So glad to find this technique. I am now the keeper of the archive since my mom downsized. My dad was an avid photographer and has hundreds of slides. Will definitely be giving this a try!
Brilliant idea. Well done. You do realise that wifey has now found a job for me: or so she thinks. Pull a long face, sigh loudly and happily nip to the workshop and play. Thanks Kenny, I've just spent three hours thoroughly enjoying my self.
Well I'm glad that I could help you with this Piet. Enjoy your time in the shop. My suggestion would be to span it over a 2-3 day period and then complain that it is never as easy as they show on the video. Saying something like "Phew!!! That video made it look simple but it's going to take me at LEAST another 2 days to finish this one" will help, I'm sure. LOL. Thanks for tuning in and good luck on your project.
I'm really glad that you mentioned making sure to clean the slides. A few years ago, I decided to scan all of my family's old negatives. I have a scanner that has an attachment for scanning slides and negatives and figured this would be a good use of the down time between Christmas and New Years. I spent countless hours setting up an assembly line to scan all of them. When I was done, I converted all of the negatives to positive images and scaled them up. At this point I could see just how dusty they were! Software can remove some of the dust but starting clean is much better.
It is next to impossible to get a 100% clean slide to convert to digital, but giving them a good cleaning before putting them in the converter is a good start. For the amount of dust or dirt that will show after a quick cleaning and conversion, the image will be acceptable for most users. Thanks for tuning in to the show this week Jim and for chiming in with your story. I'm frustrated for you. LOL.
Thank you! Our dad was a photographer, he took many and had them as slides. I’ve searched in our area, and no one had the process of converting slides into prints. So, THIS video is greatly appreciated!
While my father wasn't a photographer, he did take a lot of photos on family trips and like you, I struggled to find someone to convert them to digital images. I have found that the key to getting this done is to ensure that the slides are clean before you take the pictures. I am also considering make a new version of this slide convertor using a DSLR camera instead of a phone. It's something that you may want to consider as well if you want your images to be in RAW format for better editing and colour optimization. Thanks for tuning in to the show and good luck with your conversion.
Kenny, your shop made box looks like it works better, faster, and easier than my commercial version. I might have to build your version plus there is the added benefit of getting to smell the rubber cement.. lol. Great idea and outcome.
Hey Kenny, cool project. Another thing to try for the light diffuser is to move the diffuser away from the slide itself. This will ensure that the camera can't focus on the surface of the diffuser and the slide at the same time. It will make the box taller, but it will make a difference.
Amazing! I thought I might have to spend a lot of money to buy a projector or something but this is perfect. Took a couple of hours and around $12 USD (things are a lot more expensive in NZ but still cheap and fun to build). And it actually works! I'll have fun going through the rest of my mothers collection and I'm sure she is going to be super surprised and very happy when I show her her digitized slides from back in the 60s and 70s. Much appreciated :)
Glad that it worked out for you. Be sure to clean your slides really well so that the dust and dirt doesn't transfer to your digital image. Thanks for tuning in to the show and for the kind words.
Hi Kenny, thank you so much for doing this project, it helped me out greatly. I also had issues with the light diffuser. What worked for me was not using a diffuser on the box, and (1) putting the frosted plastic sheet on the floor, and using it as a reflected light source (I attached a small flashlight to my belt, pointed at the sheet, so my hands were freed up to feed/retrieve the slides). What worked even better was instead to (2) use my Mac browser to bring up a white screen as the light source (which of course didn't need to be diffused). Placed the box onto it, and voila. All set to feed slides. This allows one to sit on a couch for the digitization, which was more comfortable than sitting at my desk to do it - easier on the back! Thanks again for your wonderful video.
I'm glad that you found the video useful and that you were able to come up with a lighting solution that worked for you. Thanks for tuning in and for taking the time to leave your comment and kind words. It's very much appreciated.
Well done, my dear! Cutting mats and file folder fronts are my best bet for light diffusion. A friend left me a box of slides years ago, and I bet I could get this accomplished for him. He just lost his ability to walk, and I bet he would love to see his old art work again while I physical therapy and such.
