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Query For The Photographers Out There From Older Generation

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needawin | 15:36 Wed 31st Oct 2018 | Technology
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I have a Kodachrome photo from early sixties. To those confused let me explain.
It's a photo image enclosed in a cardboard frame about 2 X 2 inches.
It was viewed from a handheld viewer.
Is it possible to get it converted into a normal photograph.
I think I asked in a photography shop many years age and was staggered by the price I was quoted. Thanks in advance
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You might be better finding a friendly local print shop (repro house, maybe), with scanning facilities. They could turn the image (by scanning it) into a jpg, from which you could make 'ordinary' prints.

Cost? At least fifty quid, even under the counter.

Or if you've got any acquaintances with a good (repeat good, i.e. £150-plus) desktop scanner - some of the better ones have trannie/negative capabilities.
This might also help, as Prudie says they're called slides.
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I used 'transparencies' widely up to the advent of digital cameras.
A good old fashioned photographers should be able to make a 'reversal' print for you. If you cannot find one maybe check out colleges that have photography courses and see if they will do it 'as a project' Start with Exeter, I donated print camera/accessories to them a few years back but I don't know their set up today.
I used 'transparencies' widely up to the advent of digital cameras.
A good old fashioned photographers should be able to make a 'reversal' print for you. If you cannot find one maybe check out colleges that have photography courses and see if they will do it 'as a project' Start with Exeter, I donated film camera/accessories to them a few years back but I don't know their set up today.
The task of transferring the slide to a jpeg image (which can then be printed out if required) is a really simple one for someone who's got a slide scanner capable of handling 127 film (which is what your slide was taken on). It simply involves inserting the slide, clicking a few buttons to import it into Photoshop and perhaps spending a few moments tweaking the result for the best image.

The problem is though that hardly any manufacturer produces scanners which can handle 127 film. Consequently such scanners tend to be very expensive. (You can buy a cheap scanner for 35mm slides for about twenty quid but a decent scanner for 127 film is likely to cost thousands of pounds). So those companies which offer to scan 127 film images need to charge very high prices in order to recoup their outlay.

It might be worth contacting the secretary of your local photographic society. (Ask at your library to see if they know who that is or, of course, search online). He/she might know of a member who has purchased their own 127 film scanner in order to digitise their large collection of slides which were taken in that format. That person would probably be happy to scan your slide for you, either free of charge or for a nominal sum.

Otherwise you'll have to shop around to find the cheapest commercial service. With just a single slide that's likely to be expensive as you've still got to factor in the cost of the CD (or USB stick,etc) which the image will be scanned to, plus time and postage. (It can work out a lot cheaper per slide if you've got several to scan). With this company, for example, it would cost you £13.80
https://www.filmscanuk.co.uk/127_super_slide_Scanning.php

This firm is cheaper, charging £4.61 if you just want to download the image file produced by the scan and have your original image posted back to you. (If you're prepared to sacrifice your original image, and not have it returned to you, they'll only charge you 86p):
https://www.mr-scan.co.uk/slideshd.html
Note though that there might be some slight cropping of the edges of your picture if you use that service.

Once you've got your image into a digital format you'll need to print it out of course. If you've not got a decent printer (possibly together with some image optimisation software to get the best result) you'll also need to add on the cost of getting the picture printed from a disc (or USB memory stick, etc) at your local photo processing place(such as the Max Spielmann franchise places within some branches of Asda).
Buenchico - why do you think the film is 127? 35mm mounts are usually 2" x 2" and are far more common.
Would have thought it should be trivial. At worst, photograph the photograph and voila.
Can you not project the image of the slide onto a suitable background and take a photo of the image?
O_G - photographing the slide is not trivial; you can't focus close enough to get a decent size image without a removable-lens camera and fitting close-up lenses of bellows between the slide and the camera.
Which is why i suggested projecting the image, bhg. As a photographer on the Regimental Int Sect on my last tour of Ireland ('77) i sometimes had to photograph the detail in small obstacles and, if i remember correctly, this procedure involved the use of a small tripod and several extension tubes. Quite a lot of faffing about, to be honest.
Ken - projecting isn't very successful. It's surprising how much the brightness of the image falls off away from the centre; the eye doesn't notice it but the camera does. You're also adding the quality of the projector lens into the equation and they're not as good as you think. The best way is one of the boxes suggested by Prudie and it's VERY time consuming. For a good photo you need very high resolution, which most boxes don't cater for and it's very slow.
The other problem is getting the colour balance right afterwards, which involves Photoshop (or similar), although you do get the chance to rescue slides which were badly-exposed .
I have got a decent printer scanner and can easily scan in and sort slides. Ask around your locality. If you are on Facebook, your local page may well find someone who can do it for you cheaply or even free.
>>> Buenchico - why do you think the film is 127? 35mm mounts are usually 2" x 2" and are far more common

Probably because I assumed that almost everyone knows what 35mm film looks like and also because a photo-processing shop shouldn't be quoting a massive price for scanning a 35mm slide.

For the avoidance of any doubt though, the different formats are illustrated here:
https://keepsakefamilytreevideo.com/studio/wp-content/uploads/slide-sizes.jpg

If the slide is actually 35mm then probably half the members of Needawin's local photo society will have suitable film scanners. (I've got two myself). So it shouldn't be hard to find someone who can scan the image to a jpeg file, which Needawin can then either printout at home or take (on a memory stick or similar) to any photop rocessing shop.
you can photo with the image with a cell phone & transfer to pc for printing

https://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/p-hama-db54-slide-viewer.htm
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Great response. Thanks all for the advice.
I'll come back and let you know the outcome
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