How much does it cost to convert slides to digital

As slides are becoming more and more becoming a thing of the past, preserving them has never been more important. The best way to do so is to convert them to digital. If you are living in the UK, you should know the prices of digitizing slides before you make any decision. So how much does it cost to convert slides to digital UK?

The price of converting slides to digital in the UK depends on a lot of things. The main factor determining the price is the number of slides. Depending on the number of slides, the price of digitizing one slide may vary from £0.33 to £0.55. Other factors influencing the digitizing price include the quality of the scan, the method of scanning, etc.

Let’s take a look at the slide digitizing prices and what influences them.

Price of Digitizing Slides UK

Before availing of any kind of service, it’s best to know about the price of that particular service. Digitizing your old photo slides isn’t exempt from this either. The price of converting photo slides to digital differs according to various factors. The factor that influences digitizing prices the most is the number of slides.

The lower the number of slides, the higher price you have to pay to digitize them. We, at digitize media, charge £0.33 per slide at a minimum for more than 8000 slides. If the number is this large, we often offer a special discount as well. The maximum price you have to pay to convert slides to digital is £0.55 for between 1 and 150 slides.

So, for example, If you have 100 slides, you have to pay £55 to convert them to digital. The higher this number goes, the lower will be the price of digitizing them. So for 151-400 slides, the cost of digitizing per slide is £0.54, for 401-650 slides, the cost per slide will be £0.50. If you have 651 to 850 slides, you have to pay £0.47 and if the number of slides is between 851 to 1000, the cost will be £0.45 per slide.

If you have even more slides to convert to digital, the cost per slide goes down significantly. For converting between 1001 to 3000 slides, you will have to pay £0.40 for each slide, for 3001-5500 slides, the cost per slide is £0.36. For converting between 5501-8000 slides, the price for each slide will go down to £0.35, and finally, for more than 8000 slides, we charge £0.33 per slide.

What other factors affect the digitizing prices of photo slides?

Price isn’t the only thing the digitizing costs of a photo slide depend on. It also depends on its resolution and the method of conversion. 

1. Resolution of the slides

The higher the resolution of a slide will be, the higher will its price be as far as digitizing is concerned. The resolution of a slide is expressed in DPI ( Dot per Inch). There are two qualities of slides that are the most common: 1200 DPI and 4800 DPI. The 1200 DPI slides are less than the 4800 DPI ones. 

2. The method of digitizing

Slide digitizing services aren’t the only way to convert slides to digital. There are plenty of other processes to digitize slides, the cost of which differs from one process to another. Let’s take a look at those. 

Using an app

The cheapest and the easiest of the methods of converting slides to digital is to use an app. The slide is an app available on both android and apple that scans slides for absolutely free. All you need to scan are steady hands, a good source of light, and the app itself. Once the scans are done, the app allows you to crop the excess parts out. 

The problem with scanning slides with an app is that it doesn’t produce the best results. The resolution is quite low, and while it doesn’t necessarily always mean bad things, too low of a resolution is not desirable as well. 

Using Slide Scanners

Another easy and quick way to convert 35mm slides to digital is to use a slide scanner. These scanners are specifically designed to scan slides. All you need to do is to insert a 35mm slide into it and scan it. The scanned slide can later store scanned into SD cards, USB drives, etc.

This process is also quite cheap, but not cheaper than using an app. Because the app is free while you need to buy a scanner for this method to work.

Using Duplicator mounts

If you own a DSLR, digitizing slides becomes much easier with the help of duplicator mounts. These are mounted on top of a DSLR camera and you have to insert the slides into them. Then you can photograph the slides with the DSLR, which proves a superb, high-quality photo. You have to ensure the brand of the duplicator matches that of your camera. 

Sometimes even taking a photo isn’t necessary. For cameras with video feeds, the slides inserted into the mount can be viewed as a slideshow using a digital TV or a computer. This process is easy and produces one of the best results. But compared to the previous two methods, it costs much more as you have to have a DSLR and a duplicate for this. 

Using Slide projectors

This is one of the easiest and most common methods of converting photo slides into digital ones. All you need is a working slide projector. The projector will then project an image of the slide onto a wall or a screen. You have to just take a photo of the image using a digital camera. 

This process is the second cheapest way to convert slides to digital. But the process not only doesn’t provide the most high-resolution photos, but you need to make a lot more preparations than other methods as well. You have to ensure the room is dark, and also have to have a digital camera to get clear images. 

Using Flatbed Scanners

Another popular way to digitize old slides is to use a flatbed scanner. You can either buy or rent one, depending on your preference. But this process is also quite expensive as you have to pay a hefty amount of money to either buy or rent a flatbed scanner. Also, you will need a diffuser to ensure the photo quality is good. 

Hiring a digitizing service

If the number of slides you possess is quite large, hiring a digitizing service is the best idea. We offer the best and most professional service in the UK to ensure your memories are in top shape. We also handle fragile slides with utmost care to preserve their integrity and quality. Also, scanning a lot of slides yourself is costly and time-consuming at the same time.

But we offer you our services at a reasonable price and also provide you with the results faster. You don’t have to do any work and spend this precious time doing something else. 

Final Words

When deciding to convert old photo slides in the UK, people often ask “how much does it cost to convert slides to the digital UK?” While the prices vary, you won’t have to pay more than £0.55 for converting a single slide to digital. Of all the methods of digitizing your old slides, we offer you the most convenient one so that your memories are well-preserved while keeping their quality intact. 

FAQ

1. How much does it cost to have prints made from slides?

The cost of printing slides is way more than that of scanning them. While their prices vary according to the size of the print and the number, in general, for 4×6 prints, you will have to pay close to £1.32 per print. As the number goes up, the cost goes down. On the other hand, having larger prints will result in a price increase. 

2. What can I do with old 35mm slides?

There are three things you can do with old 35mm slides. First, you can scan them and share the digitized files with your friends and family. Next, you can scan them and also print them out if you want a physical quality of higher quality. You can of course keep them as it is and view them using a slide viewer like people used to do in the past.