I bought this economical converter to try out on some 50 year old slides, really having no idea how well it would work. After maybe 15-20 minutes spent going over the product and the instructions, I got started using the automatic slide feeder that was included as one of the options. It took maybe a couple of hours to feed through all of the slides I had (over a hundred) and most of that time was spent making sure the slides were right-side up and facing the right direction. I have to say that I was thrilled with the quality of the results and would highly recommend this product! Attached is one FIFTY YEAR OLD slides that converted in less that 3 seconds to digital.
Researched quite a few of these before settling on this model. Price was less on Amazon than seller's actual web site. I was surprised how solid this unit is. It connects directly to your computer via USB, but because of its internal software you must capture the image to a SD card (included) first, THEN transfer the images. It takes a little getting used to, but since it is digital, I simply copied each slide at several different exposures and selected the best one when I could actually see the image. The little built in display provides you a view of the silde to make sure it is properly loaded and the image type is correct, but that's about it. For the money it works quite well and once you get used to how it operates, the process is rather quick. If it copied direct to the computer I would give it five stars. Remember, this isn't a high-end unit, but it does what it is designed for.
I am 70 years old and found this product very easy to use. I had over 25 carrousels that belonged to my father that were up to 50 years old. I wasn't sure the slides were even any good, but I was so pleasantly surprised. You can do so much with this little machine, and it is so simple. I have passed this along to my brother that has tons of slides that he didn't know what he was going to do with them. Now everything is on a little thumb drive, and two huge boxes are out of the storage room. Oh, I did all of the carrousels in less than a week, one or two seconds per slide.
This is a great little piece of technology!
I know it's little more than a low-end digital camera which makes a digital file out of your existing slides or negatives and saves the file to the included SD card, but it works really well doing what it was designed to do, and incredibly fast. In less than 15 minutes, I had it un-boxed, set up and had converted 50 old 35mm slides to digital files. Each one only takes a couple of seconds to convert and save. That is pretty amazing compared to other technology I have purchased over the years trying to accomplish the same thing.
The included SD card simply pushes into the SD card slot on the back of the unit, or you can connect it directly to your PC via the included USB cable. They even include a cleaning 'brush' that works very well to keep the imager dust and lint free.
The three included adapters all work flawlessly. You simply load the slides or negatives and push them through, capturing each one as you slide the adapter. It even comes with a 'quick' adapter you can load 20-22 slides into, slide through and convert, then load 20 more and keep going.
There are various minor adjustments you can make with the unit itself, but, like others, I have found it easier to just create the digital file from the slide as it is, and open them in my photo editing software to do instant or expanded fixes, depending on the image.
I have rarely purchased a piece of technology like this converter that was easier to use, more intuitive or gave better results for the price. The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because it is not perfect. For $67.00, I didn't really expect perfection, but it would have been nice for it to produce higher-quality results at higher resolutions at that price point than it does. But, I am still very pleased.
I thought I would be taking a substantial risk in purchasing this device, since reviews of it on Amazon seemed to be quite polarized, with some people claiming their ClearClick converter would not work at all or the software could not load on Windows 10. Well, it is advertised as working on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8, and if it runs on 8, it should run on Windows 10 (though this is not explicitly stated on the box). Well, the software CD ROM loaded onto my new Windows 10 computer without any problem, and the converter worked perfectly well with both 35 mm slides and negatives (in the quick and easy setup on the Menu command, you can select which one to use, as well as the resolution -- either 5 MP or 10 MP). The resolution selection seems to be rather ambiguous, since color slides at the 10 MB selection are less than 2 MB in file size, but the visual quality is generally quite good. Unfortunately, some slides that have their subjects partly in bright light and partly in shadow do not seem to digitize very well (in the sense that the resulting image displays too much contrast), and using simple Adobe Photoshop adjustments won't always solve the problem. One big advantage of this converter is that it snaps its images in a second or less, allowing one to process 4 slides (the capacity of the holder) in just a few seconds before you need to empty the holder and "reload". The converter comes with an SD memory card but it holds only about 3 or 4 MB; using one with 1 or more GB is easy and inexpensive, though sometimes rapid insertion and/or removal (while the converter is turned on) can cause a temporary inability to read the card.
Feature Product
- Scan Negatives & Slides To Digital JPG Format (Scans At 5 Megapixels/10 Megapixels Interpolated)
- Works With 35mm Negatives & Color Or Monochrome Slides
- Save Photos Directly on SD Card - No PC or Mac Required To Scan!
- Full 1-Year Warranty & Free USA Tech Support from ClearClick Included
- FREE! 2 GB SD Memory Card Included
Description
With the Film2USB Converter, you can convert your slides & negatives to digital pictures in just 3 easy steps.
It's easy -- just load your slides or negatives into the scanner, using the included negative holder or slide holder. Then, plug your converter with the included power adapter. Now, you can start scanning your slides & negatives! Each photo takes just seconds to convert, and you don't need a computer to scan! Your photos are saved in digital JPG format on the INCLUDED 2 GB SD card.
After you're done scanning, you can either transfer your photos to your PC or Mac, or you can use the included video cable to view your photos on your TV!
