How to Transfer Slides to a CD
Digital photography has made it possible for photos to be viewed on computers and portable players we can take everywhere with us. That doesn't help with all of the photographic slides that have been taken in the past and now lie in drawers or shoe boxes. Transferring the slides onto a CD makes them accessible again as well as preserving them against the eventual decay that all photographic materials experience. Rather than spending a lot of money to have the slides copied for you, the slides can be digitized using a digital camera. A computer can then put the digital copies of the slides onto a CD.
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Things You'll Need
- Slide copier
- Digital camera
- Camel's hair brush
- Tripod
- Light cone clamp
- Daylight color bulb
- Chair
- 11-inch x 14-inch white paper
- Double-sided tape
- Digital camera USB connector
- CD computer burner
- Blank, recordable CD
Instructions
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Make a Digital Copy
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Tape the white paper to the wall using the double-sided tape. Bring the digital camera over to the wall and put it on the tripod. Place the tripod about five feet away from the wall, with the camera aimed at the white paper.
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2
Put the chair to the side of the tripod. Attach the clamp of the light cone clamp to the top of the chair. Place a "daylight color" bulb into the light cone. Plug the light cone into a wall socket.
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3
Attach the slide copier to the front of the digital camera. Go to the digital camera's "Settings" menu and select "Macro." Turn off the flash.
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4
Pick up a slide by the corner. Brush off both sides of the slide gently with the camel's hair brush. Insert the slide into the slide copier with the glossy side of the side facing the camera lens.
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Turn on the light cone and aim the light at the white paper. Look at the LCD screen of the digital camera. Move the slide copier forward and back until the slide looks sharp. Press the shutter of the digital camera to take a photo of the slide. Do this for each slide.
Make the CD on a Mac
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Attach the digital camera USB connector to the digital camera. Attach the other end of the digital camera USB connector to a USB port on the computer. Run the Image Capture program that comes with the Mac's operating system. Select the digital camera from the list in the window that appears. Press the "Save As" drop-down menu and click on the desktop. Select "Import all" to copy all of the digital photos from the digital camera to the desktop of the computer.
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Run the free iPhoto program. Click on the "+" in the lower left hand corner of the program to bring up a new window. Name the folder that you are now making as "Slide." Click on "OK" to close the window. Drag the digital photos from the desktop into the "Slide" folder you have created that is listed on the left side of the iPhoto program. Wait as the digital photos are copied into the "Slide" folder.
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Press the "Eject" key to eject the disk tray. Place a blank, recordable CD onto the tray. Press the "Eject" key again to close the tray.
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Highlight the "Slide" folder by clicking on it with the mouse. Click on the "Share" menu at the top of the iPhoto program's screen and choose "Burn" from the drop-down menu. Name the CD in the window that appears. Click on the "Burn" button to close the window and start the burning process.
Make the CD on a Windows-based Computer
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Attach the digital camera USB connector to the digital camera. Attach the other end to a USB port on the camera. Go to "Start," "MyComputer," "Devices" and highlight the icon of the digital camera in the window listing devices. Double-click to open the icon and reveal the digital photos inside. Copy the digital photos to the desktop of the computer by dragging them from inside of the folder to the desktop using the mouse.
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Click on "Start" and "Windows Explorer" to bring up Windows Explorer. Open the tray of the CD burner. Put a blank, recordable CD into the tray. Close the tray. Choose "Open Writable CD Folder Using Windows Explorer" from the window that appears.
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Drag the digital photos from the desktop in the Windows Explorer window into the new window that just opened.
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Click on the "Write these files to CD" icon to bring up the "CD Writing Wizard." Name the CD in the window that has now appeared and click on "Next."
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Wait as the CD is burned with the digital photos of the slides that you have shot. Press the "Finish" button when the burning has been completed. Eject the CD.
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Tips & Warnings
Naming each slide turned digital photo will help avoid confusing it with another photo.
Cheap CDs can fail to work properly after a few years, so use name brand disks for all your CD copying.
