This and That With a Camera: October 2013

Old 35mm Slides

Several years ago I decided to convert some of my old 35mm slides to digital format. At that time there were no cheap scanners that would easily do the job. I had thousands of slides in trays and was not about to scan them one by one. Not sure how I got the idea, probably from someone in the Diablo Valley Macintosh Users Group, but I decided to project the slides onto a white wall and take a picture. The point and shoot camera was mounted on a tripod behind the projector.

The results were acceptable but could have been better. I had so many pictures that I was discouraged from care and quality. Two things would have helped. One, I should have used a flat white wall or screen that would not have reflected bright spots. Two, I should have dusted the slides before projecting them.

I actually edited (deleted) quite a bit keeping only what I really wanted, based mostly on the subject matter.

If I were more of a perfectionist I would now use Aperture or something like it to clean up what remains. Dust spots and color correction would be the most likely edits.

Below is a selection: Some pictures are nearly 50 years old.