Check them now and again, Andie. The last "secret" project my father did back in the family room was transferring those same types of slides onto VCR tapes, with music and narratives. He told me he was going to do it, but I didn't know he had. The reason was that slide film is a gelatin base and he said that if exposed to humidity, they'll eventually get mold on them and that can't be repaired. Years later, to entertain my mother, I went in to his VCR stash and found some labeled family pictures. I thought they were the old movies he'd transposed, but they weren't. It was the slide shows. Four VCR tapes worth. I nearly broke down, as he never told us, even on his deathbed he'd finished it and he left them there for us to find down the road. It was as if he came back from the other side and ws sitting in the room with us as we watched them. I got to the third tape and had to stop to recuperate. It was so emotional. I haven't seen it yet, and now need to go through that whole library of tapes to find it again. There were some slides he transferred already with their quality highly compromised from mold. He got to them just in the nick of time. I suppose he knew if he didn't do it, they'd never get done. Now, with VCR media about antiquated, I need to get my son to transfer them over to DVDs so I can send a set to all my family. If one wants to keep family heirloom pictures into the future, the best way to do it is to make sure they are spread around in the form of copies all across a family. All's it takes is one generation who don't care, and they are lost to the descendants forever.

For me, I have to use most of the tricks you guys listed, because I never know when the flowers are going to be at their best. Some are open early, some in the afternoon etc. For me the ISO is always different depending on the day (bright sunshine vs. bright overcast glare). Jan - I have used the white paper thing inside for capturing true colors, but never even thought to do that outside! Good one... Floota - I don't see anything wrong with using Photo Shop either if you are really trying to represent the flower properly and not trying to jazz it up/make it look better/whiter/bluer/brighter etc. Really, the reason I try to get things right on my camera instead of in Photo Shop, is that I can't compare the flower to the picture when using the program, but I can do that right on my camera screen. I mean, I DO have a laptop but I don't want to drag it all over the back yard! :o) Maryl - I think when talking about the "true" color, for me, it would be when the flower is at its very best (open fully, but not wilted or already faded by the sun). Kind of like when people take pictures of me... I prefer not to be photographed right after working in the garden! :o) I am a bit wilted. As for printing... whoa, that is another whole matter. Don't know anything about that, as I usually don't print my flower photos.

okay, okay okay! I'm an I D I O T ! lol.. I called office depot and they said they had them. Well, I've spent 1/2 hour THREE TIMES looking around for them. They are NOT with the copier paper! I have been spending my time looking around all the "specialty papers".. glossy photo paper, glossy card stock.. etc.. it is with overhead projectors! AACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK! lol.. thanks! thank you Arsty! lol I went to office depot and bought there brand as it is WAY cheaper! lol....

I have a HP PhotoSmart 3210xi All-In-One and it does all the things you specified above, and does it well. I have run 7000 sheets through it, some were photo paper, and encountered only one jam, and that was because an unnoticed dog eared sheet was in the paper supply. I don't think this model is available any more, but has been superceded by later models with similar capabilities. The major difference for the model that foll0wed this one is choices of connections to the computer. My model included frames for scanning 35 mm transparences, although a dedicated 35 mm scanner probably does a better job due to more pixels per inch. These frames store inside the lid of the printer - very handy. This printer series breaks with HP tradition of ink jets on the bottom of the ink cartridges, thus getting new jets each time a cartridge is changed. The advantage to this is if the ink jets become clogged, these can be tossed away and a new set loaded in. This technology was often limited to one black cartridge plus a 3 color cartridge. This combination was lacking a bit in print detail for photos compared to multi-colors of ink. The PhotSmart series uses fixed ink jets, similar to competitors, and 6 ink colors: Black, Yellow, Light Cyan, Cyan, Light Magenta, and Magenta. With these colors, the printer is able to produce a wide range of colors and shades. The ink is HP's Vivera, a much improved ink. it is fade resistant and supposedly more immune to smearing, however, I find that both printed paper and photo ptints still must be protected from water droplets, and are not smear proof, but are a little more smear proof than hte older ink. The major advantage is much better fade resistance. The ink cost is higher than the older 2 cartridge setup although one only needs to replace individaul colors when used up. Because ofthe fixed ink jet heads, HP has built in an automatic maintence routine to keep the jets clear. Periodically, the printer will enter this routine and purr for about 30 seconds while it runs the jet maintence. During this period, power should not be removed from the printer, and the printer is not available for printing. At first, it is startling when the printer, without waring, suddently makes a noise and enters the maintence routine. After awhile, the user gets accustomed to this noise and the startle factor goes away. Inks are available in single and double packs of individual colors. However, HP does supply a photo kit of inks and about 150 4x6 photo sheets. This kit is rasonable priced for the photo papers, but beware that the ink cartridges contain only enough ink to print the photo papers in the pack assuming average color mix. Some of the cartidges do not contain as much ink as a regular cartridge.