I'm sure your friend would absolutely love that as a gift Susan. Good luck with your project. Thanks for tuning in to the show and for the kind words on the project and show.
Using this with a DSLR would definitely be an upgrade. I was going to do the same but wasn't sure which lens would provide the best focal length to get the best images. Shooting with a DSLR in RAW format would also give the opportunity to edit the photos in photoshop and get some really great restored images. Thanks for tuning in to the show. It's appreciated.
I'm glad that you liked it and that you found it to be useful Bryan. Thanks for tuning in and for the kind words on the show. Good luck on your project.
If only I had seen this before ordering a scanner. A thought to add to this ingenious make: if the phone camera is oriented with its aspect to match that of your largest slide visual dimension (in this case, a 35 mm rectangle with the longest side matching the longest on the camera), then when you zoom to fill the screen, your resolution will be optimised.
Well hopefully you will still end up making one of these Craig. It would be interesting to see the difference between the images done on the scanner and the images done with the cell phone. I like your aspect ratio idea. Thanks for chiming in with that and for tuning in to the show.
Really good video thanks, possibly another way to diffuse the light could be the side of a white plastic milk carton - it works as a great diffuser too.
Cool project Ken, my brother went to school for photography, he made a light box and used my light board that I have its a box with 2 fluorescent tubes (bulbs) with a white plastic board to defuse the light with a dimmer switch, for my brother it works great, he would look at slides and film strips after developing them, the light board worked out for my brother, thanks Ken be safe
Made mine in photography school about ... 30+ years ago. lol Still have it and drag it out from time to time. The white plastic board you're referring to is diffused plexiglass. You can't see through it but it allows light to pass through it.
Sounds great Phil and probably better than anything you would purchase today. Thanks for tuning in and for chiming in with your story. It's appreciated.
That sounds awesome Alan. I'm sure that there would be many options to make your own light box today with many options for lighting. The light box I made years ago had two small fluorescent fixtures in it. It's bulky, it's heavy and it takes up a ton of room. Maybe it's time for me to produce a show on making a light box with today's technology. Much thinner and possibly LED lighting instead of fluorescent or incandescent. Now you've got me thinking. Thanks for tuning in Alan. It's appreciated.
Brilliant idea! I think I have a couple of old accessories from my 35mm camera that might help the lighting problem. The next thing is...where did I stash it years ago. The camera doesn't work, but all the other stuff does. That box is simple enough to make. Great show! Take care!
Glad that you liked it Michael. I hope you will try this and do some experimenting with it. Thanks for tuning in and for taking the time to leave your comment. It's appreciated.
Is important to point that you don´t get the full resolution from the slide. The people are a little blurry because you would need a lens (or project in the wall with the old projectors) to have all the information in the photo.
Magic! I need to scan a couple of slides. This should give me a chance to try to digitise them. The shop bought ones are too costly for only 2! Cross your fingers for me that this works. I have lots of foam board anyway, so...
I hope it does work for you Gail. It worked for me. Just make sure that you clean your slide really well and that there is no dust on them at all. Dust really shows on the digital image. Thanks for tuning in and good luck on your project.
Yes, that old "ka-chunk" as the cartridge or carousel moved to the next image. Let's not forget the blinding effect of the white screen that made your pupils shrink to the size of a pin head in 0.1 seconds because someone didn't load a slide in one of the slots. LOL. Good times. Thanks for tuning in to the show. It's appreciated.
Fantastic idea! Beautifully executed video! I plan to get started on this tomorrow. I have approximately 2.2K slides that were taken by my father scanning the 50's to the 80's. My wife had given me a slide/negative scanner for Christmas a few years back and, I just discovered a serious shortcoming when converting slides! It has a built in, non-adjustable crop factor that results in a lot of chopped off heads. So, your brilliant idea will help save the day (with no maimed or missing body parts). Thanks!!
@@acutabove_woodworkings I picked up all of the materials for the box and slide tray construction today and, hope to get the build done this weekend. In the video, you mentioned early on that initially you sat the box onto your light table. How did the light table work as a light source? I ask because I see that there are LED light tables available that look like they would work very well. Sorry to continue asking questions.
