Which Software?

I'm relatively new to digital photo manipulation and need some counsel on
which software to study and learn how to use.
My computer is under XP and has Picasa2, Ifan View, Adobe PhotoDelux and
Picture Project software packages installed.
I'd like to convert the many, many 35 mm slides I took in the 50s and 60s to
a digital format. I plan to mount several slides on a good quality light
box and take a digital picture of them. Then I need to be able to load them
on the computer, extract the images I want, crop them, enhance the quality
and finall store them perhaps in a Yahoo Photo Album.
Would you advise which of the above software packages would be best to
handle this project? Or, are there other freeware packages available that
I should consider installing? Thanks

Jerry wrote:
> I'm relatively new to digital photo manipulation and need some counsel on
> which software to study and learn how to use.
> My computer is under XP and has Picasa2, Ifan View, Adobe PhotoDelux and
> Picture Project software packages installed.
> I'd like to convert the many, many 35 mm slides I took in the 50s and 60s to
> a digital format. I plan to mount several slides on a good quality light
> box and take a digital picture of them. Then I need to be able to load them
> on the computer, extract the images I want, crop them, enhance the quality
> and finall store them perhaps in a Yahoo Photo Album.
> Would you advise which of the above software packages would be best to
> handle this project? Or, are there other freeware packages available that
> I should consider installing? Thanks
>
>
BAD PLAN. You need to scan each slide with a good (2400dpi minimum)
scanner, or pay someone to do it. Your plan will result in very poor
pictures.