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Topic: fulltiming/slides, films, reels... (Read 3 times) previous topic - next topic
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fulltiming/slides, films, reels...
Yahoo Message Number: 106224
Kathleen, That's a great idea. My folks have a lot of family slides, and reel to reels. We took some slides in to a local business and it was pretty pricey. Could I ask where you sent yours? Thanks! Denise, from California... enjoying our second cool fall night.
Re: fulltiming/slides, films, reels...
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106227
Quote
Kathleen, That's a great idea. My folks have a lot of family slides, and reel to reels. We took some slides in to a local business and it was pretty pricey. Could I ask where you sent yours?
Today's special on woot.com is a do-it-yourself gadget for converting slides and negatives to digital files, for $40.  I'm not sure how good this particular model is (though I'm sure today's woot discussion will analyze it) but it's proof that you don't have to send them out to specialists.

Joanne in Boston NE-44
Re: fulltiming/slides, films, reels...
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106245
For those thinking of scanning their precious photos, please be aware of the risks involved in shipping them out rather than using a local service or doing your own.

Not only are you shipping your photos to the company that is doing the scanning, but they are often then shipping them overseas for the actual scanning. Make sure you thoroughly check into the policies of any service you decide to use.
 Also, if you are going to have someone else scan your photos, please verify the quality of the scans. There are all levels of equipment being used and some of the quality is less than desirable. I would recommend having a small sample of images scanned and then enlarging and checking them on your computer before proceeding with a large number of photos.

Kim
Re: fulltiming/slides, films, reels...
Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106249
Quote
Kathleen, That's a great idea. My folks have a lot of family slides, and reel to reels. We took some slides in to a local business and it was pretty pricey. Could I ask where you sent yours? Thanks! Denise, from California... enjoying our second cool fall night.
Hello Denise -
 Here's a list of the folks who did the work for us.  Our cassettes were in terrible condition (had been stored in a garage for years) and I didn't have high expectations for their quality.  They came out better than I expected, and the fellow did a nice job of arranging them on 3 CDs, so I was very pleased with his work.  Cassettes were returned along with the 3 CDs.
Cassettes: 5779 Desoto Ct.
Santa Rosa, CA  95409-3033 Message: (707) 539-2872 Fax: (707) 539-6001 E-mail:  URL: http://www.transfer-2cd.com
 The slides also were well done and we were pleased with their work.  In addition to the CDs, they put all the pictures into a little booklet.  (All slides were returned with the new CDs).
Slides: FotoBridge 154 Cooper Rd, Suite 1001 West Berlin, NJ 08091 (856) 809-9400 https://www.fotobridge.com/Now, digitizing your prized photo collection is a snap! FotoBridge is the easiest and most convenient way to digitally convert large photo collections, slides, 35mm negatives, even Polaroids to high quality images. Our secure, US-based facility provides the safest, most advanced digital scanning service available. At FotoBridge, we never ship your photos overseas. Fast turnaround, optimized handling and simple flat-rate pricing set us apart.
 8mm movies to CDs..  I did not have our various reels marked, so did not know what I had.  When we received the CD, the various "movies' were definitely not in order!  DVD opened with a visit to New Orleans, followed by a hike in Great Smokey, followed by more scenes of New Orleans, and on and on ... scenes that were definitely from a picnic were interspersed with shots from other places.  So I'd say it would have been nice had the movies been checked out by the company and organized better.  Some of the scenes were easily distinguished as having taken place in one place, even though they were not put together.  I take that as my fault for not having them marked, but we still enjoy looking at the DVD.

CustomDVDs Yes, I also convert 8mm movies to DVD.  http://CustomDVDs.biz is the website where I describe that service.
I did  very little "homework" on selecting these companies - there was a time constraint, and I simply sent them off.  I have no regrets, and am glad we finally have them all together.  I never thought of the problems that have been pointed out - and I believe they are valid.  (Let the buyer beware!)  All three vendors responded promptly and I think would have answered any questions or concerns I had  - I simply didn't do it, but am in agreement that one needs to be careful.  All our originals were returned and the quality of some of our stuff definitely was improved.
Good luck in whatever course of action  you take.

Kathleen

'97 RB Little Red (also from CA (El Centro) but we are "freezing" up here in the Bay Area.....
 
Re: fulltiming/slides, films, reels...
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 106356
I've found that my 3-in-1 printer (a Lexmark X5650) scans prints quite well, and I can then transfer them to the computer and edit them with Paintshop.
 For 8mm films (the kind you filmed on 16mm film and then flipped it over), I bought a gadget called a "Copy-Kit", made by Sima. This allows you to project your films into the box where they show on a ground glass screen. You then set up your video camera to record the picture. I have a Sony Digital 8 camera, so it ends up as a digital image on tape which I then transfer to my computer. The only slight problem I have with it is that the autofocus tends to focus on the projector bulb more that the on-screen image. Still working on that!
 For older analog video tapes, the Sony camera will play them and produce a digital output signal, so those have been relatively easy to transfer. Editing all that stuff is another issue altogether!
 I have also been transferring all my old vinyl LPs into digital recordings and putting them onto CDs.
 I have one caution for people doing it themselves. The kind of CDs and DVDs that you can record to on your computer are nowhere near as rugged as the ones made commercially, so make yourself a back-up "archive" copy and store it somewhere safe.