View Full Version : Photgraphy question! need advice from the experts here!
I have some basic but important photography questions.
1) using slide film...
Is there a way, a feasible way to scan slides on to a computer or onto a CD ROM? I have hundreds of slides that are old, memories of family and of past trips. They are absolutely priceless and irreplacable. But the time comes when slides can warp or the slide projector breaks down etc etc. I am looking for a way to back this stuff up.
2) when going digital...
There must be digital projectors with which one can have a slide show of downloaded digital pictures. Is a 6-7 MP camera good enough for a slide show? will I get decent results? How expensive is a decent projector now?
I am really hoping that the answer is yes to both questions..but I prefer to hear the real deal rather than just what I want to hear :-)
David
Not sure about getting the slides to digital format, but I did quickly find this site:
http://www.slidescanning.com/slide-scanning.htm
They will take your slides and convert to a cd or dvd.
All the projectors that hook up to your computer will be able to show the pics as a slide show (as long as you have a program like PowerPoint that will do that)
As for the camera, there are several threads that have discussed that lately... I think you can find some real good info in them...
Get the most megapixels you can afford. I have 2 8MP cameras and 5MP and looking at the new 1G, but the price is too high for me right now...
The key to MultiMedia Projectors is lumens. Most are SVGA, most are LED. But it is those lumens (brightness) that is most important. The higher the better - anything under 1100 is undesirable. Prices for projectors have come down a bit, but they're still pricey - $800 and up. (None of them work with desktops, all work with laptops).
I have some basic but important photography questions.
1) using slide film...
Is there a way, a feasible way to scan slides on to a computer or onto a CD ROM? I have hundreds of slides that are old, memories of family and of past trips. They are absolutely priceless and irreplacable. But the time comes when slides can warp or the slide projector breaks down etc etc. I am looking for a way to back this stuff up.
2) when going digital...
There must be digital projectors with which one can have a slide show of downloaded digital pictures. Is a 6-7 MP camera good enough for a slide show? will I get decent results? How expensive is a decent projector now?
I am really hoping that the answer is yes to both questions..but I prefer to hear the real deal rather than just what I want to hear :-)
David
David,
1. Yes, slides (and film negatives) can be converted to digital images. You can have this done by a professional service, or you can do it yourself, if you have the equipment. You would need a computer and a scanner with a slide attachment. Once the images have been scanned and converted to digital format, the files can be saved on your computer's hard drive, or saved to other media such as CD, DVD and USB Flash Drives, etc.
2. Digital projectors can be coupled to a computer to project the image normally viewed on the computer's monitor, to a larger screen. Therefore, if you have digital photos saved on your computer, they could be projected onto a larger screen with a digital projector. The projector alone won't display your images in the same sense that a slide projector will.
betic4lyf
03-13-2006, 19:25
you can buy a scanner, and it is a lot cheaper if you do it yourself, if you have a lot to scan. a lot of companies make em. look at places like bhphoto.com and adorama.com
scanners cost from below thou up to a very good sum.
The key to MultiMedia Projectors is lumens. Most are SVGA, most are LED. But it is those lumens (brightness) that is most important. The higher the better - anything under 1100 is undesirable. Prices for projectors have come down a bit, but they're still pricey - $800 and up. (None of them work with desktops, all work with laptops).
The bolded statement is incorrect. I have attached LCD projectors to desktop computers on many occasions. Although the portability of laptops make them more useful for presentations, projectors work well on most workstations.
betic4lyf
03-13-2006, 22:05
laptops are the same thing as desktops, only smaller. they have external ports to connect all the same things and are interchangable.
I have some basic but important photography questions.
1) using slide film...
Is there a way, a feasible way to scan slides on to a computer or onto a CD ROM? I have hundreds of slides that are old, memories of family and of past trips. They are absolutely priceless and irreplacable. But the time comes when slides can warp or the slide projector breaks down etc etc. I am looking for a way to back this stuff up.
2) when going digital...
There must be digital projectors with which one can have a slide show of downloaded digital pictures. Is a 6-7 MP camera good enough for a slide show? will I get decent results? How expensive is a decent projector now?
I am really hoping that the answer is yes to both questions..but I prefer to hear the real deal rather than just what I want to hear :-)
David
It's best to scan your slides in with a dedicated film scanner. But PC Magazine has said a couple of flat bed scanners do the job so well that only a few professionals will notice the difference. My wife just bought an Epson for around $200 that does an excellent job.
I use a Canoscan 8400F, also excellent, though older and a little more expensive.
I have a digital projector I got for Xmas, but I haven't used it enough to judge its quality as compared with my trusty Kodak slide projector. I think it cost $900. The best cost $2-3,000.
My kids, who were here for New Years, used mine to project the football games on an six by six foot screen, so I guess it should work for scanned slides.
My impression is that a 6 megapixel camera is overkill for a slide show, but you should listen to someone with more experience than I, since I'm just now inching into the digital projection world.
Weary
The key to MultiMedia Projectors is lumens. Most are SVGA, most are LED. But it is those lumens (brightness) that is most important. The higher the better - anything under 1100 is undesirable. Prices for projectors have come down a bit, but they're still pricey - $800 and up. (None of them work with desktops, all work with laptops).
General guideline, however....
Spur uses a 1000 lumen projector and his photos shown on the big screen are utterly awesome. It's his opinion, which I highly regard, the more mega-pixels in the camera the better.
Also, at the Southern Ruck, I hooked up a cheapo portable DVD player to his projector to play several of the hiking DVD's that were available and it worked fine, no laptop required.
Quote from ROLAND:
"I have attached LCD projectors to desktop computers on many occasions. Although the portability of laptops make them more useful for presentations, projectors work well on most workstations."
How do you do this? I have a couple of multi-media projectors (different brands - both probably made in China by children chained to their workbenches) and both have plug-ins that seem to work only on my laptop....
OutbackHack
03-15-2006, 10:43
Any decent digital projector should have a VGA plug. This is the same plug that your standard computer monitor connects to on desktops and laptops alike. It is a rectangular (ok technically a trapazoid) plug with 15 pins arranged in 3 rows of 5 and most of the time is it colored blue to make it easier for people to recognize. On a desktop computer you will usually only have one VGA plug, so you'll have to unplug your monitor and just use the projector. If your projector doesn't have this plug on it then it wasn't really deigned to work with a computer in the first place.
Another thing to keep in mind regarding digital projectors is that there are currently two types of projectors out at the moment. LCD and DLP. DLP should offer you a brighter, sharper, and most contrasty picture with only one drawback that only some people notice. Because DLP draws pictures one color at a time in rapid succession, in other words red-green-blue-red-green-blue very quickly rather than all colors togther, some people complain that they can see a rainbow effect rather than all the colors blended together. I personally only notice this when I try, for example by blinking really quickly you can catch the separate colors, and I would recommend DLP over LCD. Your best bet is to go to an electronics store where they have a few projectors setup and look at them yourself.
Quote from ROLAND:
"I have attached LCD projectors to desktop computers on many occasions. Although the portability of laptops make them more useful for presentations, projectors work well on most workstations."
How do you do this? I have a couple of multi-media projectors (different brands - both probably made in China by children chained to their workbenches) and both have plug-ins that seem to work only on my laptop....
See OutbackHack (http://member.php?u=7809) 's response, above. It should answer your question.