3 Methods to Convert Photo Slides to Digital Images [2023 Update]
Last Updated on December 29, 2022 by Peter Wood
When you have some slides or negatives, how do you take full advantage of the files? What is the best way to freshen up old slides into digital photos? It is difficult to find a photo printing store for vintage photo slides now. Is it possible to DIY the slides and digitalize the negatives? You can bring your old photographic slides and follow the digitalize process to enjoy them in photo format.
Whether you convert slides to images with a smartphone or use slides and a negative scanner, you can clean up slides first. You can clean up the dust collected on your slides before conversion. When you clean up slides, you can convert the slides now.
Part 1: Turn Photo Slides to Digital Format with Smartphone
When you have few photo slides, you can turn them into digital format with a smartphone or tablet. To convert slides to photos, you can set a white background for the photo slides first.
Step 1: A white light with the paper used as background. You can also use a tablet with white color. For using the iPad as a light source, you can enable Guide Access under Settings > General > Accessibility > Guide Access to disable touchscreen input.
Step 2: Set a secure tripod or make sure a steady position with a scan box with smartphone. When you need to convert photos to text, convert photos to PDF, or convert slides to photo with a smartphone, taking a perfectly aligned photograph is essential.
Step 3: When you set everything in a good situation, you can convert slides to photos by scanning the slides now. Some additional scanners application is helpful to turn slides and negatives into photos within seconds.
Part 2: Convert Photo Slides to Digital Images by Flatbed Scanner
When you need to digitalize your slides with good quality, you can use a dedicated negative/slide scanner. If the scanner has a film capability, it can convert slides to photos and turn photos into digital.
Step 1: Once you load up the scanner and open the software, you can choose the “Positive film” for SLIDES and “Negative film” for NEGATIVES. As for the case, you can let the scanner know what you are scanning.
Step 2: Choose the resolution or DPI you want to scan the slide or negative. It is better to use 1500 DPI or 4mm x 6mm for scanning 35mm slides and negatives to convert slides to photos of high quality.
Step 3: After that, you can fix dust, scratch, color fade to get the best result for digital images. You can scan the slides or negatives to digital photos on your computer now.
Part 3: Convert Photo Slides to Digital Photos via DSLR Slide Duplicator
When you need to copy the DSLR slides, make copies of these slides, add filters for creative effects, DSLR Slide Duplicator should be the only choice to convert slides to photos. Just take a zoom slide duplicator as an example to find the detailed process as below.
Step 1: Fit the slide into a carrier at the opposite end of the DSLR slide duplicator, then move up or down for selective cropping. The duplicator has a fixed aperture of around F/16.
Step 2: To help focus, you can remove the diffuser on some models and point the copier at a much brighter environment. Of course, you can also add a light source to copy slides to digital photos.
Step 3: Use the DSLR cameras meter and shoot, bracket the exposure on your first attempt by changing the shutter speed manually or using the exposure compensation setting in aperture-priority auto.
Part 4: How to Make the Converted Slides or Negative Images Alive
Once you convert slides to digital photos, there are some imperfections in the photos, such as the image noises of the slides, the faded colors, the spots of dust, the low quality, and more. When you need to further edit the converted slides and make the negative images alive, WidsMob AI Retoucher is the all-in-one post-processing program. Instead of the complicated editing process, it has advanced AI algorithms to enhance photos within one click. Moreover, there are a whole series of HSL settings that you can manage within one window.
1. Remove haze, recover low light, or fix blurry photos and other drawbacks with AI algorithms.
2. Touch up portrait with eye circle removal, minimize freckles, whiten teeth, and smooth skin.
3. Adjust the saturation, exposure, contrast, highlights, temperature, tint, and other HSL parameters.
4. Tweak lights, apply HDR effects, add black and white films, and convert photos to paintings.
Step 1: Once you have installed WidsMob AI Retoucher, launch the program on your computer and click the Import button to upload the desired converted slides into the program. Choose the desired photo and click the Edit button in the upper right corner to go to the editing window.
Step 2: Go to the AI Retouch menu to enhance the photo. It is more than noise reduction software, but also enables you to remove haze and recover low light automatically within one click. Moreover, you can also adjust the detailed parameters manually from the Adjust menu.
Step 3: To further adjust the photo effects for the converted slides, you can click the Adjust menu to tweak shadows, sharpness, temperature, tint, and more. Besides, you can curve the green, blue, and red colors, or even adjust the parameters of noise reduction manually.
Step 4: When you need to add artistic photo effects, you can go to the Filters menu to adjust the lights or apply the HDR filter accordingly. It has a whole series of black-and-white analog films that you can apply. Just choose the Vivid button to apply it accordingly.
Step 5: If you need to touch up portrait slides, you can choose the Face Clean menu to tweak the different portrait editing features, including skin softening, skin whitening, shine removal, eye circle removal, blemish removal, and more.
Step 6: When you need to have some special photo effects, you can also use the AI Cartoonization menu and choose the Portrait button to make cartoon portraits automatically. After that, you can click the Save As button to export the polished slides.
Conclusion
When you need to convert slides to digital photos, you can find multiple solutions from the article. To get digital images, you can use a tablet and iPhone to get them. Of course, you can also find two professional methods to turn slides and negatives into photos with hardware. If you want to get the best effects for these photos, WidsMob Retoucher should be the ultimate solution.