Help sort 35mm slides

[gotrocks]

I've got TOO many old slides. Trying to see what is the subject is difficult with my eyesight.

I've considered an overhead projector that would allow me to lay a vinyl page and get a look at all on a page with one view. Is this a good idea?

The last attempt was load the tray- turn on the slide projector - "pull the trigger" and make notes with numbers. That wore me out pretty fast.

Please offer some other methods of sorting. Thanks a bunch.

[Greg McCary]

There are companies out there that provide scanning services for bulk quantities and the be viewed off of a disk. I think in the long run a computer screen would be the best bet.

[gotrocks]

Greg, Thank you for the suggestion.

A quick search found several sites with prices from .35 up.

After I cull out the ones that I do not want to scan that would be better than the time it takes me to do 4 at a time on my Epson 4490.

Since I have about 2000 to consider I would like a lower cost way to view them.
The other method I've used beside the projector is to hold them up to lamp and that is when I have trouble identifying the subject.

Any other suggestions?

[freygr]

You could try a light table. You can make one or purchase one the 10 x 16 inch size only cost about $40 art an art supply store. The light table is also useful for shorting negatives also. You can always use a magnifier or a loop to view the slides on the light table.

[mjs1973]

When I went threw my slides, I used a light box. I have all the slides in clear pages and I would put a page on light box and see which ones I wanted to have scanned. If it's too hard to see that way you could use a magnifying glass to see them better. Another option if to use something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Pana-Vue-FPA00...6716520&sr=8-1

I have one and it works great but it could quickly become a pain in the butt with lots of slides.

As far as scanning your slides goes, I used www.scancafe.com to scan a bunch of mine. The quality is great! The turn around time is pretty slow, but it was worth the wait.

[gotrocks]

Thanks again, the light box sounds like the way to go, especially since I already have a large magnifying glass.

Mike the scan site you listed sounds like the way to go.... "edit slides after scan is complete."
Still a little concern regarding going too India and back.
Will Tom Hanks be on the plane? (Both ways?:blush2:)

Ok let me look for a light box and get started.

[mjs1973]

Still a little concern regarding going too India and back.

This was my biggest concern as well. It took me a long time to build up the courage to actually ship of my slides but everything worked perfectly. The quality of the scans I got were better than I expected.

[Bryan_ScanMyPhotos]

Thanks again, the light box sounds like the way to go, especially since I already have a large magnifying glass.

Mike the scan site you listed sounds like the way to go.... "edit slides after scan is complete."
Still a little concern regarding going too India and back.
Will Tom Hanks be on the plane? (Both ways?:blush2:)

Ok let me look for a light box and get started.

We offer a service to scan your 35mm slides, color and density correct each one and all work is completed in our Irvine, CA headquarters. We do not ship them anywhere, especially out of the county. If you were to send us about 2000 slides, we would have that completed in 24-48 hours instead of 6 weeks like other companies. Typically, we would charge 49 cents per frame, however, you include a copy of this post and have a minimum of 2,000 slides, we will do it at our lowest rate of 35 cents per frame. Visit ScanMyPhotos dot com for more info or message me and I can answer any questions you may have.