On Jan 20, 2006, at 3:45 PM, Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
First off, no matter how you look at it and how you do it, it's
going to
cost you money. More money if you don't want to do it manually
yourself
spending two weeks full time nonstop.
2.000 slides is certainly going to take a long time. I'm going
through about 1,000 of my own at the moment and the 35mm stuff is
taking about 45 mins per slide for scanning, retouching and entering
its info into a database. Medium format is taking longer because the
files are about double the size and there's more dust involved. I
could shorten the time by quite a bit but I've optimised for quality
over speed in the scanning process.
Be aware that the technical knowledge and understanding of the so-
called
professionals in town is non-existant. They're nice people, but
completely clueless as soon as it comes to dividing two numbers
(essential for assessing quality). I'm not kidding.
Much of the experience I've had echoes this statement. On the other
side of the fence, they'll be able to tell you all sorts of
interesting stories about their customers :)
A good slide projector and a good digital camera, set up carefully,
may
do the job.
The best method I can think of involves a digital SLR with
appropriate macro lens and a slide copier, although sensor crop-
factors can get in the way of this.
Either of those methods would be very fast as the digital capture is
pretty much instantaneous.
Make sure you're sitting down (and your other half isn't looking over
your shoulder) when you look up the prices for film scanners. Actually
they've got cheap - $2000 (they used to be $4000), plus $1000 for an
automatic feeder. Buying a used one would help. There are some good
ones, and many I wouldn't look at twice, let alone pay for. They do
become obsolete too, though not nearly as fast as digital cameras.
The prices have fallen dramatically because the bottom fell out of
the market once digital SLRs became popular. New scanners right now
are a bargain. Get something with dICE unless you want to spend the
rest of your life removing dust spots. It helps to blow the dust off
both sides of the slide before it goes in the scanner. I use a
blower-brush with the brush detached. Don't use your lungs or you'll
end up with spit on the slide. Do not even think about using canned-
air.
Used scanners can be an excellent deal if you get the right one.
After I upgraded I sold my old HP S20 scanner to a colleague who
wanted to scan a large batch of slides (that scanner was Windows-
only, unfortunately). He got it for a lot less than I did :(
I doubt there will be any new models coming out so obsolescence is
not likely to be a problem anymore (I suppose they're all obsolete
already).
I save myself pointing out that film is
film, whether it's positive or negative is not something the scanner
ever cares about.
Some scanner software is absolute crap at dealing with negatives. I
hear Vuescan is quite good but I've not used it.
Think about storage. Remember CD-R is spelled D V D.
Get GOOD blanks - longevity depends both on the dye and the disc
manufacturing process. Store them properly. Make two copies and
store them independently. Check them on a regular basis. You
seriously don't want to lose your files just because your house
burned down with the original slides still inside.
You will also need to think about how, if at all, the files will be
indexed.
- Dave
