Paper2002AD wrote:

I've got hundreds of old slides, some of which I would like to play about with
if only I could get them onto the pc. I dont fancy paying loadsamoney for a
light box thingy - how easy would it be to make my own, maybe incorporating my
new LED torch (birthday present), which has a blinding light?


The problem I find is the time it takes to do the scanning and the
resuts compared to a pro lab. - I have a good quality dedicated scanner
which retails in the £400 - £500 price bracket but the time it takes to
set up the balance for each film and then the time of the actual
scanning is very inconvenient - it is OK for one neg but a pain for
multiples. The scan quality is no where near as good as the results from
the lab I use.

I get them done by a pro lab I use when the films are developed now
(www.peak-imaging.co.uk) and it is a lot less hassle and far far
superior quality (I would guess their scanner costs in the 10's of
thousands). It costs and extra £6 quid or so on top of the processing
price for a 36 Exp film but is, in my opinion, worth it. Depending on
the number and film sizes it could prove quite an expensive way of doing
a large archive though.