Family photographs are considered to be very important by most Americans. Approximately a quarter of people in the United States list them as being the most important way they document the key events of their lives. They rank as being more important documentation than birth certificates or social security cards. Since the invention of photography 186 years ago, 3.5 trillion photos have been taken. Before the advent of digital photography, people bought film. They had their pictures printed or had them made into slides. This is why there are 35mm slide scanning service companies.
While most people today do not have any photos taken with film, nearly 87% of people aged 18 to 24 have never owned a photo album, you may have slides that you want to digitize their photographic slides. There are several ways to do that.
Find a 35mm slide scanning service.
There are enough people out there who need digitizing slides services that you should be able to find someone to provide slide scanning services. There are a few things you should look for with a 35mm slide scanning service.
- Ask about the price. Call around and get prices from several companies that offer the 35mm slide scanning service because the cost can vary from establishment to establishment. At the end of the day, it is often cheaper to use a slide to digital service than to buy the equipment to do it at home.
- What is their turn around time? If you need or want your slides processed right away, you should be able to find a slide scanning services company that can do your project in a few says. You have to ask though because some 35mm slide scanning service businesses do take at least a few weeks. You will pay more to get your job done right away than if you can wait a little while.
- Ask about quality and ask to see examples. You should be able to get a quality scan of your slides. Often companies can scan the slides so that when prints are made of the scans, they look like they were made from film. Often the 35mm slide scanning service businesses also offer photo restoration services meaning they can get rid of any imperfections in the original slide.
Do it yourself.
If you have a huge number of slides, it might be cost effective to tackle the project yourself. There are several ways you can do that.
- Get a scanner for slides. If you have a ton of slides, make sure you get a scanner that does not make you scan each slide individually. Also check on the quality of the scanner you buy, this might be a time when you want to go into a store to look at the different scanners.
- Use a flatbed scanner. If you have a scanner, you can use that. The quality will not be anywhere near what you would get with a 35mm slide scanning service because the images you get will be incredibly small.
- Project your image onto a screen or a wall and take a picture of that. This is the most low tech way to get your slides into a digital format but it will get the job done. You may be able to edit afterwards.