The converter comes with easy, step-by-step instructions, written in proper English. If you need help, you won't be left in the dark, where many other companies leave you. You'll get exclusive access to our top-quality customer support and will hear back from us within 24-48 hours. The converter comes with a 1-year warranty.
What's In The Box:
- Film2USB Converter
- 2 GB SD Memory Card
- DC5V Adapter
- USB Cable
- Video Cable
- Negative Film Holder
- Slide Holder
- Quick Slide Holder
- Cleaning Brush
- User's Manual
I had a thousand slides to convert to digital, so I wanted a simple device - against the advice of my husband who wanted a feature rich product. Since I was doing the work, I won this one ;-). It is so simple to load four slides, stick the tray in the machine and click-slide-click-slide-click-slide-click. That's it, you are done. I put the SD card (comes with the converter) into my computer and a viewing/editing program launched, then I could crop or adjust as I pleased. I've now loaned it to a friend who is converting slides for a Christmas present. One piece of advice - use the included cable and 110 connector, rather than supplying power through your notebook computer. When I initially used the computer to power the device, I got a flickering viewing screen. Slide-click-slide-click...
This is an absolutely wonderful little machine. It is obviously not intended to be a machine for a professional photographer but it is more than adequate for the hobbyist! I can do a slide every 8 to 10 seconds and the results are very good. One responder commented that this was made like a child's toy. It is plastic but comer on sir, its a $99.00 piece of equipment. Another noted that it scratched his slides, unless he has some foreign material in the machine, I see no way this can happen. I have not transferred several thousand slides with this machine with out one single scratch. Thank you Clear Click, I am now able to convert slides of locked up memories that are now free for all to view and much, much cheaper than any service will do it for.
I have around 400 old slides from the 60s and 70s that I wanted to digitize. I bought this item not really expecting the results to be great, but likely just good enough. I have to say that I have been very pleasantly surprised with this product. It works as advertised and the digital images are actually much better quality than I had imagined they would be. I also like that this device came with two different types of slide trays. One of them is a quick-loader, allowing you to drop a slide in the carrier, and then slide it into place, which simultaneously pushes the other one out the other side. This quick-loader slide tray made it about as fast as could be possible to digitize hundreds of slides. I also like that capturing each image only takes between 1 and 2 seconds. I had read reviews of some other similar products where people were saying that it took a long time to capture each image, but this one is very fast.
I don't really have any cons on this product. I didn't give it 5 stars just because five stars seems like too many for pretty much anything (nothing is perfect). If you're looking for a reasonably priced device to digitize your slides (can't say anything about negatives because I haven't tried that) then I can recommend this product. Is there a more expensive one that has more options and creates better overall images? Probably, but if you don't need a bunch of options and don't want to sit around tweaking things to get each and every image perfect, then this thing fits the bill.
This is a great product. I have over 100 rolls of film I need to convert plus some slides. I intend to do this to archive and digitize all my pre-digital photos. A camera shop wanted 65 cents per negative to do it plus $5.00 for the DVD, per roll of film (times that by 100 rolls and it's BIG BUCKS). Yes, this ClearClick is a great product for home use, however it is NOT lab quality. I didn't buy it to be lab quality, I bought it as a quick, easy, inexpensive archival method. So please keep that in mind and you will LOVE this little converter. I will then take my best photos to a photo lab to be digitized, and this will save me many $$$ plus I have EVERY photo digitized by using this device, not just my best ones. It's about the size of a slide viewer and I don't need to be on my computer to convert my pictures, which is really nice. THANKS ClearClick for a GREAT PRODUCT.
This is easy to use. It is a bit glitchy - the sliding feeder tray sticks sometimes so you have to sort of push the slide through. But this does not happen all the time, and when the slides are feeding normally it is quick and easy. I did not find the slide holder (where you put individual slides in and close the tray) to be useful. It took too much time to open the tray, insert the slides and then slide the tray into the machine. The easiest way, for me, was to use the slide feeder. I think you are supposed to be able to stack several slides in this and then feed them into the converter. However, I put slides in to the tray one at a time, slid the lever across and out pops the slide on the other side. I can see the picture and decide it I want to “capture” it to the SC card or not. Very easy and quick. I did hundred of slides and it probably took me 3 to 4 hours total. I have transferred them to my computer with the SD card and the quality of the pictures is good. I used the 10 pixel resolution, however. And I did not run out of room on the SD card.
The first SD card I got with the converter did not work. The converter could not read the card. I emailed the company and they replied right away to say they would send another SD card - which they did, again very quickly. So I have to say that customer service is A+. There are much more expensive converters out there, but this worked well for me. These slides are about 50 years old and the only slides we have. We don’t take slide photos anymore, so I don’t think we will be using the converter in the future. So we didn't want to spend a lot of money on a one time use item. This was perfect. Did the job easily, quickly and with satisfying results. I recommend it. The only reason I am giving any of the above areas 4 stars is that it is a bit “sticky” in the feeder tray. I think the color resolution is good, but I can’t really tell. Some of the slides are blurry - but who knows after all these years if that is due to the converter or the photographer! Overall, this is a good choice if you just want to get slides onto your computer for storage.
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