Transparency conversion

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Posted By: leon

I have an opportunity to get some transparencies of some of the best 19th century memoribilia in the hobby, from one of our esteemed board members for show and tell. The only thing is that I have no idea how to convert them to a jpeg, or what it will take, to post on the board. I don't really want to buy a 100k machine to do it. Any suggestions? I am hoping I can get it done inexpensively somewhere or maybe a board member is in the business? Thanks in advance.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Make positive images out of the transparencies, which shouldn't cost much, and then post them. I bet I know which ones you mean

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Posted By: Griffins

Leon-
They need to be drum scanned. There are lots of service bureaus that can do this, but it would be 3-5K to buy a decent drumscanner, and that doesn't mean you'll be able to get good scans without being trained. If you'd like I can find a service bureau in Dallas, or can recommend mine in LA if you want to overnite them.
Flatbed scans (your basic scanner) won't have the shadow/highlight detail, and I"d bet the film might need a spot of retouching here and there to repair that which time removed.
Anthony

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Posted By: leon

Barry- no fair.....

Anthony- I will take any help I can get.... thanks too...

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Posted By: David Davis

For a few hundred dollars you can buy a scanner with a slide/transparency attachment that will scan up to 4" x 5" transparencies. I use one all the time and it works just fine. For larger sizes, you can buy separate attachments that are relatively inexpensive. Epson has a good line of products for this.

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Posted By: leon

Some are 4x5 and some are 8x10, I am told. Thanks again

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Posted By: davidcycleback

For transparencies that large, you can just scan or digitally photograph them with back light and produce jpg images good enough for the internet. Photo dealers scan negatives, slides and transparencies in all sizes all the time, and I've digitally photographed 35mm slides for eBay and produced good, big images. That yours are 4x5 and 8x10 will make them easier to scan or photograph than the 35mm I did.

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Posted By: Griffins

without getting too techno-geeky, a flatbed scanner typically will have a dynamic range of 3.4, while a laser drum scanner will be 4.0
What this means is more detail in the shadows, better detail in the highlights, and smoother tonal transitions. I"ve tried to come close with the best flatbed scanners (I had a Heidelberg) and even with layer masks and tweeking the scans they just looked so much better drum scanned. For prints, cards, etc flatbeds are fine, but for transparencies it's not even close, IMO.
Back when I shot film for jobs (I"m an advertising photographer) I tried to get around the expense and time constraints of drum scans, but just couldn't, except for down and dirty web usage- simple product stuff shot with controlled studio lighting. For anything with a full tonal range (eg non studio images) drum scans were and are the only way to go. If you want these to look good on the web and also be able to make prints with strong shadow and highlight detail I"d highly recommend doing it right so you don't have to do it over.