@@glennb1374 I had some issues getting the lighting right. The problem is that you have to make sure that it is well diffused to avoid the individual LED's showing in the slides. I finally settled on this one www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0C663WDXH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 and it worked perfectly. No worries on the extra questions. I don't see the point in me having a RU-vid channel if I am not willing to answer people's questions and help out when I can. While other channels use RU-vid as a source of income, I have a full time job and try to utilize RU-vid to actually help folks. The tiny bit of money I make from the channel helps to keep the content going and to keep my website afloat. I'm only to glad to help Glenn. Ask whatever questions you like.
@@acutabove_woodworkings That one is nearly identical to the one that I had found on Amazon. Before I pull the trigger on it, I want to try one of the small Manfrotto lights that I already have on hand. If it works out, I’ll be sure to send you the info on it. Thanks again for taking the time to respond and share your experience and thoughts.
Thanks Kenny from down under, just about to convert several hundred slides that are getting over 40 years old now, have looked at commercial but will copy your design. Thanks
I added a heavy can to the inside of the box, so it can sit over the edge of the table without falling off, and didn't put in a light diffuser but rather diffused the light coming in. Also, I didn't do as good a job at cutting so my box was a bit wonky and let light in - so I taped the edges in black duct tape and it keeps the light in and looks nicer, too! Great design, thanks!
I congratulate him. Your solution is very interesting. I did it with a florescent lamp ceiling and controlled the pixel diffusion. The only thing I couldn't do was use a remote control for the phone. But it was better than with an expensive scanner or macro camera. Thank you and continue giving economic ideas to the poor.
Thanks for this video Kenny, I made your design and it worked like a charm. My addition was to add a white foam core light box as the light source that worked great. Thanks again .
Glad to hear that you were able to make a successful converter Joe. Sounds like you came up with a great solution for the light. Thanks for tuning in and for chiming in with your thoughts.
Great setup! I've recently played with digitizing old family slides that are up to 60 years old. What I wasn't prepared for was how deteriorated they were! :( Many have a very red color that I can improve somewhat, but moral of the story - they don't last forever. Do them sooner rather than later!
The definitely yellow and deteriorate over time. Thanks for the reminder Irene to get these done ASAP to prevent further deterioration of the image. Thanks for tuning in to the show.
Very cool, I don’t have any slides but I enjoyed watching you make it happen. It is always cool to see the process in action and the trial and error like at the end.
@@acutabove_woodworkings i do remember them, we would have slide shows in elementary school in the late 80’s. The big one for my family growing up was the Polaroid in the 90’s, instant picture lol
@@randysmith3828 I remember those as well. Horrible quality photos but instant results. The big attraction was not having to wait to get your photos developed just to see that everyone blinked when you shot the pic. LOL.
@@acutabove_woodworkings We have LOTS of slides and this project looks amazing. It has reminded me though, of the wonderful sound of the projector clicking and extracting and reloading the slides - something many today will never experience - happy times. It looks like this weekend will be a busy one. Many thanks.
Kenny rhis is a great idea and very creative on your part. I plan to start making mine next week. I'll be 73 in April so YES I have slides I've always wanted to convert to digital. Now because of you I can! Peace be with you Kenny and thanks again!
Good luck with your slide conversion Darlene. Just remember to clean them well. Any dust at all on the slide sill stick out like a sore thumb. Thanks for tuning in to the show.
I have a somewhat related interest in digitally processing a small collection of glass negatives (about 100 yr. old). The response I received on a professional photography forum was to use indirect light instead of direct light with a diffuser. In other words, arrange a remote flash to reflect off a curved white poster board or the like and mask the negative plate so no light comes in over the edge. Also, I would use my dslr camera instead of a smartphone. The number of megapixels is just one factor pertaining to image quality. The size of the CMOS light sensor is another. I already have an LED light board. It gives fairly acceptable results, but not as bright as I really need.
Very interesting comment Trenton. I have never heard of or seen glass negatives and I hope that you are able to use your DSLR to capture the images on them. I may have to try my DSLR and see if I am able to use that instead of my smart phone. I like the increase megapixel thought. Thanks for tuning in and for chiming in to the conversation.
