Slides To Files

Can someone recommend a good way to turn 35mm slide into images I can sell on Pond5. Years ago I tried a regular flatbed scanner with the little film attachments. The files were way too small. Recently I'll looked on Amazon.com at slide duplicators and other gadgets. Reviews were mixed and it's hard to tell if the reviews on most are photographers or snapshooters. I can't afford a dedicated film scanner. I hope someone has converted slides into files with success.

I don't think there is any shortcut to this process. In my experience the typical $100 dedicated slide scanner won't come close in scan quality to what you hope for.

A couple years ago I managed to get my hands on a Nikon Coolscan IV ED Slide & Film Scanner and scanned over 4000 slides from the past. This unit has a scanning resolution of 2900 x 2900 DPI and has some excellent technology built in to cleanup dust and imperfections. I think this scanner sold for about $1500 when new in 2001. The problem going back this far with hardware is getting the related software to run on a modern computer but I was successful with Windows 7 32-bit. A quick search on eBay shows one currently for under US$200 located in the U.S.

Nikon's 2003 model, the Coolscan V ED has a scanning resolution of 4000 DPI. You could likely find a good used one online for around $1000 which will likely be out of your price range. One option would be to purchase it for the short term and resell it after your scanning project.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Thanks Doverhillmedia. That is out of my price range but now I have a model to keep my eye on.