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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 28, 2011 - 09:56am PT
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I spent a part of yesterday evening going through my color slides (all Kodakchrome) and wishing they were available for electronic transmission and on-paper reproduction.
I found one on-line service available for $0.39 per slide and a 7 MB/ 2500 bpi transfer, and a 12 MB/ 3500 bpi copy is $0.49 per slide.
Any comments from the Taco Stand on which is capable of giving good prints and photos capable of being PU here on the web? I have several hundred slides for an initial order, and the $0.10 per slide difference isn't much unless I'm doing hundreds of them.
The vendor I found uses a Nikon 9000 system, and advertises that each slide is air cleaned and exposure and color balance are corrected manually.
I'm all ears!
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PhotogEC
climber
In front of my computer
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Apr 28, 2011 - 10:01am PT
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How large are the prints you want to make from the digital images? At either resolution, 8x10 or smaller will be perfectly fine. Larger than that, and you'll get your 10 cents worth by getting the higher resolution.
Personally, I'd pay for the higher resolution, regardless.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 28, 2011 - 10:14am PT
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PhotogEC--
Not so much the desire for straight 8"x10" enlargements, but some cropping and editing later on...I'll probably opt for the higher resolution on that basis alone.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Apr 28, 2011 - 10:21am PT
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Scan Cafe. Send as many as you want, buy 50 percent. Wait for specials. We paid 22 cents per. Good quality. Okay turnaround...for going to India and back!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 28, 2011 - 10:29am PT
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I've converted 1000s of slides with my Nikon CoolScan 4000 over the years... can't quite remember when I got the scanner, probably about 10 years ago... it has paid for itself mostly through the high resolution scans, at 4000 dpi, which will print on my Epson Ink Jet up to 12" x 18" at roughly 300 dpi.
The type of print you are making matters, but I usually keep my prints to greater than 300 dpi (Karl has advice on this too) just as a "rule-of-thumb."
My method first scans the slides at 1000 dpi, sufficient to see the quality of the image, mainly the focus but also the image composition, etc... if the image warrants, I then scan the slide at the higher resolution, 4000 dpi. However, at 1000 dpi you have more than enough resolution to post the image on the net at the conventional 800 x 533 pixel size (1.5 x 1 format) .jpg file keeping it all around 300 kB or so...
I've occasionally had slides scanned at 8000 dpi which allows 24"x36" prints to be made at 300 dpi, amazing when the subject and the focus warrant such treatment... and one of the advantages of film over digital (though photomontage can be used with the smaller sensors to achieve the same affect for some subjects).
If you only have a few hundred slides I'd be happy to put them in my slide scanner and go the first pass for you at 1000 to 2000 dpi, and having those pick out some that might be worthy of the higher resolution scans... send me email if you're interested...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 28, 2011 - 10:34am PT
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The Plustek 7600i @ $350 is the best deal going. The 7600Ai @ $450 is the same
machine but comes with Silverfast 'doctoring' software. For $80 you can
buy Vuescan Pro which isn't a huge savings but the advantage of the Vuescan
software is that it will work with any scanner should you change. The
Plustek 7600i is often on sale for $300 and sometimes less.
The Plusteks won't give you the quality of the Nikon 9000 so at fiddy cents
per slide sending them out is probably a better option. That said I rather
doubt they will do a totally bang-up job of restoring faded colors or color
balance but for fiddy cents how can you complain?
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 28, 2011 - 10:40am PT
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Ed-
Thanks for the offer! I found a real treasure trove of slides from some of my early 1980's climbs in Eldorado, the South Platte, and Joshua Tree; additionally some of my then-ten year old son climbing the Cookie Jar Crack, Nutcracker in Joshua Tree, and my wife leading Tulip on Trashcan Rock.
The pictures from Bishop Jaggers and Topographical Oceans in the Platte are incredible.
It's also nice to see oneself without a paunch and around 30 pounds lighter, still with hair and ....yes....my beard.
