I have a flatbed scanner to make computer greaphic images from paper pictures; but how could I make a scan image from a slide without having a paper print made of it first? I live in Manchester in England.

You might need some sort of slide adapter to go on the scanner.

Normal scans are done by reflected light but a transparency requires transmitted light. Hence, an adapter is required. Resolution tends to be a problem because of the size of a slide. Film scanners can handle a transparency as well as a negative. The image is simply inverted in software to make a positive. This step is not needed for the slide.

Be aware that most flatbed scanners lack the resolution neccessary to scan 35mm film (you need 2700 dpi optical resolution to get a decent scan). Unless you have a lot of slides (or film) to scan, you're much better off taking your slide to a photo finishing establishment and having them make a 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 print from it and then scanning that in your flatbed scanner. Jim

Yep, as Jim said, the results from a flatbed scanner isn't to hot, and slide scanners are pretty price still- $1000 and up, typically. Anyway, another good option is to get Kodak to put them on a Photo CD, most all US photo places can do that, I don't know how it works in the UK, typically this cost anout a buck a slide plus $4 for the CD, which can hold 100 slides. Kodak scan it at a bunch of resolutions, the best of which is 3072 x 2048 pixels, there is also a "Pro" version available with double that resolution (which also cost a lot more per slide.) Kodak does a pretty good job on the scans, BTW.

most all US photo places can do that But I am in Manchester in England.

As you are in England I would say just go to a photo shop to find out, or try a mail order company if the local places can't handle it. One company to try is York they do mail order photo stuff. I know when I tried to scan a negative (a slide in reverse) it sucked.

Weeeelllll, now your talking my language! Just find any local Kinko's, Staples, or other copy place that owns a Richo or Sharp "Color Digital Copier"! (Canon machines 'where' the best but Richo's new systems are FANTASTIC!) They have an adaptor that can make very excelent prints from negatives. BUT, you have to find a clerk that knows how to work the contraption!! I did field service/repair on these machines then trained techs for Sharp Electronics, you really do have to have someone who knows how to set it to get it right. Other than that, shell out about $80,000.00 and get your own set up ;-)

Does no one make a close-up/bellows adaptor/slide mount/ thingy for a digital camera? (Gotta be less than $80K)

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http://www.abstractconcreteworks.com/essays/scanning/Backlighter.html This site may be all that you will need - cheap fast way to copy slides with scanner. I have a UMAX Astra2000 that has slide scanning ability, however, if I wanted gallery or publishing quality I would go to a photo shop and have the slide scanned to Kodak CD (a service like this could be available by mail order) for really high resolution. Also, check out: http://www.kodak.co.uk/ I took my slides to a local photo shop that had the service and it cost $10 base price plus $2 per slide to have this done. Slides were extremely high resolution in 3 different formats. If you are only doing 1 then there must be mail order places that service your area where you can mail in the slide and they will send a photo back to you. Check the yellow pages and internet for photo labs. Other, more expensive, ways to make slides, if you need a lot of them done: Cibachromes: requires darkroom to burn slide onto print paper and then print can be processed in a single container with the chemicals. (as opposed to multi processin normal color prints). If you have a college or photo school nearby perhaps a student could do this for you. Attachment for camera: I have a Nikon and was able to buy a slide copier attachment that permitted a slide to be placed in a holder in front of the camera lens for copy to be shot. These attachments are available with or without lightmeter. The ones with lightmeter hookup are better but more expensive. MJ

Anthony...almost all shops that do Kodak processing in the UK also do the Photo CD as well. If you hand over the negatives, they should be able to do it. I'm sure that if I can get it done in my small town you should have no problem in Manchester :D Cheers

MJ posted good solutions. Please check for Photo Shops that also have the Kodak Picture Maker. Many locations have negative/slide scanners attached to their Picture Maker. It allows you to scan to floppy one high resolution JPG (8x10 quality)and it prompts you on doing it yourself. AGM

Incidently, the "standard" for scanning 35mm slides is 3072 x 2048, anything less doesn't get close to containing all the detail in a slide.

3072 x 2048 I would need not a packhorse but a pack-dinosaur to bring back 60 or so graphic files that big, even if they were JPG . I would be content to get a scan 600800 or 640480 pixels or similar.

That is the nice thing about the Kodak CD too, it does hold up to 100 slides at thet res (or 60 for the pro resolution), they use a non-standard compression, but Photoshop or whatever can read it.

Remember that 3072x2048 pixels per inch isn't very much on a 35mm slide. You really need that kind of detail to get what you need from that image. We scan for our photo archive software at a higher resolution than that, then crop/retouch/resize from that point. You'll be able to get a good many files on a CD if you have a professional service bureau or even film processor scan them. If a Kodak processor does it, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and other software can read the files, as Jim said. If you have a service bureau do it, they can use the format you specify and the type file (Tiff or jpg) will determine how many you get on the CD. GrayMare

Info from the photographer I support: standard film/slide scans at the KodakCD resolution of 3072x2048 are 18 megs uncompressed. That's not out of sight for an image that you can resize and adjust to the quality you need. You can always resiz (lower the resolution) and lose detail, you can never gain detail by resizing. Hope this helps. GrayMare

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Check out the HP PhotoSmart S20. You can get them now for under $500 (US) and they are fantastic for scanning negatives or slides. (They also scan in prints as well.) It is VERY easy to use and provides great results. It's USB so it's totally plug n' play. Takes about 3 minutes to set-up. 2400 dpi for slides and negatives. Again great quality ... I absolutely LOVE mine. Check out the link above. Good luck.

Well, if you want to spend money (!) the Nikon slide scanners are very nice, Microtec has (or at least had) one of the more inexpensive slide scanners. Also, the very newest flatbet scanners are starting to do 1200 (real, not resampled) dpi, a slide attachment on those would get you 1800 x 1200 pixels, in the ballpark for all but heavy-duty DTP work. Microtec was bundling the slide attachment with the scanner, I don't know if they do it anymore.

The S20 has an optical (real) resolution of 2400 dpi. It converts the colors on the fly (from negatives) as well.