If you need to make a digital slide of a slide film, you have a few options to consider. The most affordable way to do this, if you have the right equipment, is to do it yourself. The other option is to pay a professional scanning service to do it for you. Both have their own pros and cons to consider.

Options for Doing It Yourself

If you opt for doing the scanning yourself, you will have to decide on a scanning method. You can use a traditional flatbed scanner for this purpose, but only if it is fitted with an adapter to scan slides and negatives. This option will create an image, but it will be soft and lack much of the contrast that you want in the finished digital slide. You can also buy a slide scanner specifically made for your computer. This tends to give you a higher quality image, but can be costly.

You can use your digital camera to capture the image if you want. One way to do this is to take a photo of the projected image. As you can imagine, you will lose quality with this method. You can also purchase a slide holder that mounts directly to your camera. If the camera has macro capability, it can focus directly on the slide with this attachment, and you can take a picture of each slide, one at a time.

Pros of Doing It Yourself

The biggest pro to creating your own digital slide is the cost. If you already have the equipment, you will not have to spend any money to do this. You can also use PhotoShop or a similar program to make the adjustments you want to the image. Another benefit of doing it yourself is the fact that you can get the digital image instantly.

Cons of Doing It Yourself

You will spend a lot of time working on this project if you decide to do it yourself. For many, time means money, and spending time on a project that brings in no money is not worthwhile. Also, you will have to purchase equipment if you do not have it, and the cost for that equipment adds up quickly.

Benefits of Hiring a Professional Scanning Service

Your digital slide project will not eat up so much of your time if you hire a company to do it for you. While this does cost money, it is fairly cheap compared to the price of the equipment you would be buying to start the project on your own. The quality of the images is often better than what you could capture at home, especially if the company uses ICE technology.

Cons of Hiring Someone to Scan Your Slides

The main downside to sending your slides in to be scanned is the chance that they could be damaged or lost. With a professional service, this chance is small, but it is still there. Also, you may not be able to customize the adjustments your images receive, as the company will treat all customers with the same level of care.

In general, however, unless you have many hours to devote to the project, having someone else scan your slides is simply easier. Look for a company with an excellent turn around time, ICE technology or something similar, and good customer service, and you should be happy with the results.