Anyone use TheSlideprinter.com?

[mjs1973]

Has anyone ever used the services of TheSlideprinter.com? I saw an add for them in the back of Outdoor Photographer so I went online and checked them out. I see they can make a 30"x45" print from a 35mm slide. Just wondering if anyone has ever used them for anything.

[92135011]

hmm they dont look all that cheap...
I think that 30x45 stuff is sort of a gimmick since 135 will certainly suffer greater with that size of enlargement.

[Darren]

They handle all of my prints which are top-notch, as are all the individuals who work there. For prints, their prices are tough to beat, plus shipping your stuff both ways is free. Though they are just a short drive away for me, 70-80% of their business is out-of-state.

[mjs1973]

Thanks for the info!

Darren, have you had them scan slides befor? And if so, how large of a print did you make from the scan?

[Darren]

Yes. To date, the largest I've had them take a 35 is 16x20, which have looked just dandy. That's not exactly a 30x45, though! They've had some larger prints from 35 hanging in their lobby in the past, the exact dimensions escape me, but I think closer to 24x36, which have looked as good as you can expect for 35. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better outfit price vs. performance wise. You might get a touch better quality with a direct ilfochrome, but that's $$$.

A number of us folks from the Colorado Nature Photographers group took a tour of their lab a few months ago and I think everyone came away from there being impressed with their attention to detail. If they run into a tough scan when trying to match the original, the time they spend on that one image can be rather lengthy. It's great to know they'll go to great, and sometimes painstaking, lengths to get things to match as closely as possible. As a customer, I have great respect for that. They run a tight ship and keep the place very clean and organized. They walked us through each step of their scanning and printing processes. Now, if you want me to try and explain it all, forget about it! I forgot most of it! All I really care about are results, and they deliver. I can only recommend them.

[mjs1973]

Thanks again for the info Darren. You have been a big help.

[mdmc]

Michael,
At $30 per scan a $570 scanner is looking mighty good.
If I understand correctly it's $30 to scann & $70 to print a 30x45 w/ additional prints for $56.
I think a 5400 dpi scanner would extract all of the available info from a 35mm slide.
Just my thoughts,
Mark.

[92135011]

oh really? $30 a scan?
Well I'm sure a 5400dpi scanner will pick up most of it, but the quality of a drum scanner is just unparalleled so far. Save the $30 for the best of best prints (and I'm referring to that shot you get maybe once every 100 rolls, and want hang it on the wall and sell it type good). Otherwise, go with that 5400dpi scanner.

[mjs1973]

Thanks for the comments eveyone. I thought the $30/scan seemed a little expensive, but if the quality is there it might be worth it for that once in a lifetime shot. I noticed on there website, that the $30 scan will give you a digital file of between 50-60mb. I went back and looked at a scan I had done from a Nikon Coolscan, and it gave me a file size of 111mb. I'm no printing or tech expert, but I would think that with twice the data in a digital file, you should be able to make a larger, higher quality print than you could from the smaller file...