chrisp9au
23rd August 2006, 12:58
This is an old thread, but I have recently scanned in my 40 year+ old slides with a home made device which has produced results that have really surprised me. The method involves scanning with a digital camera rather than a dedicated scanner. Cameras with 4MP or better have the capability to achieve very acceptable results.
All the photos I have posted on SN have been scanned using this setup, so you can check my results with this device for yourself.
I'm hoping this idea might inspire members who are trying to scan their old slides, and don't have ready cash, to give this a try. Expensive scanners are not required to get results good enough for posting on the internet.
The attached photograph, is a 800x600 screen capture showing 2 windows from the 'ZoomBrowser' software provided with my Canon A520 digital camera (4MP). The photo shows, on the right, 3 pictures of the scanning device, made up out of scrap timber in a just couple of hours. The only tricky bit was finding the thin piece of opaque white plastic used to diffuse the light used to backlight the slide in the slide holder. I used a thin piece of teflon left over from making telescope bearings, my other hobby. All my scanning was done using just normal daylight as the light source behind the slide. The smaller window on the left of the picture is the remote control window for the camera, in this case with a slide of the Port Fairy being scanned.
The process is pretty straight forward. 1. Clean the slide as best you can, plenty of suggestions on this thread. 2. Put the slide in the slide holder and put the holder into position on the scanning device. 3. Position the scanning device to get the best available and even daylight source behind the slide. 4. Switch the camera on in review mode. 5. Start the software and select remote operation. 6. Select Macro mode. 7. When the slide appears in the window move the camera back & forward to get the best focus, the camera itself will improve the focus automatically when the picture is taken. 8. Using the software, click on the Release button to take the picture. 9. In the Adobe Photoshop Lite software that came free with the camera, open up the photograph, use the 'Marquee' tool to select the best section of the slide which will eliminate the slide surrounds, then click on 'Image' and 'Crop'. 10. Save the result and if you're happy with the result, post it on SN!
Any questions or problems email me!
Regards
Chris Poynter
Sorry, I missed mentioning one other thing about the camera I use. I bought a set of close up lens on ebay for $35AU which completes this 'rig'.
All the photos I have posted on SN have been scanned using this setup, so you can check my results with this device for yourself.
I'm hoping this idea might inspire members who are trying to scan their old slides, and don't have ready cash, to give this a try. Expensive scanners are not required to get results good enough for posting on the internet.
The attached photograph, is a 800x600 screen capture showing 2 windows from the 'ZoomBrowser' software provided with my Canon A520 digital camera (4MP). The photo shows, on the right, 3 pictures of the scanning device, made up out of scrap timber in a just couple of hours. The only tricky bit was finding the thin piece of opaque white plastic used to diffuse the light used to backlight the slide in the slide holder. I used a thin piece of teflon left over from making telescope bearings, my other hobby. All my scanning was done using just normal daylight as the light source behind the slide. The smaller window on the left of the picture is the remote control window for the camera, in this case with a slide of the Port Fairy being scanned.
The process is pretty straight forward. 1. Clean the slide as best you can, plenty of suggestions on this thread. 2. Put the slide in the slide holder and put the holder into position on the scanning device. 3. Position the scanning device to get the best available and even daylight source behind the slide. 4. Switch the camera on in review mode. 5. Start the software and select remote operation. 6. Select Macro mode. 7. When the slide appears in the window move the camera back & forward to get the best focus, the camera itself will improve the focus automatically when the picture is taken. 8. Using the software, click on the Release button to take the picture. 9. In the Adobe Photoshop Lite software that came free with the camera, open up the photograph, use the 'Marquee' tool to select the best section of the slide which will eliminate the slide surrounds, then click on 'Image' and 'Crop'. 10. Save the result and if you're happy with the result, post it on SN!
Any questions or problems email me!
Regards
Chris Poynter
Sorry, I missed mentioning one other thing about the camera I use. I bought a set of close up lens on ebay for $35AU which completes this 'rig'.