Copying Slides

Has anyone used one of these slide duplicators, or one similar?

Slide Duplicator

I have tons of slides from years gone by and would like to be able to copy as JPG's.

I have a simpler type one that works with my old Coolpix 990 but and not real thrilled with the copies. I have also used a slide copier that came with my scanner that I have tried a bit and still am not thrilled with the quality of the copies.

Is this a good solution or does anyone have ideas on something that works better?

I've thought about picking up one of these (or something like it) as well. My only concern is that the ad states the device has variable magnification from 1.0 - 2.5, which (I would think) means you couldn't copy a whole 35mm slide image with a 1.6 crop factor camera like your 20D (or my Rebel XT). To do that you'd need a magnification of something like .625

Does this make sense?

Edited to add: Adorama's got the same thing (or something very similar) for about the same money, and their write-up seems to confirm what I stated above:

http://www.adorama.com …de%20duplicator​&item_no=1

Edited again to add: Did some looking and found this - since it mounts to the front of your existing lens it would probably do the trick:

http://www.opteka.com …detail.asp?prod​uctid=4124

I have a HP Photo Smart Scanner that works great!
http://www.photo.net …/photosmart-slide-scanner

What would you say of a module of sweeping?

A slide duplicator lens is NOT what you want. A slide duplicator lens is correct if you are trying to go from a slide to another slide or film negative. You are trying to produce a JPEG.

What you want is a film scanner. Most of them will accept 35mm film negatives or slides. You can save the digital files as TIF or JPEG or other types.

---Bob Gross---

You'll get no argument from me that a film scanner is the ideal solution, but I'm just looking to digitize old family vacation pics and snapshots that happen to be on 35mm transparency film. Seems like a $70 slide duplicator on the front of a digital camera I already own would be a more economical solution in this case.

Do you have any recomendations for a film scanner? Would the quality be better than that from a camera mounted device? I, like pashooter, am looking for a less expensive solution to getting my old slides into JPEG's.

If these slide duplicators do not work all that well I would not be interested but if they could produce relatively good reproductions it might just be the ticket for me.

Slide duplicators were successful back in the old days of film-only cameras. I'm sure that one can be coaxed into working for an economical solution.

However, if the job were left up to me, I would not want to invest all that time into chasing down the economical solution. I don't know about you, but my personal time is valuable to me.

If I have a box of slides, I set them up for one batch on my film scanner, then start it and let it rip. I go do something else and then come back when the batch is done.

Most of the serious slide scanning is done with Nikon Coolscan or Canon CanoScan.

---Bob Gross---

BearLeeAlive wrote:
Has anyone used one of these slide duplicators, or one similar?

Slide Duplicator

I have tons of slides from years gone by and would like to be able to copy as JPG's.

I have a simpler type one that works with my old Coolpix 990 but and not real thrilled with the copies. I have also used a slide copier that came with my scanner that I have tried a bit and still am not thrilled with the quality of the copies.

Is this a good solution or does anyone have ideas on something that works better?

I have one just like that (bought if ages ago for my film camera) but, as a few people have already mentioned, it really isn't suitable for use with a DSLR having a sensor other than full-frame unless you were really looking to crop your slides.

What I did in the past with slides was buy a light viewer and take pictures of the slide sitting on top of the light viewer with my 10D and a 50mm macro lens. I converted a lot of my fathers old negatives and slides to digital this way. This was before I finally got myself an Epson 4800 Perfection scanner which also does a good job of scanning negatives and slides.

It's been 17 hours and Frank hasn't posted this link, so I'm taking the liberty.
https://photography-on-the.net …?t=58609&highli​ght=cobble

Thanks for all the responses everyone. It looks like I will be on the hunt for a good photo scanner.

I'll definitely support the idea of using a scanner rather than a duplicator. I've had good results from an Espon 2400/2450 flatbed scanner, which you should be able to pick up 2nd hand fairly cheaply. You have the advantage with this scanner (or some of the later models), that you are not restricted to scanning slides or negatives only.

You will get the best results from a dedicated film scanner though.