In MMD 150821 Ron Bopp posted that he has a number of slides to give
away and Jody Kravitz asked if anyone has a slide scanner.

Last year, my office took on the task of scanning 5,000 to 6,000
slides that belonged to a university professor who had passed away.
The process involved scanning the slides and converting the photos to
JPEG format in order to make them more useful for academic and research
purposes.  The size of the project was enormous and we hired several
students to work on it.  Completion took about six months.  Because of
this experience, I can make a few recommendations.

Slide scanners are not difficult to operate but the scanning process
does take time, even with a high-capacity scanner.  When one group of
slides is completed, that group needs to be removed from the slide
holder and the next group inserted before continuing.  This part is
low-tech physical work but it is necessary.

The entire scanning process can be very tedious and not everyone is
suited for this type of work.  The work is probably best suited for
someone who enjoys doing another activity while the scanner is
operating, such as reading a book, doing homework, or posting on
Facebook.

The slides should be clearly marked identifying each instrument and/or
activity.  Without any identification or referencing, the pictures are
not very useful.

Today's slide scanners can be expensive and most of them are owned by
universities or tech companies but some are privately owned.  Scanning
a handful of slides is one thing, but scanning several thousand slides
is a huge job.  Consider hiring someone to do the work as we did.

And before anyone asks, let me just say that I am not interested in
taking on a scanning project of mechanical music.  I have neither the
time nor the interest in such a task.   It would be best handled by
someone else.

Joyce Brite
Manhattan, Kansas

 [ Craig Smith writes that Wal-Mart and many other stores offer photo
 [ digitizing services at competitive prices.  3000 lines per inch
 [ resolution should be suitable for most archival uses.  Use Google
 [ to search for 35mm Slide Scanning Service.  -- Robbie