Going through the
> slides brings back a lot of memories. The process of scanning is less
> enjoyable, but can be done over a period of time.
> --
> Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida


Certainly, it is good advice to cull out the slides that have little or not
compelling reason to keep them. I also have been through this with my own
and my father's slides. Went from around 3500 to around 800.
Second, there are a number of flat bed scanners that can scan slides and
color film as well as opaque materials. These scanners are not as expensive
as a good slide scanner and will have a useful life beyond scanning the
slides.

Regards,

Gordo

On Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:04:28 -0700, Skylamar Jones wrote:

> Hi. I'm new to this group so I don't know if someone posted a similar
> question recently.
>
> My mom has 3000 slides taken by my dad, who has passed away. Because of
> the space the slides take up in her home, my mom is weeding through
> them, looking at them manually using a slide projector.
>
> She isn't that computer savvy but she told me that Costco charges 29
> cents per slide for digitizing them. For 3000 slides that's $870 which
> is more than my mom wants to spend.
>
> I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas for
> digitizing slides such as using a company that's cheaper/better than
> Costco or a buying/renting good scanner that my mom can use at home.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sky

TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) applies here. You
can buy a decent flatbed scanner with slide/negative scanning
capabilities for around $100. It would then take a LONG time to process
them adequately. You might actually get through a few hundred before you
gave up. Strongly suggest you do a web search (google is one) to try and
find a lower cost solution.