Scanning

I have lots of old film slides and 6x4's around, which I'd like to digitize so I can start using digital photo frames where possible.

We're talking about over 1000 photos.

How would you scan them to maximum reasonable quality? Oh - and automation is a must (no flatbed scanning - I don't have all year :P )

For that many, I'd send them to an agency such as this and prepare for a hefty bill and by hefty I mean a couple of grand.

What kind of a scanner would you buy? I'd rather spend £800 on a scanner and do it myself (these photos are too valuable!)

You'd need something like a Nikon Coolscan 900 ED but it would cost you a couple of grand too not to mention lots of time.

Maximum quality? What is the purpose of scanning the slides? Large printing or on-screen viewing?

If some are for large printing, I'd suggest going through all your slides (projector or light tray) and identifying those slides. Then you can have those few slides scanned at a high resolution and all the others at a lower resolution.

You don't need to pay $1000s for a slide scanner. You might be able to find a good used Minolta Dualscan 4 (what I have mine cost $220 new 3 years ago though discontinued) and scan them yourself. Or you could pay a place 50 to 100 cents per scan. And I'm sure low resolution scans would be cheaper than high resolution so another reason to sort your catalog before scanning.

If you want to scan both slides and old photos, then you are stuck with getting a flatbed. I suggest you look at the epson 700 ( 750 ). If all you want to do is print 4x6 again, the flatbeds are just fine.

I have a flatbed (actually 2) - so I'll start on the 6x4s. I'll look into getting a film scanner - thanks!

The photos will be for all sorts of purposes - on-screen, enlargements (upto canvas), photo gifts, etc.

Thanks all!