Hi

I am a beginner in photography and so far I have been shooting on print films. Now I have decided to go for slide films. I have few questions about slide films processing and their printing.

1. Can I get prints from slide films? Where can I get good quality prints for a reasonable price in US? 2. What is the method that are used commonly by a person to view and evaluate slides? What all equipments I need for it? Please mention few models. 3. How can I scan slides into a computer harddisk? Do I have to have any kind of specific scanners for this? Or can I use the regular one? 4. Is there any place where I can get slides along with one set of prints for a good price in US?

Thanks

John Peter

-- John Peter (eosquestions@yahoo.com), January 29, 2002

Answers

prints from slides are somewhat expensive (around $5 for one print from one slide).

most people evaluate slides with a light box and magnifying loupe. if you just want to see what you got just use a projector.

you can scan slides with a special type of scanner. you cannot use a normal one. when you get a roll of slides processed you can sometimes ask for them to put the pics on a CD for you for about $5.

if you want prints for every slide you take it will be very expensive. i suggest using a projector or loupe to figure out what your best pics are and print only those. it saves paper!

-- Jeff Nakayama (moonduck22@hotmail.com), January 29, 2002.

Although the wrong forum for this; but Slideprinter (303-698-2962) will do 4" x 6" R-type prints from slides for about $1.10 each. My local Fuji Frontier minilab will do 4" x 6" prints from slides for about $1.30 (in bulk).

-- Kenneth Katz (socks@bestweb.net), January 29, 2002.

I use a Nikon Super Cool film scanner to scan my slides, tweak in Photoshop 6 and print wonderful 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 and 11x14 prints on my Epson Photo Stylus. If you're not ready to invest in a good film scanner, who can get decent scan with Kodak PhotoCD (or from any good lab) and print them yourself (they'll need tweaking).

If you don't want to do it yourself but want it done right, go to a good pro lab. Be prepared to pay plenty for their good work.

With that said, viewing a chrome on a table box with a good loupe delivers the most beautiful, detailed and vivid image possible--better than any print or computer monitor. I only print images for other people to view and to frame a few special ones. If you mainly want prints, stick with print film.

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), January 30, 2002.