It is quite common to find shoeboxes full of slides in the average household. Like film and other media formats that rely on “tape” to store video, slides will deteriorate over time. In order to preserve your family memories for the future it is imperative they get moved to DVD or another digital format. But do you go about doing it yourself or have a company that specializes in slide scanning do it?
Scanning the slides yourself could involve spending a lot of money to buy the proper equipment, i.e. a special scanner and a decent photo editor (Photoshop, which costs $600). Depending on how many slides you have, this could take A LOT of time, let alone the time required to learn how to use your new scanner and photo editing software.
Your other option could be to have Walmart or Costco scan the slides. However, this isn’t their speciality and you wouldn’t get the same quality as a company that specializes in slide scanning.
For the average person, hiring a company that specializes in slide scanning is going to be the best bet. They will make sure the slides are transferred with the upmost quality and with the most up-to-date equipment. Some slide transfer companies also give you the option of creating a slideshow on DVD to share with family and friends or professionally enhance each photo.