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How to scan your slides
How do I scan my own more important slides?
That is a great question and, we realize some of you may want to scan your own more important
slides, then allowing Arizona Scanning to expertly scan the bulk of your remaining slides.
Scanning your own slides is not an easy task since it is repetitive, monotonous and very time-consuming.
We have teamed up with our affiliate Hewlett Packard in offering the following general guidelines and tips
for scanning your own slides.
How to scan 35mm photo negatives and slides for digital photos and archiving
Introduction
If you've haven't done much slide scanning or just want a better understanding of slide formats, let's explore some helpful tips for digitizing your slides and other items. These slide scanning tips apply whether you want to restore old slides, e-mail slides, enlarge and print them, or use them as the basis for photo craft projects.
Choose a photo scanner that handles slides and negatives
If you're just getting started scanning photo negatives and slides, the first thing to know is that you need a photo scanner
with built-in negative and slide scanning ability -- you can't just lay a slide or negative down on the glass and scan! A scanner
designed to handle documents usually won't offer this feature.
HP offers photo scanners that are perfect for scanning slides and negatives, as well as editing and improving your photos as you scan.
- HP photo scanners are standalone scanners designed with photographs in mind. An HP Scanjet photo scanner gives you maximum speed
and image quality, and you can choose a model that lets you scan several slides and negatives at a time.
- Some HP Photosmart All-In-One printers come with slide and negative scanning capability. For example, the HP Photosmart C8180
All-in-One printer scans slides and negatives with the built-in adapter. A Photosmart All-in-One scans and prints high-quality photo prints
as well as making copies and handling ordinary print jobs on office paper.
- If you plan on scanning a lot of slides then go with Arizona Scanning or purchase a scanner specifically designed for slides and film.
Use the right file resolution when scanning slides or negatives
Image resolution is measured in dpi (dots per inch); the higher the dpi, the larger the file. Always keep in mind the tradeoff
between file size and quality.
Because a slide or negative image is so small, you'll want to maintain maximum resolution so that the image can be enlarged as needed later.
Make sure you're scanning at a high resolution (2400 dpi is recommended) when scanning either photo slides or negatives that you wish to
enlarge later. Arizona Scanning prefers to scan all slides at 3000 dpi since this is the "perfect" resolution that yields the best
scans for slides. 4000 dpi slide scanning picks up too many irregularities in the slide's film. 1500 dpi and 2000 dpi slide scanning
looses a lot of details within your slide photos.
If you're considering enlarging your scanned image from its original size, then a general rule of thumb is to double the dpi with every
doubling in size.
Example: To produce a crisp 4" x 6" print from a 4" x 6" scan, set your dpi to 300 dpi (recommended). To produce an 8.5" x 11" print from
a 4" x 6" scan, set your dpi to twice that, or 600 dpi, and so on.
The ideal file format and output type
When scanning slides or negatives choose the settings that achieve the highest quality:
- File format: Of all the available file formats (TIFF, JPEG, BMP, and GIF), TIFFs are ideal for archiving and editing photos and images
where quality counts. Unlike JPEGs, TIFFs can be edited and resaved without compression loss, meaning quality stays high. The downside is the
size: TIFF files are extremely large and take up a lot of storage space.
- Output type: The HP Scanning software defaults to the output type that is best suited to what you are scanning
(in most cases, that will be Millions of colors). This output type is perfect for color photos with a lot of shading. Grayscale is recommended
for black and white images, and it results in smaller file sizes. You might want to skip grayscale and select millions of colors, however,
even when working with black and white film and negatives. This preserves the best image quality for future work and output. You can
always revert to black and white or sepia later on using HP Photosmart Essential or other photo editing software.
A word about storage space
If you're going to be doing a lot of scanning and plan to save images as high-res TIFFs with millions of possible colors, take a moment
and do a little math. Say you scan one slide and select 300 dpi for the resolution (not recommended), then change the output size
to 8"x10". You'll you wind up with a 17 MB file that takes about two minutes to scan. You may not get the level of detail you want,
though -- it depends what you want to use the enlarged image for. At the same file size, you could also create a 4" x 6" TIFF with
a resolution of 2400 dpi.
The point is -- file sizes can add up quickly once you start scanning, editing, and archiving slides and negatives. If you have a lot
of scanning to do, note the size of a typical scan and multiply that by the number of items you plan to scan -- this will keep you
from running out of storage space in the middle of a project!
You can offload files to CDs, DVDs, an external hard drive or an HP Personal media drive.
Editing scanned slides and negatives
HP All-in-Ones and photo scanners offer you the ability to edit your photos in the scanner software in preview mode. Depending on your
scanner's features, you might be able to restore color, remove dust and scratches, or sharpen your photo. Your image preview will change
to reflect your adjustments, so you can decide if you like them or not.
Depending on the condition of your original slide or negative, and what you want to use it for, you can use the settings on your scanner
or All-in-One, your scanning software, or HP Photosmart Essential to make further changes to your photo or restore old photos.
For example:
- Crop to remove flawed areas and improve composition
- Remove red-eye
- Use Auto Correct to restore faded color or perform dust and scratch removal
- Resize your photo to standard or custom sizes
- Adjust brightness and contrast
- Apply Adaptive lighting to bring out highlights in dark areas
Print, protect, and share your photos
- Print your newly scanned photos using HP Premium Plus photo paper for photos that will last for generations.
- Use your edited photo as the basis for free, one-of-a-kind photo projects at the HP Activity Center: cards, calendars, album pages,
frames, iron-ons, labels, stationery, photo recipe cards, and much more!
- Upload your photo to Snapfish for free storing and sharing, then shop the Snapfish store for creative ways to transform your photo
into wonderful photo gifts and keepsakes. Showcase your memorabilia by creating a Snapfish photo book. It's easy and fun to create beautiful
keepsake books, as well as share individual pictures or entire albums with friends and family.
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