Slide Scanning News

A film scanner is a device that can convert an image on a film negative or a slide into a digital image file usable on a computer. Film scanning is gaining momentum because it produces better digital reproductions than a scanned photographic print. Even though film scanners have lesser clarity when compared to photographs made directly from film, the images produced are detailed enough to be enlarged without becoming grainy or blurry.

When it becomes necessary to scan large sized films it may become necessary to use the large format film scanners. Many of these large format scanners are equipped with various pre-scan and post-scan settings. Before actually beginning the scan resolution needs to be set (represented as dpi, or dots per inch). User can also select color and contrast with the software to get the right saturation or the deep shadows or reset the boundaries if there is need to crop the image.

The large format film scanners differ in the size of film accepted, their accompanying software, the time it takes to complete a scan, and the maximum resolution it can handle. These scanners also demonstrate a varying sensitivity to contrast. While a good large format film scanner will catch bright highlights, an inferior model may dim them. Most are able to capture several distinct colors too. A buyer should have a precise idea of the requirements before initiating research.

Recently, a few large format film scanners have been combined with flatbed scanners that process print images, outfitted with specialty dust removers, compartments that scan more than one negative at a time, and adapters for slide scanning. They are proving to be very useful to remove scratches and dust on the film that cannot be cleaned or smoothed mechanically.

Film and slides are original images and so they give higher resolution, strong contrast, amazing range of color and great degree of detail when reproduced. Scanning such an image using large format film scanners ensures that the user gets the best resolution.

Dedicated slide scanners are generally more capable than photo slide scanners, although they are improving. For small projects in particular, a slide scanner can be a very good purchase. Dedicated scanners take either film strips or mounted slides.

Flatbed scanners are very versatile as they can scan flat originals of various sizes, they can scan three-dimensional objects, and they can be connected to a document feeder to scan multi-page documents speedily. Flatbed scanner slide trays hold up to 15 slides per tray and allow for batch scanning.

Film scanners allow slides to be scanned at various resolution levels. If the digital image produced from a slide will ever be printed as an 8 x 10 or larger, the resolution recommended for
slide scanning the slide is greater than 3000 dpi. Film, as an analog medium, does not record just 256 grayscales or the corresponding 16 million colours. And film scanners, even doing just 8 bits per colour, get 24 bits of data for every single pixel.

Slide scanners run anywhere from $200 to $2000 depending on quality and automation. I found some on line sites that do this but the prices were $0.29 and up depending upon the quantity.

These Scanners convert your 35mm slides and negatives into clear and bright digital images. Crop, Edit and resize slides like a professional. Convert them to digital images quickly and easily with this USB scanner. Images are scanned in about half a second for high-speed conversion and editing using the included arcsoft photoimpression software or one of many other image manipulation programs.

Prices and offers are subject to change. For personal, noncommercial use only. Prices and availability are subject to change by merchant without notice. Sales taxes and shipping costs are only estimates.

Digital photo restoration is nothing short of the work of true artists with a love for old photographs. When the art of restoration first appeared, it was a marvel. Specialty shops, for a rather hefty price, could sharpen borders, replace missing edges, and brighten the color.

Today, photos can be scanned and emailed to any photography shop in the world that retouches old photos, and the finished product can be emailed back to the customer fairly quickly and for much cheaper than before. Photo restoration today doesnt stop with the edges and borders of a photograph; missing chunks of pictures, even in the middle of the photo, can be replaced. In addition, artists can add people and furniture to a photo that were not in the original one. It is easy for a customer to submit any photos,
slide scanning, or negatives to a company for this service. In addition to emailing the picture file, it is very convenient, easy, and safe to upload the picture to the company.

The traditional way is to bring the original photograph in hand to a shop that specializes in this type of work. Of course, photos can be mailed to artists as well. Digital photo restoration is safe, inexpensive, and easy to use for the customer.

