Converting Slides to digits

I have some slides from my Kodachrome days that I would like to convert to digits (RAW, if possible). Does anyone have any recommendations on a service that will do a good job at a reasonable rate?

I convert my old slides, including Kodachromes using a Nikon Coolscan V ED film scanner. Brilliant tool.

You might check with A&I in Los Angeles. You'll have to have the slides scanned, and for the best quality, a good film scanner such as the nikon that Colin mentioned is your best bet.

I am not aware of any film scanners that will create a RAW file. I would reccommend 16 bit TIFF RGB scans. This will give you best quality file ,and you don't need to use a RAW converter to work with them; you can open them directly in your editing software.

--P

I've never heard of scanning to RAW. You can get 16 bit TIFF files from a scanner. The main reason for shooting RAW is so that you can compress a too broad gamut, one that exceeds the 256 tone range that computers can deal with. A good scanning job will do that in the scanning process. Getting the files in 16 bit mode will give you the leeway to do whatever additional editing you wish to do. If you are thinking of doing your own I've been very happy with my Epson Perfection scanner. It is a flatbed scanner but does an excellent job with transparencies up to 4x5.

See if the ScanCafé will meet your needs.

Use a lightbox and macro lens copy them in raw and a low ISO using a tripod works for me in my studio.

There is some interesting information here in the Dam Book site about "camera scanning". Would be worth consideration perhaps.

My Nikon Coolscan 9000 allows scanning to a RAW file. I've scanned slides to both 16 bit RAW and TIFF files and there wasn't a lot of difference. The RAW file was actually a little bit larger than the TIFF files. I considered scanning to RAW because I use Adobe Lightroom and store all of my digital originals from my cameras in RAW. Out of my cameras the digital files are 25 megabytes uncompressed. The 16 bit scanned TIFF files from 35mm slides are about 135 megabytes. Since RAW files out of my cameras are quite a bit smaller than TIFF files I was hoping that if I scanned them as RAW I would see a similar reduction in size with the scans. No such luck!

Bill, that's interesting the CoolScan 9000 will scan to a RAW file. Are these files *.nef files. and can they be converted in PhotoShop to DNG or TIFF?

--P

I've scanned thousands of slides on a Epson V500. It only scans 4 at a time (good winter project) but scans them and cleans them at the same time. I then place them in photoshop and do whatever I need to with them. I then place the original scan and processed image on a Seagate 500gb for future reference. The scanner is on sale at Staples for around $179..
Buy the way I file the slides as TIFF.

Preston, yes they are NEF files from the Coolscan 9000. I use Nikon Scan software and Vuescan but have only scanned to NEF files using Nikon Scan software. I haven't tried converting them to DNG or TIFF files but I'm fairly certain they will. When I tried the scans I was just interested in whether it would save me some space. It makes sense that you could scan to NEF or RAW on a scanner since the scanner uses a CCD sensor as the capture device. I will give it a try but I just upgraded my system hardware and operating system to Windows 7 this week and am still working on getting all my software and drivers updated. I'll let you know as soon as I get everything up and running.

Nikon's scanners can provide a RAW NEF file, but I would just go for the 16 bit .TIFF instead. Its a better long term archival solution and I really can't think of any advantages to the .NEF over the TIFF. Imacon/Hasselbald also offer a RAW format which must be opened in their proprietary software. Its supposed to offer some benefits, but I would want to get the file into a common format such as TIFF asap.

Be aware that ICE dust removal does not work particularly well on Kodachrome film, so you'll have a dusty slide to clean up. B&W film does work either. Typical E-4 or E-6 materials like Fujichrome and Ektachrome both work fine with digital ice as do color negative or chromogenic B&W negative.

Sams Club will scan them to CD (JPEG) for 18c each. If you have a lot to do then that's one option. I think they provide 2Mp files. Handy for old family photos.