I have THOUSANDS of old Kodachrome 64 and Ektachrome slides and other negatives that I haven’t been able to look at for years. The dilemma of how to digitize them has always been what prevented me from taking on this daunting task. I have tried scanners built for this purpose, but unless you purchase a really high quality one (aka expensive), you won’t get great results. Plus the process is agonizingly slow and impractical if you have over 10,000 images to be scanned (my situation). And any services that do the scanning for you can be really expensive if you are digitizing this many images, plus you have to ship the images to them, and there is always the risk that a shipment could be lost or damaged, and you could lose photographs that may be priceless to you.
I finally found a solution that is incredibly good! It’s a slide and film digitizer that attaches to the front of your lens where you can attach filters. The JJC Photo Slide and Film Digitizer Converter comes with a wide variety of adapters, all included in the box. Even though it says it is for “Select Canon Nikon Sony Macro Lenses”, I found it works FINE with my Tamron 90mm Macro Lens attached to my Canon R5. I wasn’t sure if it would work, based on the product description, but upon purchasing it and trying it on my macro lens and camera, I found it worked perfectly!
What a fantastic solution it is! It comes with the white light source behind the slide/negative, and all you have to do is slip in the slide/negative, make sure it is focused and exposure is set properly, and press the shutter button! Then on to the next image. This is MUCH faster than using a dedicated scanner.
I can’t begin to say how thrilled I am to have found this great product. I am finally scanning my old images. In some cases, I am seeing images that I literally have not even seen in over 40 years! It’s like opening a time capsule into the past.
SO, if you have this similar problem of needing a way to scan your old slides/negatives, you might want to check it out! Of course, it will depend on whether you have a macro lens, and what camera you’re using, but it’s definitely worth a try since this solution is under $100, and they offer free returns so you can try it for yourself.
Here’s the product on Amazon: JJC Photo Slide and Film Digitizer Converter
Here’s the setup attached to my Tamron 90mm Macro Lens attached to my Canon R5:
Here’s an example image, scanned from a Kodachrome 64 slide, from 1979:
Kevin, Regarding your blog about the JJC Photo Slide and Film Digitizer Converter, the product literature does not list the Nikkor AF S Micro 105mm1:2.8G ED macro lens, which I have. You said it works with your Tamron 90mm Macro. Do you think it will work with the Nikkor 105mm macro as well?
It does sound amazingly easy, provided there is not a lens compatibility problem. But, your comment makes it seem a bit adaptable to various non-listed lenses. Would your experience with the device offer any suggestions. Thank you Kevin.
Hi George! It looks like your filter diameter for your lens is 62mm. This device comes with an adapter that handles your 62mm filter size, so that was the first thing to check. The product lists compatibility with a couple of other 100mm lenses, so that’s promising. I just don’t know about your lens’ minimum focusing distance. The specs say your lens focuses down to 1.03 feet. Some of the other lenses that are compatible have the ability to focus a little closer like 10.2 inches or 11.2 inches. That is the main thing that *might* be an issue. But then it might work fine! In my case, they did not list my Tamron macro lens as compatible, but I thought I’d at least give it a try, and it worked great. Worst case is, if it doesn’t work, return it. (read their return policy to verify that)