If you’ve been following me for photo organizing advice, you might be wondering about what to do with old photo slides.
What to Do with Old Photo Slides
When were slides popular?
Although it wasn’t the first projector, the Kodak carousel slide projector was introduced in 1962, when it revolutionized slide shows, allowing for automated, preloaded lectures and presentations. Although Kodachrome slides using a three-color process was invented in 1935, most family slide collections are concentrated between the late 1950’s and the late 1970’s. They were the Netflix of the day. If your family had a Kodak carousel projector, you probably sat through many viewings of your family vacations.
What are slides?
Slides were a particular way of processing photos from photo cameras. Instead of printing pictures onto paper, slides are a three-color processing onto a gel, usually mounted in a 2×2 cardboard sleeve, although you’ll see other sizes as well. Helpfully, these cardboard sleeves were often stamped with the date they were developed and with the number of the frame on the roll, usually 1-24 or 1-36.
How many slides are in a Kodak slide carousel?
A Kodak slide carousel, which is a the round, slotted device that sits on top of the projector, typically held either 80 or 140 slides. There are other brands of slide gear, including straight-tray cartridges, which we have seen require each 2×2 slide to be wrapped in a metal bracket.
Should I remove slides from their carousels?
If you are still watching your slides on your old projector, God bless you. The most frequent problem with projectors is that the bulb burns out. Replacing the bulb is doable and, unlike film reels, you can view your old slides on the old projectors without doing damage to the slides. (You should not attempt to run old film on an old projector because the film has shrunk over time, and is likely to snap and be badly damaged.)
If you still have the projector, and want to use it one last time to curate the slides into a set for digitizing, projecting them can be a great way to view them. Once selected for digitizing, you should remove them from the carousel, keeping them in order as best you can.
How can I look at the slides without a projector? 3 ways to see your slides without a projector
If you no longer have the projector, there are several ways to view the slide.
Hold the slide up to a light bulb, or shine a flashlight behind it. You should be able to see enough detail to determine, for example, whether you are looking at a landscape or a photo with people you might recognize.
Lightboxes are a relatively helpful tool to view and select your slides. Here’s an example of a simple lightbox (affiliate link). However, I’m not a big fan of buying equipment that you’ll only use once.
Instead, turn your iPad into a lightbox. Lay your iPad flat, open it to a white screen (you can use the NOTES app, Keynote, or any other app that gives you a white screen), and turn the brightness all the way up on your device. Voila! It may not be quite as bright as a commercial Lightbox, but it will get the job done without creating more clutter. Lay your slides on the screen, one by one or in groups, and see what treasures your slides hold.
Once I can see them, can I scan slides myself?
Scanning slides should be done by a professional. Yes, you can take a picture of a picture, but you’ll notice distortion, uneven shading, lighting hotspots, and wonky edges. A professional has the gear and technology to capture a high-quality scan at a decent dimension. Dimensions, or size, is something that you don’t have any control over when you are using your phone to take a picture of a picture. Pro scanning companies ensure that you end up with a scan that you could reprint at a reasonable size for future use and enjoyment.
You don’t want to spend an afternoon (or longer) taking pictures with your phone only to find that the resulting photos can’t be printed in a family book project without distortion or pixellation. Just because you can see it on your tiny phone screen doesn’t mean you have a good size photo (at least 4,000-4,800 ppl pixels).
You can absolutely put your slides in order, curate the slides you want digitized, and get them ready for scanning. But beyond that, there’s gear and technology that you probably don’t own, and don’t need to invest in. Here’s why we no longer recommend that you try to scan slides yourself, even if you are a big DIY-type.
Do slides have a front and back?
Slides do have a front and a back. Usually, the front of the slide is the shiny side, and that is the side that gets scanned. Most of the time, it may not even matter if the slide is scanned backwards, but you’ll notice if there is any writing in the picture. If slides are scanned backwards, don’t fret. All photo programs have a “horizontal flip” option. In Apple Photos, it’s currently under edit>>crop>>look for the symbol that has two triangles with an arrow through or above them.
How do I find slide duplicates?
Fortunately, slides were developed from rolls of films, back in the day, before “doubles became popular, and it’s super rare to find family slides developed more than once. So your family slides are almost certainly NOT also dupliacted as printed photos. There’s always an exception, of course, but this would usually be in the case of a pro photographer’s collection.
How to organize slides?
Organizing slides is the same process as organizing photos: organize by date, curate, digitize, add to your current photo collection, enjoy and share.
At HeartWork Organizing, we see too many people paralyzed by their slides because they seem somehow different than the rest of their photos. They really aren’t. 🙂
Organize slides using mostly the same steps that we use to organize photos.
There is one significant caveat. When slides were first popularized, color film was new and dazzling. Those who could afford to travel and take pictures often focused on the places and landscapes. Sometimes we find entire carousels of botanical hillsides, dazzling mountainscapes, and beautiful beaches. But no people. Those types of photos were beautiful eye-candy, for sure, but they may not mean anything at all to the children and grandchildren of the family photographer. In those cases, we consult with our client and, if they don’t feel a connection to those photos without their favorite people in them, we recommend not investing in digitizing them.
We will curate a slide collection to focus on those important people and events that do have connection for our clients. In other words, we bring to life the stories. Photos tell your stories, but you don’t have to keep every photo.
Once slides are organized by date and digitized, we’ll load them into your digital photo collection, so they’ll be accessible and easy to share. Those slides that your dad or grandpa took in the 1960’s will be waiting for you in the 1960’s section of your digital timeline, on your phone or wherever you look at your photos today.
What do I do with old slides, carousels, and projector?
We recommend that the physical slides that we digitize stay organized and go into safe storage at your home. They are your originals, and they’ll take up very little space in a closet, once removed from their carousels and stored in archival storage boxes.
There is no film recycling program. Slides you decide not to keep can’t be recycled. They go into the trash.
Carousels and slide trays aren’t valuable on their own, but if you have the time, you can list them on resale sites like eBay. Since they are no longer being made, you may be able to connect with someone looking for them.
Projectors are in the same category. As vintage electronics, I’d rather see you list those projectors for sale rather than toss it. It may take a while to find a buyer, but you’ll find one. Even a non-working projector can be sold for parts. You won’t get much money for it, but there is a narrow market for it.
What is Save Your Photos Month?
September is Save Your Photos Month (#SYPM). Originally created over 8 years ago to help communities and families dealing with floods, extreme storms, and fires, our worldwide community has helped tens of thousands of people protect and save their photo collections.
Every year, we urge you to do something before it’s too late. But the truth is, extreme weather isn’t the only thing that damages your photos. All photos, slides, films, letters, and other keepsakes decay even in safe, dry homes. We would love to help you protect your slides and family photos now, before tragedy or time does a number on them.
We work with people all over the country, and actually all over the world, who love their photos. If we can help you, please get in in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
Still have questions about how to save your slides or photos? Search this website for more articles, or click below for more topics.
How to curate your photo collection
What Is the Best Way to Scan Old Photos?
