Sep 28, 2009
Slide Scanning Tips
One of the best tools that photographers and those in the printing business can ever have today is the slide scanner. With this device, storing and printing images are made faster and easier than before.
For those who have already bought a reliable film and slide scanner, congratulations as you’ve taken the right step. But for those who are still contemplating on what to purchase, make sure to get a dedicated 35mm film scanner especially if a major part of your project focuses only on slides and films. Unlike a flatbed scanner, getting a specific film or slide scanner will be an advantage to you in terms of scanning speed and fast transfer of images to your computer.
Now before you start your work, preparing your materials is very important. When you’re ready with what you need, everything will just move on smoothly and you’ll finish your work in less time.
Clean first
So get those slides you’re going to work with and organize them accordingly on your desk. The first thing you’ll need to do is to make sure that they’re clean and free from dust. These tiny particles may not be visible to your eyes but they can be captured by the scanner and then visible on the images stored on your computer afterwards. Even though a software that came with your purchase of the scanner can help you get rid of dust on your slides, do it manually beforehand just the same.
Sort next
Nothing can make your work quicker than being organized. This means you need to group your slides according to what you want such as by date, by location of the images you’ve taken, by film type or mount (thickness) type, by orientation or by other factors. When you are able to do this, then you won’t have a hard time locating your images on your computer as well.
Grouping your slides according to thickness will be very helpful as you won’t need to adjust the setting for the film type every time you scan.
Right resolution
Remember to scan your slides and negatives at the right resolution which is estimated at 300 dpi. When you do this, you are assured of high quality digital images and prints should you wish to have a hard copy later on.
The higher your resolution, the longer the scanning time needed. This also means large files but the benefit on the images you’ll get is far greater than scanning at a low resolution.
Image format
Save your scanned images in the right format if possible. For small scans, BMP is okay for Windows and TIF for Mac users. If you’re scanning large files, use the compressed TIF for both Windows and Mac operating systems.
Always back up
Images take up lots of space on your computer. And the more you scan and edit, the larger the files you will have. In this case, it would be best that you back up your files by copying them to an external hard drive, a CD or DVD perhaps to free up your PC’s storage space.
Be sure, though, to use reliable optical media as well. Highly recommended brands for CD-R and DVD-R are TDK and Memorex.