Today, we are lucky enough to be living at that point in time wherein we have Powerpoint presentations to make things a lot easier for us, but people who lived before us had only projector slides.
The same way a single picture is worth a thousand words, a projector slide may hold a lot of memories. However, since technology has developed so much during the past few years, projector slides may have been left forgotten in peoples’ basements, or projectors may have become worn out or traded for new projectors. Old-school projectors are also quite harder to find in stores these days, therefore making projector slides unusable.
Thus, it would be a great idea to convert old projector slides into a form that can be more easily accessed these days such as digital images.
Table of Contents
How to Convert Projector Slides into Digital Images
1. Take photos of your projector slides.
If you have a projector, then just project the slides and take a photo. Make sure to use a neat and matte white background when projecting and when taking photos, make sure to use a high-resolution camera so that you get the best shots. If you know you tend to have shaky hands, try using a tripod.
Not everyone is great at taking photos, but don’t worry, you can always edit the photos later on.
2. Scan your projector slides.
If you have a flatbed scanner at home, you can also utilize this to convert your projector slides. Apparently, you don’t really need fancy (not to mention more costly) scanners to get the work done.
Before you begin, though, clean the old slides first by static duster or a solution that is strictly for cleaning slides. This is an essential step, since dirt that has accumulated for years may affect the quality of the images produced after the process of conversion.
When you’re done cleaning, load your slide onto the scanner. Then, inform the scanner that you are going to scan a slide (otherwise known as a “positive film”). Then decide how large you want your scans to be. You may also choose whether you wish to make your scanner fix issues like scratches and dust. Once you are done adjusting these settings, just hit “Scan” and in a few seconds, you’re done!
3. Get a professional to do the work for you.
For some reason, you might be doubtful about doing the conversion process all by yourself. If this is the case, you can always seek the help of professionals to help you convert your project slides into digital images. Just leave your slides with them for a certain period of time and when it is done, they will bring the slides back to you together with a copy of the images probably in a DVD or a flash drive.
If you decide to get it done by a professional, chances are, you will get much better results in comparison to if you choose to do the process on your own, however, you must know that you will have to spend a bit more money. It will surely be worth it in the end, though. You will also be confident that your slides will be in good hands, and they will be taken care of the entire time.
5 Best-Selling Digital Image Converters
Reviews of 5 Top Rated Digital Image Converters
1. KODAK SCANZA Digital Film & Slide Scanner
Kodak SCANZA Digital Film Tilt-Up 3.5" LCD, Easy-Load Film Inserts, Adapters & More
- film to jpeg in seconds – powerful 14/22mp kodak film scanner converts old 35mm, 126, 110, super 8 & 8mm negatives & slides to jpeg digital files - note; the scanza will not convert films other then 35mm, 126, 110, super 8 & 8mm negatives
- large, bright 3.5” tft lcd – high definition built-in color display features adjustable brightness & convenient tilt for easy operation & image viewing
- an adapter for everything – unit arrives w/multiple film inserts & adapters for fast, flexible operation; big one-touch buttons allow for one-step scan & save
- intuitive user interface – includes helpful tray & insert directory; easily edit image rgb & resolution, browse gallery [sd card not included, supports up to 128gb] & more
- cables & extras included – mac & pc compatible converter comes w/usb power cable, hdmi cable, ac adapter, video cable & free film cleaning brush. use the included brush to also clean the light box of dust and speckles, to avoid marks on the scanned images.
Through the years, products from KODAK have always met our needs when it comes to image preservation. This product, the SCANZA digital film and slide scanner, is no exception.
Before you consider getting a professional to do the conversion process for you, you might want to check this out first, since it makes the entire process very easy for anyone, even if you know very little about image restoration or conservation.
It has a 3.5-inch LCD color display with adjustable brightness and tilts for easy viewing, one-touch buttons to let you control the device easily, and of course, a gallery for the images you process (you need to buy an SD card separately for this, but the good this is that you can save up to 128GB worth of images).
This device comes with cables that allow it to be compatible with both Mac and PC devices.
2. Magnasonic All-in-One High Resolution Scanner
Magnasonic AllinOne High Resolution Vibrant 2.4" LCD Screen, Impressive 128MB Built-in Memory
- effortlessly convert your 35mm, 126kpk,110, super 8 and negatives into premium high resolution 24mp digital photo jpeg files. still images only, not video. relive and share your memories in no time with only the push of a button.
- view your scanned slides and films with the built-in, vibrant full color, 2.4 inch lcd screen or directly onto your television with the included video out tv cable. no computer is needed to transform your slides from outdated to updated.
- thanks to the generous 128mb of built-in memory, save up to 100 images directly onto the all-in-one converter. the easy to use sd card slot expansion allows you to hold even more of your high resolution images until you are ready to transfer them to your computer, smartphone, tablet or digital picture frame.
- quickly and seamlessly scan all your film without the need to precut into strips and painfully line up correctly. when teamed up with the one-touch scanning software you can go from loading to saving in less than 5 seconds.
- start editing your photos right out of the box with the easy to use plug-and-play interface. no complicated computer software or driver installation needed.
Another great device you can get on Amazon if you want to convert your projector slides into digital images in one easy step is this scanner from Magnasonic. Using this, you can convert 35 mm, 126KPK, Super 8 films, negatives, and of course, slides into JPEG files with just one push of a button.
Just like the scanner from KODAK, this one has a built-in 2.4-inch LCD display which allows you to view the films, negatives, or slides that you have scanned. If you want to view the images on a larger screen such as your TV, you can definitely do so, since this device has a cable for exactly that function.
If you purchase this device, you also won’t have to buy an SD card separately because luckily, it has a built-in 128MB memory, that should be enough for you to save around a hundred images. If you wish to be able to save more images, that’s only when you’ll need to buy an SD card.
The scanning process can be done in as fast as 5 seconds using this device. You can also easily edit the resulting photos with the plug-and-play interface.
Conclusion
Projector slides may contain important information or treasured memories from the past. The thing is, it might be more difficult to view their contents now since old-school projectors are harder to access. Also, chances are, many slides from years ago might have deteriorated by now.
Thus, to ensure that the memories that these slides hold would be eternally preserved, it would be a good idea to convert them into digital images instead, since these can be more easily viewed these days in just about any device. Also, by converting them into digital images, you can edit them as much as you want–something that people were unfortunately not able to do on their images long ago.
However, one must remember that when converting projector slides, they must be handled carefully, so as to prevent them from getting damaged.
Andrea Vaso
When Andrea is not writing, you’re most likely going to find her drinking coffee, reading a novel, or watching medical dramas. She holds an undergraduate degree in biology and as of this moment, she is attending medical school.