At 09:24 AM 1/16/03 -0600, you wrote:
I am interested in going from slides to digital
>images.....lia
I have done this two ways.
1. The standard way is to use a slide scanner, the best of which seems to
be the Nikon with Digital Ice software that makes old slides look new
again. Great, but it is soooo slow.
2. The second way is as good as your digital camera - which is often good
enough for most computer presentation methods. I set the camera on a
tripod. Set camera on Macro (closeup) mode. Turn off flash. Use
self-timer. Backlight the slide with either white glass diffuser, light
table, or even using white paper to smooth out the light. I use a halogen
desk lamp facing straight up. I tape an 8 inch long white cardboard tube on
top of the light. Tape some heavy white paper on the top end of it as a
diffuser. Tape a short spacer tube (one inch long by 2 inches in diameter
on this. Lay the slide on top of this. Face the camera straight down and
see if it will focus sharply at nearly full-frame. Use the camera's best
resolution setting. If it works, this goes much faster than using a slide
scanner.
3. A variation of the this would be to use the camera to copy projected
slides. Quality will be lower because the projection lens is not perfect.
I am a real digital camera advocate. For typical classroom needs, if I had
to decide between a good slide scanner and a good digital camera, my
obvious choice would be a good digital camera because it costs less and can
do so many more things. Sometimes I use the camera in the library to
photocopy newspaper, magazine, and journal articles. At exhibits I
photograph the artwork and immediately take another photograph of the label
next the work to help with documentation.
