Converting slides to digital images

[pipanale]

Does anyone have a scanner they can recommend? We picked up 20 years worth of slides out of my father-in-law's garage last weekend...including a 1967 honeymoon on St Thomas.

I've got 16 carousels and several boxes...a lot of pictures.

What kind should I get? Based on rates to send them out to be converted, I figure I can spend at least $200 and still come out ahead of the game.

Thanks!

[promoguy]

http://tinyurl.com/3b9y3k2

This is the one I bought. It has done a good enough job for me. I too have hundreds of slides. I started off doing great and then lost interest. Started again and lost interest. I think it's all part of the process of doing the conversions to digital. Also, I had to do a lot of annoying cleanup in a post processing program. You might want to spend a bit more and get a good flatbed scanner that has ICE software. My understanding is that as you scan the images are cleaned up. If you want, go the link I have below. One of the galleries are scanned slides and some black and white negatives. A caveat. It's a lot of effin' work...LOL

[Anthony]

I don't know about doing it yourself - it can take a while. There are a lot of people who will send them overseas to be done and it seems pretty reasonable. I am not saying don't do it yourself - but you do have to put the time equation in there. And probably the less expensive the machine, the longer it will take to scan.

[promoguy]

Anthony is correct. Probably one of the reason I haven't done more is the time it takes. I probably scan those that if I were send them out I wouldn't. Check out scancafe.com. They say on their website .29 per scan. They always send me offers for less. And they send you them back all cleaned up. I'm not sure how many, but you're allowed to view on line the scans and reject a certain amount. Anthony, I think you've talked me into looking into send them out again, lol

[pipanale]

We went through a few carousels last night...wife sitting with a box of tissues. I think we need to go thru them all and pull out the ones she'd want to keep. Then, once I have that pile, I'll have to figure out how to go about converting them. Do I "trust" a company to take them overseas and convert them? Are there any loss prevention measures or refunds they offer?

[Anthony]

That would be my number 1 concern about having someone else do them - what if they don't come back! Maybe you can dupe them first locally (even more money!)

[mbw1024]

I did ours with a device similar to what Promoguy is showing. I didn't not have as many as you. I collected all the slides from various family members in December and I had a slide show on DVD ready for our family vacation in Maine. It took many weekends at the kitchen table to get it all done. I would set out a pile each weekend that I had to complete before doing anything else. It was a chore but worth it.
That being said I did not do a lot of post processing. These slides were not in great shape to begin with and were mainly from the 50's and 60's.
It was still worth it to be able to view them with everyone again.