# Sifting through thousands of negatives



## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

What's the best way to sort through them all?

A light box with a loupe? Although somewhat tedious.

Been putting it off too long,
Got to digitize all my old negatives from the 70's and 80's.

What is the best way to sort through them all?


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

One idea on Youtube





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YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.


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## WCraig (Jul 28, 2004)

My parents took many rolls of slides...and they've sat there for years, so I'm facing the same issue. I'm torn. On one hand, if I spend the time to go through all the slides and find the ones worth scanning, part of me wants to get a really good high-resolution scan. I don't want to ever have to do it again.

OTOH, like the guy in the video says, if it takes half a minute per slide, the time investment is daunting. Maybe the quickie macro shot is good enough...

Either way, the other big part of the project is to get names, places and approximate dates for the ones scanned. 

Craig


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

Some mid-price Epson scanners will scan 8-10 negs at a go. Do that at 300 dpi. Will be good enough to prepare contact sheets. Then go back and re-scan anything that you really want to work with at a higher resolution. If you do a roll or two every night you will eventually either get things under control or decide you are wasting your time. 

A good Loupe and light table should be available at fairly low cost if you are trying to whittle things down to just those negs which have certain people/objects in the images. That route is a lot faster if you are comfortable doing the first sort in neg format.

My own experience would indicate if you have something you wish to print at 8x10 or bigger, pay the bucks for professional scans. 

No matter what Epson claims their maximum dpi is, I will doubt that you will see any benefit going beyond 1200 dpi, which should make for a decent print up to 5x7 but not much bigger. The higher res scans will have more pixels but will not really capture any aditional detail. Admittedly my scanner is ten years old but I have seen nothing to indicate that the higher resolution claimed by newer scanners is anything more than interpolation from a 1200 dpi scan.


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

WCraig said:


> My parents took many rolls of slides...and they've sat there for years, so I'm facing the same issue. I'm torn. On one hand, if I spend the time to go through all the slides and find the ones worth scanning, part of me wants to get a really good high-resolution scan. I don't want to ever have to do it again.
> 
> OTOH, like the guy in the video says, if it takes half a minute per slide, the time investment is daunting. Maybe the quickie macro shot is good enough...
> 
> ...


Somewhere in storage a thousand miles away I have a small slide viewer. It back projects onto a 7 inch screen. Not very expensive and you can whip through 20 slides or so in 2 or 3 minutes quickly sorting them into; WOW, Keep, May-Bee and Chuck piles. From there scan the WOWs, then the Keeps. I bet by then most of the May-Bees will migrate to the Chuck pile.

Have fun!


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

I came across this interesting idea on Youtube for viewing negatives with an iPad.
I could also use the iPad camera to capture the images at the same time using this method,
But, I'm not sure about the quality of the shot, Or if the iPad can even make macro shots.





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YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

As for a light box, I really like the last light box/panel featured in this video,
I like the idea of the screen being able to hold the media underneath.

I've seen the Gagne Porta-Trace Light Boxes in Toronto at various art suppliers,
I also like the 50,000 hour life of the LED lights.

With the ability to hold the negative in place,
I think this would also work better with my DSLR camera.





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YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.








> Gagne Porta-Trace Light Panel
> New LED Light Panel by Gagne Porta-Trace!
> Now whiter & brighter, the Light Panel has an ultra-slim 3/4" profile & removable adapter to transport easily. Featuring an eco-friendly design with long lasting LED lights and an estimated bulb life of 50,000 hours with low power consumption. The Light Panel uses the brightest LED lights available while providing uniform lighting across the work surface with a beautiful white hue. Made from an aluminum frame with a durable Plexiglas working surface. Viewing area measures 8.5" x 11".


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