Brilliant? You can use a flatbed scanner with slide attachment - both Canon and Epson make them, but they have not been updated in years and prices can be high because of limited supply. Scanners are very slow and finicky to load the slides in the holder. About the only advantage is they can also scan negatives, but they suffer from the same problems with dust contamination which is almost impossible to solve consistently. I've already scanned my collection of slides but going to give this a try to see if the results improve.
While scanners do work the way you described, not everyone has one and this is a really cheap alternative to be able to convert your photos. To be honest, I have a scanner and it came with the "cartridge" to hold the slides and negatives but I was looking for something a little simpler to use. Thanks for tuning in Woody and for taking the time to chime in with your alternative method. It's very much appreciated.
You certainly can but not everyone has a flatbed scanner. This is a very cheap alternative. Thanks for tuning in to the show and for taking the time to leave your suggestion. It's appreciated.
It is a crazy amount of money. Converting old movies into digital is even more expensive. This is a great, cheap alternative. Thanks for tuning in. Good luck on your project.
Add the Photomyne App to this equation and you have a really nice workflow. It’s great without it but I’m going to build one of these boxes to get best quality possible. Thanks for the help!
We had 1000+ color slides we wanted to convert to digital images. We got bids from $750 to over $1200. So I 3D printed an adapter that fit over my macro lens to hold the slides at the proper distance away. I used my computer monitor for a light source since using software I could "dial" in a color to make up for some bad slides otherwise a white screen was perfect. It only took 5 or 10 seconds per slide once I got going.
That's a great solution as well Charles. I may have to look into that and see if I can design something that will fit my lens. Thanks for tuning in and for chiming in with your method. I love it.
The final light was just a flashlight app downloaded on my iPad, with a frosted plastic sheet from the dollar store, laid over top of the iPad for a diffuser. I hope this helps George. Thanks for tuning in to the show.
Would paper vellum work? I recall using it to draw architecture plans. It might be smoother than your dollar-store plastic sheet. I know this is two years later than your filming, and any newbie might want to try paper vellum and comment on your results.
I tried vellum (or onion skin as it is sometimes called) and it gave very blotchy results in the light diffusion making the image blotchy as well. Thanks for tuning in and for chiming in with your suggestion. Maybe multiple layers of vellum?
Just move the diffused light source an inch (25mm) away from the slide. A really good diffuser is a piece of opal Perspex, scrap pieces available from most glaziers or sign makers.
This is great. I have hundreds of slides, if not thousands. I have a photo scanner but I'm not pleased with the size of the scans on the slides. My Iphone X's photos are 12 megapixels. My Nikon D5200 is 24 megapixels. I'm going to build something similar to this where I can use my Nikon. For the diffusion, I think I will build the inside of the box out of white foam core with a daylight light source which isn't directly in line with the slide. LED's might work as well as a daylight light bulb. I'm afraid, even the plastic you finally used to diffuse the light, is going to show up in enlargements of the slides once they are digitized. If the white foam core is four or five inches behind the slide, it should fall out of focus and the slick white backing on the foam core shouldn't show any kind of grain or imperfections.
Your modifications sound awesome Jay. I'd be interested to hear how they work out. Thanks for tuning in to the show and for taking the time to leave your comment. It's very much appreciated.
Very nice work, however the mistake you made with the light source was, it was too close to the slide, ahowing all the grain and puip in the paper. If you use a spacer of maybe a half inch or so, it should work fine.
I would use 3M double sided tape for the slide holder. The color of the light coming through the slide is important too. Too warm or too cool will skew color. I would say 5500k.
Hi, thanks for a a great video! Don't have a dollar store where I live, so have to buy foam core online. Whats thickness in mm do you recommend, so it won't be too thin?
I have plenty of negatives but have not tried it to see if it works. I will have to give it a whirl but I'm not sure if it will create the same image or not. I think there is some conversation of the negative image that needs to be done digitally. Thanks for tuning in to the show.
