Prints from mounted slides

hot to trot

Just new to this board.

I have loads of mounted slides and I really want to get some of them printed.
Not sure where to go .
Any advice? Some of them may need to be cleaned up a bit as they have got a bit more than dusty over the years.

Others are more recent and are in good condition.

I hope to get close to poster size.
thanks in Advance.
I am in Mayo

Heebie

Most good photolabs should be able to go right from the mounted slides... GOOD ones.

If not.. you could grab a decent scanner with digital ice and scan them yourself, then get prints made from the scans.

pete4130

Epson V500 is decent and cheap enough. Scans 35mm, mounted slide and medium format. It's what I'm using now and is about 100x better than the Canon 9900F I bough years ago for double the money.

Heebie

I, too, have an Epson V500 Photo, and am happy with it. It's not an Epson CoolScan ED9000.. but it was like €150.. not €5,000.

pete4130 wrote: »

Epson V500 is decent and cheap enough. Scans 35mm, mounted slide and medium format. It's what I'm using now and is about 100x better than the Canon 9900F I bough years ago for double the money.

dmg1982

I'm in the process of scanning some medium format negs using a Canon CanoScan 9000f - it's an amazing bit of kit for the price (approx. €200 new). The detail it's pulling up is incredible - sample here: http://500px.com/photo/1707188

Depending on the amount of slides you have to scan I'd recommend doing it yourself with a similar scanner. However if you have thousands of slides it might be better to outsource the job, it's a slow process.

edit: I forgot to mention that the 9000f comes with a copy of Photoshop Elements (Mac or PC) and although the interface is very clunky the main import application (SilverFast SE) is very good.

hot to trot

dmg1982 wrote: »

I'm in the process of scanning some medium format negs using a Canon CanoScan 9000f - it's an amazing bit of kit for the price (approx. €200 new). The detail it's pulling up is incredible - sample here: http://500px.com/photo/1707188

Depending on the amount of slides you have to scan I'd recommend doing it yourself with a similar scanner. However if you have thousands of slides it might be better to outsource the job, it's a slow process.

edit: I forgot to mention that the 9000f comes with a copy of Photoshop Elements (Mac or PC) and although the interface is very clunky the main import application (SilverFast SE) is very good.

Thanks Guys. Am not great on computers and hadn't thought of trying them myself. I would be prepared to fork out for a scanner and try it myself , but not sure how easy it is for a numptie to do ? Dont know anything about photoshop or import applications yet.:o

Is there anyway of cleaning the slide surface at all? Or should I not touch them and just try to clean up the images on the computer ( when I learn how)?

By the way. Fab shot!

dmg1982

Thank you.

If you're a complete novice in front of the computer then the whole process could easily become very frustrating - it's not a something you can just breeze through. If anyone here can recommend a good lab that'd do the work then get a quote and weigh up the pros/cons of doing it yourself and (probably) saving money vs getting someone else to do it.

Either way it's best to clean the slides as much as possible before scanning. I can't offer much help in that regard, but a soft dust brush would be a good start.

Heebie

Here's an album with some scans I did on my Epson. The B&W tends to be a little dusty, but the Digital ICE cuts through that on color stuff.
http://pix.ie/heebie/album/381455

A good scanner should have a batch mode. My Epson you can lay down 4 slides at a time and scan them in sequence. There are software packages around to help automate the process better as well.

hot to trot wrote: »

Thanks Guys. Am not great on computers and hadn't thought of trying them myself. I would be prepared to fork out for a scanner and try it myself , but not sure how easy it is for a numptie to do ? Dont know anything about photoshop or import applications yet.:o

Is there anyway of cleaning the slide surface at all? Or should I not touch them and just try to clean up the images on the computer ( when I learn how)?

By the way. Fab shot!

dmg1982

Heebie wrote: »

A good scanner should have a batch mode

Even with a batch mode it's still slow work, especially if scanning at high resolutions.

If going it alone make sure to have a backup of your scans on another hard drive so if your main drive fails you don't have to re-do the work.

EmmyPixel

in relation to cleaning them, if they are just dusty you could pick up a bottle of canned air (something like airpro) in most art shops - a quick squirt gets rid of most dust.

Heebie

Some important notes about using canned air:

1.> In most cases a blower with a bulb, and a dust brush on the end is better, unless the dirt is really pretty strongly stuck.

2. Be VERY careful with the button on the compressed air. Do some practicing first, get used to controlling the air flow.. don't use a full-on blast.. EVER. Learn to start with a little air, build up to just what's necessary to dislodge what you're trying to get rid of, then ease back down.

3.> Do NOT blow the canned air directly at film/slide/print, blow it across the surface. There's always dust & other particular matter in the air, and there's some on the surface itself that will come loose. If you're blowing directly AT the surface, you'll create impact damage when those bits of dust/grit etc.. are smashed against the surface by the air. You're much better off having them glance across the surface than impact on it.

4.> Always use the little hose that comes with the compressed air. It focuses the air on JUST the spot you're trying to get to.

5.> Canned air is a compressed gas, and compressed gases cool as they are release.. the can will get cold, and the colder it gets, the more likely you are to have condensation (water forming) in the air stream and landing on the surface you're trying to clean. The air coming out can get cold enough to freeze the photographic emulsion, which can be disastrous! If the can starts to get cold, STOP. If you're doing a lot of work, keep 2-3 different cans of compressed air in rotation, so that when one starts to get a little cold, you switch to another.

6.> Always hold the can upright. The less upright the can is, the more likely you'll be splattering water onto your precious media. (Turn the can fully upside-down & spray if you don't believe this one.)

EmmyPixel wrote: »

in relation to cleaning them, if they are just dusty you could pick up a bottle of canned air (something like airpro) in most art shops - a quick squirt gets rid of most dust.

hot to trot

EmmyPixel wrote: »

in relation to cleaning them, if they are just dusty you could pick up a bottle of canned air (something like airpro) in most art shops - a quick squirt gets rid of most dust.

Thanks for the Advice Heebie. Will save for again. I think it might be more of a mould on them.. I lived in a very cold damp house for a long time. I think I will have to scan them and try to clean them up on computer ( when I learn how to do it ). Going to try a few and see how they go.
thanks guys

Heebie

Mould is bad.. very very bad. You might want to see if there are chemical methods to clean that off before it entirely destroys them.

Store them in closed boxes with silica gel packets or some other dessicant.

hot to trot wrote: »

Thanks for the Advice Heebie. Will save for again. I think it might be more of a mould on them.. I lived in a very cold damp house for a long time. I think I will have to scan them and try to clean them up on computer ( when I learn how to do it ). Going to try a few and see how they go.
thanks guys