2021
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Why is Digitizing the Slides Important? Written by: Brandon Harris, Smooth Photo Scanning Services
Getting around to digitizing slides can be a hassle. You need to find the right provider, sort out your collection, find the budget, and figure out how you’ll transport everything to the locations where they can convert slides to digital.
Because of that, many people end up postponing the project year after year, thinking that the slides can wait one more year until they are brought to slides to the digital service provider.
But unfortunately, that approach can often backfire, with the process of digitization becoming more complicated or even downright impossible.
But why should you digitize 35mm slides? Let’s look at some of the most compelling reasons why it makes sense.
Prevent Deterioration
Your collection of slides is only as useful as it is well maintained. While you can still access it, digitizing might not seem as urgent because the memories are still intact, and you can view them with your family at any time.
However, the problem with physical photographs, slides, or any other form is that they are impacted by the environment and will inevitably deteriorate over time. Sometimes slides from just a decade or so before will start to show signs of wear that can be hard or even impossible to restore.
And that’s not even mentioning the risk of the entire collection getting destroyed. Flooding, a fire, or even a lost box during moving can all result in your slides collection getting lost forever, and with it, some of your family’s most precious memories could have been preserved.
Leave Something for Future Generations
Getting to know your family’s heritage can be a fascinating process. But for those in our time, getting a glimpse a century back can be a challenge because not many photographs remain of how family members looked and how they lived.
But today, immortalizing the pictures that do survive is much easier. If you have old slides or photographs containing memories from before, now’s the best time to get it digitized. That way, you can ensure that future generations can also experience the wonder of seeing how their great grandparents looked and what their life was like.
Share Your Slides with Friends
No matter how you look at it, slides are not the most convenient way to look at photographs. Even though setting up a viewing session can be fun, it also takes effort, special equipment, time and requires everyone to be in the same place.
Meanwhile, digitizing slides doesn’t have any of these limitations. Once your collection is transferred into a digital format, you can access the files at any time and from any digital device. Instead of having to set everything up each time, you can view the collections on your computer or Smart TV screen in mere seconds.
What’s more, digital images are also incredibly easy to share. You can send them to family members and friends worldwide or even share your collection on social media where everyone can enjoy it instead of being stacked away in a storage room.
Bring Your Slides Back to Life
No matter how careful you might be about how you store your slides, they will inevitably start to deteriorate over time. And that means that the quality of the slides will start to suffer as well, with the colors becoming more faded and various imperfections becoming visible when viewing them.
But the good news is that if you use professional slides to digital service, you can restore the slides into their original form, having specialists remove any imperfections and provide you with crisp and clear digital images that will be a pleasure to look at with your friends and family.
You Can Use Them as Gifts
Digitizing your collection is also a great way to spruce up the way you celebrate the big occasions throughout the year. You can use the newly-digitized images as postcards, greetings for Christmas, and even birthdays.
The precious memories contained in the slides should not be limited to occasional viewing sessions; when you convert slides to digital, you are making them part of your celebrations, ensuring that the people and moments from the past remain part of the way you celebrate get-togethers in the future.
Digitizing Your Slides is Easier Than Ever
There are countless reasons why digitizing your collection makes sense. But perhaps none are as compelling as the mere fact that it’s now more convenient than ever to do so.
You can easily access a slide to digital service that will offer competitive prices, fast turnaround times, and cutting-edge digitization technology that will ensure you achieve the best results possible. You can have the entire project wrapped up in a matter of days and can enjoy your newly digitized version of the slides for many years to come.
My father has been in the document scanning industry for as long as I can remember. I worked for his company Smooth Solutions, Inc. during summer breaks growing up and for a couple years after college. Wanting to venture off on my own, I gained experience in several careers including wholesale seafood sales as well as owning and operating a bakery for several years. When my father approached me with the opportunity to expand upon his already successful business by providing high quality, professional scanning services to the general public, I jumped on board. From personal experience, I recognize how important it is for most people to have their family memorabilia preserved for future generations and I want to be a part of helping others do that.