Scanning your slides will help you save your memories. This can be a very time intensive process. If you choose to try to scan them yourself, I have listed some key points below. If this is more of a project than you have time to do, then there are people, like myself, that do this every day. Please contact me by email or phone for more information.
Slides are scanned in the POSITIVE mode.
Slides present a different problem. First you will need a scanner that is capable of scanning slides. Slides need a source of light that is above the slide. Since s slide is roughly 1 inch by 1.5 inches, the resolution for scanning is much higher. The maximum resolution for film is about 4,000 pixels per inch. Therefore scanning a slide should be 4,000 ppi for a 4,000 x 6.000 ppi image. That will give you a 13 x 20 inch print at 300ppi. You may also notice that your final image is not as much in focus as you thought it was. I recommend pickling the best and/or most important to you slides for scanning.
All slide scanners are not created equal. Some require that the slide be placed emulsion side up and some emulsion side down. Try to find a slide that has writing, a sign or the emblem on a car, and scan it. If it is backwards, flip the slide! Some scanners have an adapter that will hold 12 or more slides. Scan the whole group and see where the various slides come out. The first slide may be at top left or at bottom right. Experiment.
With a slide adapter, you will need to select each slide individually. Carefully select each one with the marque tool. When you have selected all of your slides, press the select all button and then scan them. Since the software is different for each scanner, I can not give you instructions for your particular scanner and it's software.
When you scan, remember to name the files in a way that you will be able to find them after they are scanned. My scanning software allows me to number the files sequentially so I just name them "Scan-001", for example, and let the scanner assign the numbers.
As I scan images, I keep a log of the number and who is in the image. I use a spreadsheet and also make note of the city, state, date taken and the number of the disk that they will be stored on. This makes it very easy to find the images months later. I also make duplicate copies of the disks and store them in separate locations.
Once this work is completed, you need to find a safe storage location. If your number of disks is fairly small, a small, fireproof box or safe may be enough. The house of a relative may also a good solution.
The above instructions are very basic information. If you need more information, please feel free to contact me at n2toy@comcast.net and I will help you through the process.
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