[Lowell Goudge]

Many years ago now, I bought a minolta DImage II scanner.

I played with it for a while, but didn;t really seriously start scanning for about 3 years. A friend of mine made a comment similar to many made above that his slides were deteriorating, and he scanned them with his flat bed scanner as he watched TV at nights.

I decided that was the best way to go, (i.e. scan while doing something else), and began feeding the monster. The minolta could batch process 4 slides or 6 negatives. The reason I stuck with this was it gave 2880 dpi resolution when most flatbeds were 1200 dpi, and I could adjust each scan for best exposure before scanning, therefore getting optimum scans. the scanner was not fast however.

It was a 3 year project of scanning, whenever possible. that was 21000 images ago! I've been done for over a year and now onto the next challenge, sorting it all out. Fortunately the slides all have process dates on them, so I know they were shot before a certain date, and most negatives were still in the origonal processing envelopes with process dates, so I had a good start.

Fortunately for me, I only found maybe 100 degraded images, mostly C41 process or E6 process, where I suspect the fixer bath was not properly done. None of the Kodachrome images had degraded.

[cardinal43]

21,000 slides???? I have about 4,500 and I'm not sure I will ever find the time to scan them. Hopefully, the keeper of the currency will "allow" me to finally retire, and then I will have the time.

[Lowell Goudge]

21,000 slides???? I have about 4,500 and I'm not sure I will ever find the time to scan them. Hopefully, the keeper of the currency will "allow" me to finally retire, and then I will have the time.

that's why I used a scanner, you can get a service (in india I think) at $0.19 per frame, but do the math, a good scanner is a lot less.

Also using a copy lens on a camera requires good control of lighting and color balance, plus, I don't want an additional 21,000 cycles on my shutter, 1 or 2 maybe for a special shot or copy but not 21,000

[Mike Bokeh]

It was a 3 year project of scanning, whenever possible. that was 21000 images ago!

21,000 ?!?

WOW!

I don't know how many I have, but I'd say it's in the 3,000 - 5,000 range.

I'm also not in a hurry at all, and will probably scan only the most memorable ones, the ones with family members in them. I'm thinking about 25%.

Thanks for all the ideas and comments, guys & gals; please keep them coming.

I'm reading them all, but I'm taking my time.

I still have a new lensbaby to put through some extensive tests.

Mike

[ncinpa]

I have an Epsom V350 that will scan two slides at a time. That is less of a problem than I thought it would be. The two at a time limitation forced me to look critically at slides and decide which ones I really wanted to convert to digital. And that in and of itself was a useful exercise for me. I have been pleased and surprised with the quality of the conversion.