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Slides Duplicator, 4 Options for Converting Slides To Digital Format

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Slides Duplicator

Slides Duplicator, 4 Options for Converting Slides To Digital Format: Do you have slide carousels full of old family photos? Sadly, the images on those slides are likely fading as you read. Hence now is the time to digitise those memories for future generations.

Slides Duplicator, 4 Options for Converting Slides To Digital Format

Slides Duplicator

B/W Scanner | Slides Duplicator

Many flatbed scanners can also scan slides. Look for a scanner that can scan negatives and slides as well as paper photos and documents. Optical (not digital) resolution of at least 2400 dpi. Many flatbed scanners require extra transparency adapter attachment to scan slides; it may be included or purchased separately. A good scanning software bundle is also required for control over the final results, although Hamrick’s VueScan works well with most flatbed scanners. A flatbed scanner that scans slides well should have good user and editorial ratings.

Film Scanner | Slides Duplicator

The best way to digitise slides is with a high resolution film/slide scanner. They can be expensive, so only use them if you have thousands of slides to scan. Dedicated film scanners offer excellent resolution and control over the final image that professional scanning services do not.

Duplicator

A slide duplicator, or duper, is a good option for digitising your slides if you own a good digital SLR camera. A T-mount adapter ring replaces the lens on your DSLR camera. The duper’s other end has a sliding gate with two slides. An internal lens focuses the slide’s image onto your DSLR’s imaging plane so you can take a picture of it.

Even though slide duplicators are cheap and easy to use (you can take pictures directly onto your camera’s flash card), they don’t produce the same digital quality as a flatbed or film scanner. In most cases, image cropping is unavoidable. Most digital cameras also lack a scanner’s dynamic range, which affects the photo’s shadow detail. If want to print larger photos from slides, a 3200 optical dpi scanner is roughly equivalent to a 12-megapixel digital camera.

Expert Photo Shop

If you don’t have many slides or aren’t familiar with computers and software, you should hire a professional to scan them for you. Many such services are available online, but you may be better off checking with local photo labs. Shop around because prices and quality vary widely. Ask if Photoshop cleans and scans each slide individually. You won’t be happy with the quality if they batch scan.

Slide Scanning Tips

The key to good digital scans of your slides is clean slides. Dust both sides of each slide with compressed air, avoiding the emulsion. If your computer is old, it may not have enough memory or hard drive space to store all of the digital images. When scanning slides or photos, a USB external hard drive is ideal. We highly recommend scanning directly into a photo organization/editing programme like Photoshop Elements. This will save you time scanning as you can save naming files, cropping, rotating, etc. for later.

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