8,000 colour transparencies - help!!

[Maggie.]

Nuff - thank you for your input, it all helps when making a decision in what to do.  In addition to all my father's transparencies, we have quite a lot of our own and these also need going through and archiving, therefore to invest in a scanner at the cheaper end of the market that would do the job adequately may make sense.

You have all given me plenty of things to think about - many thanks.

Maggie

[nuff]

If you do decide to get a scanner, it might be worthwhile posting a "what scanner should I get for slides?" question on the photo restoration board. I'm sure that there would be a wealth of experience of using different models there.

btw some of these scanners can be used to scan negatives in various formats, something I have have to be of great use in getting good copies where the negatives have been found with old prints.

[Maggie.]

A good suggestion and I will do that once we have decided what to do.  My OH wants to replace his ancient PC soon, so probably at that point it would be a good idea to get an appropriate scanner.

Maggie

[Genie2004]

have you considered contacting the Museum of Photography in Bradford

http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/photography/

they may like some or all of them or alternatively, know where a good home could be found. I bet they have thousands of images in their collection and are always looking for more

Genie

[Maggie.]

Thank you for your suggestion, Genie.  I have asked them via email whether they would be interested in taking any after I have scanned them or had them scanned professionally.  If they say they are not interested at least I have tried.

Maggie

[eadygirl]

Hi Maggie,

My heart goes out to you!  I've had to do the same with the collections of both my father AND grandfather...both excellent semi-professionals. It's very hard to decide what to do, especially as they're pix taken in both Europe and the UK. It would be so easy to just leave them on a museum doorstep like an unwanted baby, but then you'd worry about them forever.

A photo - for museum and archive collections -  is only as good as its caption and date. That's a start.  Chuck out anything not captioned or dated or anything that looks bad i.e. under/over-exposed or blurry.

Keep the best of what you love. Have decent sized HUGE prints made and archivally framed and keep the originals in archival boxes in a cool, dry place.

Take a holiday to Athens or Rome with samples of the very best and see if the local museums/archives are interested. You'll have a holiday, meet interesting people and make more decisions!

Or, like me, just hang on to them.  We've sold some, donated some to archives but that would just be 5%.  I've had some brutal chucking out days, and have parcelled some photos off to various places and instructed them to do what they wish with them.

Of course, you'll know what I do for a living - a professional photo editor! - but I could never do it for anyone else with photos close to their heart.

Good luck! 
All best, Liz in Oz 

[Maggie.]

Hi Liz,

What lovely comments and you understand   

We are a little nearer as my OH has just replaced his ancient scanner for a new one that will scan slides in batches, it is quick and the results are excellent.  The plan is that we gradually go through Dad's collection, and like you suggest, be brutal in what we chuck out and scan the rest archiving them onto DVDs.  I have not yet found a museum that is interested in the originals.

I imagine I will keep a fair proportion.  We have visited many of the places Mum & Dad photographed in the 1970s, including Rome and ancient sites in Greece, and it will be interesting to view Dad's pics along with our own more recent ones once we have them on DVDs.  Rome is my favourite city - I love it.  Wonder if I can persuade my OH that we need to return soon with the best photos  .

Regards,
Maggie

[nuff]

Glad to hear that you're making progress Maggie.
Just a thought, when you scan the slides make sure you use a high enough resolution to obtain a decent print, and if the picture is especially good then go for as high a resolution as you can. What looks good on the monitor can sometimes dissappoint when printed, you can never put the detail back once you dispose of the slides but you can always reduce the picture quality if you wanta copy on your webpage &c.

Happy scanning,
nuff

[Maggie.]

A good point, nuff, and we will bear it in mind when we start in earnest.  At the moment we are still experimenting with some of our own slides from the early 1970s - old family stuff taken when the children were small.  We haven't looked at them in years as it was always such a performance getting the screen and projector out.  They make fascinating viewing after all these years.

My OH went for quite a good scanner in the end - part birthday present and part work equipment with other functions other than scanning.  So far we are delighted with the ease of use and the results.  I have also purchased from the internet at a great cost saving a media storage device that can hold up to 40,000 digital images.  This would seem like a good way to store the bulk of thescanned images perhaps rather than on my PC?  The best ones I would put onto DVDs.

Maggie