I'll let you know what I'm going to do. I'll send you a personal.
Rodger
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Apr 28, 2011 - 10:49am PT
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Rodger I can't wait to see your scans!
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ddriver
Trad climber
SLC, UT
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Apr 28, 2011 - 10:53am PT
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I kinda followed the Ed model. I bought a Minolta Dimage II refurbished off ebay about 10 years ago for about $200. It also does color and b&w negatives, btw. What they said. Scanning is slow business but does give you latitude to make corrections.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 28, 2011 - 10:59am PT
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Philo-
I even found about a dozen slides of my 1966 ascent with Patrick Oliver of the Diagonal on Longs!!
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S cole
Social climber
Urban hell
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Apr 28, 2011 - 11:13am PT
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Buy a scanner if you have more than a few hundred slides. I have scanned several thousand of my old pics, and still have thousands to go, way to expensive to pay for each scan. Scanners are cheap!
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 28, 2011 - 11:18am PT
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I'm gonna'get a handful done professionally; in the meantime be searching for a good scanner.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Apr 28, 2011 - 11:54am PT
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Scanning them yourself is a major major timesucking pain in the ass. The basic scan requires little creativity and they probably do it with a more expensive machine overseas.
Better to get the basics done in India and then devote your time in photoshop polishing the end result. You'll have less bleary eye and better results in the end.
Your time is worth more than what you save by doing the grunt work yourself
Peace
Karl
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, Ca
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Apr 28, 2011 - 02:19pm PT
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Is there a good professional place in the Bay Area where I could take a small strip of color-negatives to digitize? I don't mind paying more for a place that could clean and otherwise prepare old negatives for the best results.
Would much prefer KNOTT sending irreplaceable originals through the mail...
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Apr 28, 2011 - 03:16pm PT
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FAct: Your Camera wasn't made in the US
and doing it yourself stimulates no economy.
But if you can afford to have it done in the US, I'll all for it.
The best place to get the finest scan that could could never compete with using home gear is West Coast Imaging
http://www.westcoastimaging.com/
Prices start at $25 for a 50 MB scan and go to $275
Peace
Karl
Edit: The Costco scans are obviously much cheaper. I'd worry about the compression of 1.2 MB files. They might be perfect for archiving your memories. Not everyone need art-like quality.
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rectorsquid
climber
Lake Tahoe
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Apr 28, 2011 - 03:46pm PT
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The scanner will scan the film grain in any resolution. The benefit from high-res is that you can then shrink them, with all of the smoothing that Photoshop or other tools have, and get some really nice images.
I scan old postcards and the halftone nature of the prints causes some odd moire patterns to appear at lower scan resolutions. At higher scan resolutions, I can capture the halftone detail and then smooth it away by shrinking the image later with software.
Go go for the higher resolution if it's in your price range. It will absolutely not hurt and might end up better.
Dave
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 28, 2011 - 05:01pm PT
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Well...
I decided to check out Wal-Mart and had them do some terribly faded slides from the ascent of the Diagonal on the East Face of longs Peak in 1966. This was an experiment, and they copied them backwards, necessitating a vertical axis flip.
Here's one example:
The color correction was done at home as well as cropping the dark annulus.
The total cost was under two bucks for 7 slides. One hour service "in store."
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 28, 2011 - 05:07pm PT
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It was painful!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 28, 2011 - 06:01pm PT
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I am a proponent of scanning at home and seeking out help to tweak and correct the resulting files. Lots of folks such as Peter Haan are more up to date on current technology than I am and have already weighed in on the best options.
The worst outcome would be loss in the mail and that is a very real risk with a considerable cost offset to ship quickly and securely. We all have images that are losing quality...LOL
Glad to see that you are doing the right thing by scanning your slides and I hope that you report on your methods to encourage others to do the same.
Images, especially personal ones, really enhance the storytelling that makes the ST unique among the climbing forums.
Good on ya and I look forward to seeing the results!
Cheers!
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