Last updated November 2026
Many Taupō families have a carousel or two of 35mm slides in a cupboard, along with shoeboxes of prints and albums that nobody has opened in years. Slides in particular are hard to enjoy now that projectors have mostly gone, and both slides and prints slowly fade, stick together or grow mould if they are stored badly. Getting them scanned turns them into digital files you can share with the whole family. This guide covers your options, what affects the result and how to prepare a collection for scanning.
★View the Best VHS to Digital in Taupo→Why It Is Worth Scanning Slides and Photos Now
Colour slides and prints from the 1960s to the 1990s are already changing. Colours drift towards red or blue, prints fade where they have been on display, and slides kept in a hot garage, a damp shed or a holiday bach can pick up mould or dust that becomes harder to clean the longer it sits. A scan captures the image as it is today and stops the clock on further damage. It also solves the sharing problem: one set of files can go to every branch of the family, instead of one person holding the only copy.
What Is the Best Way to Scan Old Slides?
There are three realistic routes, and the right one depends mostly on how many you have and how much time you want to spend.
Phone app or slide-viewer adapter
- Suits
- A handful of favourites you want to share quickly
- Things to know
- Fast and cheap, but resolution and colour are limited, and dust shows up badly
Home film scanner or flatbed with a slide holder
- Suits
- A few hundred slides and plenty of spare time
- Things to know
- Good results are possible, but each slide takes time to clean, load and check
A scanning service
- Suits
- Large collections, mixed formats, or people short on time
- Things to know
- Usually the best quality per hour of your time; priced per item, often cheaper per item for bigger orders
For most families with more than a few dozen slides, a service ends up being the practical choice. The real cost of doing it yourself is time: cleaning, loading, scanning and naming hundreds of slides one by one adds up quickly.
What Affects the Quality of a Scan
- Resolution. Higher resolution keeps more detail and lets you crop or print larger later. Ask what resolution a service scans at and what size the files come back.
- Cleaning. Dust and hair on a slide are enlarged along with the image. Good services clean slides before scanning.
- Colour correction. Faded slides and prints can often be brought back closer to their original colours during or after scanning.
- File format. High-resolution JPEG files are the usual choice for family photos because they open on any computer, phone or TV.
How Much Does It Cost to Digitise Slides and Photos?
Most services charge per slide or per print, and the price per item usually drops as the order gets bigger, so it pays to send everything in one go rather than in small batches. Check whether a USB drive or online delivery is included, whether return postage is covered, and whether there is a separate charge for damaged or unusual items. Some services also offer a combined price if you are sending a mix of slides, prints and video tapes.
How to Prepare Your Collection
- Sort before you send. Remove duplicates and the shots nobody needs, such as blurred or blank frames. Fewer items means lower cost and less to look through later.
- Keep the order. If slides are in carousels or numbered boxes, keep them that way so the files come back in a sequence that makes sense.
- Note what you know. Write the year, place or event on each box. Labelling the back of a print with a soft pencil is fine; avoid pen, which can soak through.
- Handle by the edges. Fingerprints on slides and prints are hard to remove.
- Pack carefully. Use a sturdy box with padding and include a note with your name and phone number.
Te Papa’s guide on how to care for photographs has more advice on handling, labelling and storing prints, slides and negatives, both before and after they are scanned.
After the Scan: Keep More Than One Copy
A single USB drive in a drawer is not a backup. Once your files come back, copy them to a second place, such as a computer, an external drive or an online storage account, and share copies with family. Keep the originals too, stored somewhere dark, dry and at a steady temperature, because a well-kept slide can always be scanned again.
Where Digitizer Fits
Digitizer is run by Wayne Frost in Taupō, who has a fine arts degree specialising in photography and a degree in digital technology. It scans 35mm slides and prints, including loose photos in sizes from small 3 x 5 inch prints up to 8.5 x 14 inch, and takes large bulk jobs of photos and documents. Its published prices drop as the number of items grows. Items can be dropped off in Taupō by appointment or sent by courier, and originals come back with the files, with free return postage anywhere in New Zealand.