I don't believe that the foam has to be black Jenny. I just used black to try and eliminate any light reflections from interfering with the photos. I'm not so sure that a light box will be able to help you much here for this particular application. I have used a Lightbox many times to photograph my work and I honestly can't think of a way that it would be any benefit to converting slides to digital. I hope this helps a little. Thanks for tuning in to the show.
@@acutabove_woodworkings one more question, just take a clean makeup brush or something to dust off the slide itself? Yours is pretty fancy. I don’t cut foam board well. I was going to just paint the while I have black but now I’ll have to go get one of those plastic things so I might just get the black board. I don’t have an ipad for lighting. Only a laptop but like I said, o do have a light box I bought and never used so maybe I can use that light somehow 🤷🏻♀️
@@jennysci33 A clean makeup brush would work just fine or a little bit of compresses air like the cans that you use to clean a computer keyboard. The light source can be anything. It doesn't have to be a an iPad. Your light box may work just fine for that. As long as you have something to filter the light so it isn't so intense on the slide. Experiment a little.
@@acutabove_woodworkings I wonder if opal acrylic sheet would work? I got an offcut from a local plastic supplier to test for lamps I want to make, I haven't got to test it yet. It has a gloss finish. I suspect to get a good diffuser effect it has to have a matt finish with a very fine grain. Maybe sanding with 600 or so grit would work. Obviously the grain showed through in some of your tests. Just thinking, the grain of the diffuser has to be much finer than the grain of the film, maybe 5 to 10 times finer! OK, future project suggestion: DIY frosted glass or equivalent!
@@wiseoldfool There's only one way to find out about the opal acrylic sheet Barry. Give it a whirl and see. As for the shop made frosted glass......coincidently, that will be coming on an episode of the show very soon.
Hey Kenny, I'm going to try this. I bought a cheap scanner about 10 years ago and I've never been happy with the quality of the images it takes. My 40 yr. old slides I think are in very good condition and I hope to get great results. Question about the depth of your box: that is the measurement of 5 5/8". Is that the minimal distance that your camera focused the best, plus adding the thickness of the two pieces of foam core? Thanks, Marie
That is correct Jeanette. You will need to test your particular cell phone to see what it's best focusing distance is and when you get that distance figured out, that is the distance that your camera needs to be from your slide. You can add as much foam core as you wish, as long as the camera lens is at the optimal distance for the focus. I hope this helps. Thanks for tuning in.
This will work but it does not compare to the quality you will get with a quality flat bed scanner that has film scanning hardware. Please be aware that if you are going to buy one there are some cheap ones that dont do as good a job as the cell phone camera
without a doubt the scanners will produce a better image Bruce. This show was geared more toward those who were unable to obtain a scanner and were looking for a relatively cheaper solution to slide conversion. Thanks for tuning in and for chiming in with your advice. It's very much appreciated.
I'm afraid that this method will provide only the poorest digital image quality imaginable. To achieve a quality that matches the original slides you will need a digital camera with a proper macro lens of fixed focal length - no zoom lens! Nice try, though!
No one ever said that we were going to get high quality images from this method. What I said was it was a great way to be able to convert your slides to digital so that you could view them if you didn't have a projector. That is EXACTLY what this simple project does. Thanks for tuning in and for chiming in with your opinion.
You have to be very pedantic to think like that. If I can take quality photos with an iPhone, I don't need macro but rather focus the image well, the rest is ignorance.
@@luisvillamizar1179 Well, I would not call it 'pedantic'. I'm just convinced that quality slides and negatives require and deserve quality digitization. Photography is one of my hobbies for about 4 decades now, and I don't like to waste my time and efforts using gear that's inadequate for the task. I'm not a fan of selfies, but selfies and quick shots for documentation are what smartphone cameras are good for. For all quality photo tasks, a 'real' camera is required.
@@acutabove_woodworkings it’s just we only need to scan “hero” or top pic selections slide/negatives. Not all the redundant crap. Use something simple to cull/edit and then scan what you need to use. Editing is at least 50% of most media platforms. We all overshoot. And this is not like digital obviously. Just pick what you need and work with it. Store the edits if you think you really need to. Ran 5 studios with super high volume for decades.
