- CONVERT SLIDES TO DIGITAL MEDIA HOW TO
- CONVERT SLIDES TO DIGITAL MEDIA SOFTWARE
Use a remote or cable shutter release to reduce vibrations. Fiddle with your zoom and focus to get the best combination that projects the largest, in-focus image onto your camera sensor do not use autofocus and make sure it is turned off to avoid re-focusing. Allow for a tiny gap between the camera and projector to not allow for vibrations to transfer across. Align your camera square and perpendicular to the slide this is really tough to get just right and avoid key-stoning or a tilted slide that will be out of focus don’t bother trying to use the projector’s case lines for reference as there is nothing square in its design or manufacture. Select a lens that will project the slide image as large a possible onto the camera sensor for me, it was my 70-200 L f/2.8 IS with stacked Canon extension tubes extension tubes allow for your zoom to focus up real close. For better color accuracy, you can try to find a lamp that projects 5000K as Kodak requires, but good luck on finding one I found the color to vary so much from box-to-box, that you will need to address color balance in post processing no matter what lamp temperature you use. Using a black ink marker pen, darken all shiny parts that handle the slide and may be seen by your camera sensor and metering system. 
Insert a black tube, such as rolled construction paper, into the tube where the zoom/focusing lens tube was to exclude lamp light from bleeding into the conversion process. Cut and shape a plastic, white balance diffuser card to fit where the glass was in the lamp module this will smooth and dim-down the intense light while protecting the slides from lamp heat a good source of this plastic are those cheap white balancing lens caps available at any decent camera store. Remove the glass lens in the lamp module you won’t use this. Remove the glass zoom/focusing lens tube you won’t use this. Most of my slides were already loaded in carousels so I figured I would give this a try. Actually, I was doing about two per hour but if you want to estimate your project before you start, one hour each will yield a conservative estimate. Then, I spent way too much time in post processing but after you figure out a good workflow, you can bang out a tray of slides and process them in about one hour each. The first tray of conversions took the longest and requires some practice to get just right. Leaving things up to others never really worked for me no matter what it was (except dentistry… maybe). I figured the only way to ensure they are corrected properly, is to address this with RAW files in post processing. I noticed that my slides varied greatly in color casts and or white balance. Looking back on it, I may have tried to borrow a true macro lens as it may have produced better results, but overall, I think the pics came out looking great. Total cost for me to do this was only my time as I already owned all of the equipment required for this transfer. Just look for yourself in the portfolio above where I show what came out of the camera and the final results. If I didn’t like the results, then I would look into spending some real money. I really could not find a definitive opinion on where or how to obtain the best scanning and conversion results so I just gave it a try myself.
I can’t tell you that this is best way to do conversions, but I do enjoy a good challenge and overall, I am happy with the results. I just did it myself with my Kodak Projector and my DSLR I did blow the slides in their trays with compressed air first so maybe this helped a bit. While this sounds important, I really did not have problems with dust showing on my slides… just didn’t…. They claim to remove dust particles and such.
Of course, I would have to put up the $1,200 and take a small gamble that I could recover the money.Īn advantage to scanners is the processing software that is highly touted as important. With a bit of luck, this approach would be cost neutral. I figured I can buy one of those great Nikon scanners used on eBay for around $1,200, blast through my slide collection, and then turn around eBay it to the next guy doing a conversion.
I also could not find good data on the quality of the results. I understand why, the work is a bit labor intensive. I looked into various services out there but thought they were just too expensive. Show the sixth and they sneak off to the kitchen. Besides my friends have an attention span of about five pictures in length. Pulling out the Kodak projector, setting up a table and wall… it is just too much of a hassle. I just don’t look at my old slide collection anymore. Only small modifications and tinkering are required.
In short, I used my Kodak carousel projector to back-light the slides and shot with them with my DSLR. What to do with my entire library of 35mm slides? I have roughly 3,000 slides in boxes, and loaded into Kodak carousels.
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