We have 35 years of family slides that I want to preserve by digitizing them. Video taping them is not satisfactory, especially for vertical shots, and too much is lost in the copying as well as fading in a short time. Has anyone been successful in doing this with a digital camera? I've experimented with it briefly, and it seems to offer great possibilities. A rear projection screen is needed, and use of a tripod of course. I presently have an Oly 340L, but will go for the C2020Z if I decide to do this.

Secondly, I can put them on a CDRW disk using my computer CD writer, but all I can do with them is view them on the monitor, or print them from the CD. Does anyone know if a Digital Video Disk player would accept my CD with still pics on it, so I could show them on a Television monitor? And if so, how would I advance from one pic to the next? Or are there any other solutions? How about a compact disk projector, that would project the CD contents on a screen, as a regular slide projector would?

-- Agnew Rovane (agrovane@interl.net), February 17, 2000

Answers

Depending on the macro capability of the camera you use, you may find it easier to focus direcly on the slide and backlight the slide with a neutral white light source (daylight reflected off a white surface). You will probably get a sharper and more saturated image that way. The format on the CD is different from the DVD and you won't be able to drop it into a DVD player. One approach (depending on your budget) would be to invest in an LCD projector which could hook up to your pc monitor connection. You could then run a variety of screen show programs that would display your photos and even include sound and special transitions. A good projector will cost more than your camera. Compaq makes a lightwight one with a pretty bright projected image for about $3,000.

Finally, some cameras will let you load images onto the flash card and have built-in software to run your own slide show by connecting the camera to your TV set. I can do this with my Canon A50. Good Luck!

-- Dennis Pereira (dpereira@ultranet.com), February 17, 2000.

I just ordered an attachment for the CP950 that allows one photograph slides. I have been told it does a good job.

Their is a DVD writer but I don't know if is compatible with TV DVD's.

However, if you look at this from a long range plan, I sure it is going to take some time to get those 35 years of family slides over to digital format. Why not get started on that phase why you are trying solve the second half. How good are those 35 year old slides? I think some of mine have started to wash out. I know the photos have.

I put all my digitals to cd-rom. I wrote a program that build's html files to view the cd-rom. So anyone with a computer and a browser can view the photos.

-- Dave Clark (daveclark@mail.com), February 18, 2000.

You have for the moment two options,

The first comes from the previous poster Go on the internet, and search the html programming (html 4.0, html 3.2,) sites using the common search engines for html programs that make thumbnail databases or contact sheets of all imported images. If you're importing common file formats, that should be accepted by the program. Some programs allow the web site to include the contact sheet so the public can view them.

Kodak makes photo-cds. There is a way, although maybe not publicaly available, whereby people can store their images onto the PHOTOCD, and view it normally on a dvd player........I might be wrong, but I believe its a dvd player. Its very popular and giving 1-800-GO-KODAK might help.

-- Mr. Epstein (nospam@noemail.com), February 20, 2000.

Agnew:

To show your pictures on a TV screen you need a "scan converter". This is a device which connects between your computer and your monitor and has a video output jack which connects directly to the video in jack of a VCR or TV or both. I use both and make video tapes of my "slide" shows. I use Ixla Explorer to create the slide shows. It is available at egghead.com for $15.99. My scan converter is a "tvator exec" by Antec. There are lots of them out there. Go to www.cfriends.com/frontv.html and see a discussion and links to some vendors. Also do a search on "scan converters" and you will turn up some more. www.aitech.com has some as well. Also www.aver.com. Also www.focusinfo.com. I think www.antec.com will get you to the one I bought. Works great.

George

-- George Cooper (gecooper@hotmail.com), February 22, 2000.

Agnew:

I got into digital photography when I discovered about 500 30 year old slides that had disappeared years and years ago. Sparing you the details... it was very important to get those slides converted to digital format because they were deteriorating rapidly. They were in horrible condition, and required a lot of TLC to restore them to usable images. I decided I would put together a special Christmas project for my mom and dad for Christmas in 1997.

After considering having them printed by a bureau and discovering that would cost me about $2,000, I decided to look at HP's PhotoSmart lineup. I grabbed an original PhotoSmart scanner and printer for about $900, and over the course of about 6 months scanned all 500 slides. Once they were scanned, I used Kai's PhotoSoap to correct the exposures, clean off the dust, and render a printable image. From there, I printed 3x5s (four different slides to a page) on the PhotoSmart printer using PhotoSmart matte paper, and then cut them and placed them in albums.

Needless to say my parents were absolutely thrilled with their gifts that year (to say nothing for ME). From time to time I check on the prints for fading, and really can not notice any significant image degradation.

My advice to you, having done this, is to invest in a digital film scanner and printer. The current HP PhotoSmart offerings are even better than the ones I bought, and when you are through the project you get to keep the equipment. My parents didn't even realize that the prints were digital until I told them, and even then I had to show them the HP watermark on the back of the photo paper before they'd believe me. You can go the video route if you want, but if you want the best solution that will give you the best results, in my opinion get a PhotoSmart (which is pretty good at scanning slides) and print them out. That way you won't have to mess with TV and you can have the albums for your coffee table. You can also blow up prints for 8x10 framed display in your home if you wish. You can go even higher if you consider the Epson Photo 1270. The setup will cost you about $1000, but the results will be well worth the money and effort.

-- Jeffrey Sevier (jsevier@one.net), February 29, 2000.

I have found a wonderful, inexpensive way to copy slides using a scanner. I have a web site just put up last week;http//jmpeneton.4t.com I have some sample slides copied off the scanner and a note I will charge for the info but why not... Jim

-- Jim Peneton (jpen_10@hotmail.com), December 24, 2000.

I have been looking too. Found you can purchase an Olympus ES-10 Parellel Scanner made for just this purpose. Street price about $400.00 Try "Impact Computers and Electronics" web site.

-- Lyn Socks (ljsocks@att.net), July 12, 2001.

Recently I got in my hands around 4000 35mm slides, and about 2000 foto prints from my parents and grandparents, which passed away. My father started 1945 with the slides, and my grandfather started with the foto prints around 1930. Some slides are deteriorating rapidly, they bend, get loose from the frame and the foto prints are getting yellow, but still preserve their initial quality. I decided to go digital with a $150 HP 4470c flatbed scanner with an insert to scan 3 35mm slides per scan. With the HP PhotoSmart and the ADCSee software included in the HP Precisionscan 3.1 I am able to perform a wonderfull job, eliminating all of above mentioned aging problems. I compared JPEG and TIFF format in detail, but sincerely I couldn't find a difference in quality, if you don't print. Of course if you want to go fast a 600 dpi resolution for slides, and a 300 dpi resolution for small photoprints is adequate. Guess what: I will be able to store almost all my 6000 scans in a single 650MB CD. Up to now I have scanned 2000 slides and prints in a 220 MB CD disk space. Of course only on JPEG format. You can also store in uncompressed TIFF format, but you will need a bunch of CD's. I you consider 10 relatives which requested a copy, then imagine the amount of CD needed for copies. Have some comments? Juan Gluecksmann

-- JuanGluecksmann (bevero@telcel.net.ve), February 24, 2003.

This has very little bearing on the discussion here, because I need to go the other way. I need to create slides from digital images. Does anyone have any information on who could do this?

-- Melvin Dockery (Meldockery@aol.com), August 29, 2003.