Photo Restoration: How It Works
The first thing that restoration artists do when they receive an old or damaged picture is to evaluate the damage. Rips, folds, and color issues are addressed, and an estimate of what it will cost to repair the issues is relayed to the customer. One of the greatest things about digital restoration is that the original photograph is NEVER altered. The only thing that is tinkered with is the scanned copy. This is especially important for those who bring their photos into a shop as opposed to emailing or uploading them. The customer then is given the estimate for the work, and the fun begins. Usually within a day or two, thanks to incredible technology today, the customer is shown an initial test version of the picture, restored.

If needed, the client can express their need for any further changes to the photo. If additional changes are requested, the customer will receive another test version for review. Once the customer is satisfied with the restored, fresh looking photo, orders for prints, reprints, and other special services can be ordered and filled.

Digital Restoration: The Benefits
The most obvious benefit to restoring old photos digitally is that the end result is much more suitable for framing and displaying to family and friends. A more colorful, uninterrupted image is much more aesthetically pleasing than a torn, worn, and shorn one. Another great reason to get an old photo retouched is renewability. People can rest easy knowing that there are 50 copies of Great Aunt Louises picture in existence, as opposed to Uncle Hebert having the only copy on the planet.

Retouched or repaired photographs make excellent additions to family trees, histories, and family Bibles, too. People always say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and digital photo restoration is the perfect way to make sure that no matter how many years those words have been around, they will never go unheard.

As you dig through a box of old wedding photos, you may come across the negatives from the event. When you open them, you will realize that they look quite different than the negatives you had from your older film camera. These negatives are much larger than the 35 mm negatives you are used to handling. This is because the wedding photographs were captured by a professional photographer on medium format film.

What Is Medium Format Film?

Photographic film comes in several sizes, but the three main ones are large format, medium format, and 35 mm. Medium format film is 56 mm in height, and the width varies depending on the type of camera used. Any film that is taller than 56 mm is considered large format. In contrast, the smaller 35 mm film is 35 mm in height. Interestingly, medium format film cartridges were first introduced for the amateur film market, but soon became the standard used by professionals, and even in the digital world of modern photography, medium format images are still quite popular among professional photographers.

Benefits of Medium Format Film

Why do professionals choose medium format film? Because the film itself is larger than a typical 35 mm negative, as much as six times larger depending on the camera used, much clearer enlargements can be produced. When 35 mm film is enlarged, it often has grain and blur due to great difference in size between the negative and the resulting image. Since the medium format negative is larger, there is less difference in size between the two, and the resulting image has a smoother gradation and does not show as much grain as a similar enlargement of a smaller negative. Since most professional photographers take images with the intention of enlarging them, medium format is the better film choice.

Getting Film Digitized

Even though medium format film carries a distinct advantage over 35 mm film, it does have a disadvantage in today’s market. The disadvantage is that medium format film is not a digital medium. The old negatives you have in a shoebox in your closet are difficult to share with friends because they are not digital. Professional photographers who use medium format film need a way to digitize the images in order to display them in a digital portfolio or on a website.

Medium format film can be scanned using specialized scanners designed to carefully handle these negatives and create a positive scanned image. The process begins with a careful cleaning of the negative to remove any stray dust or lint. Unmounted negatives are then placed into a glass film adapter that holds the image steady during scanning. Negatives that are mounted are loaded into a mounted film carrier. These negatives are scanned using high-resolution scanning equipment designed specifically for negatives. A typical flatbed scanner cannot accomplish this task and create a quality digital image as a result. Dust and scratch removal technology is essential to creating a clean digital image from a medium format negative.

Because medium format film is larger than 35 mm film, the scanned digital image will be more clear and crisp than the image that would be created by
slide scanning a 35 mm negative. When larger film is combined with a high-resolution scanning equipped to handle medium format negatives, the resulting images are professional and perfect for creating a digital portfolio or simply preserving memories for a lifetime.

There are several ways to scan slides to turn them into digital photos. Many people remember the small square cardboard cut-outs containing negatives that would be popped into a tray at family gatherings, and with some light and a projector screen (or blank wall) people could reminisce over photos that were larger than life. Today, slide screens have given way to large screen televisions and computer screens. The slide has been rendered all but obsolete, but how do people save the pictures on the slides and keep them viewable? The answer is simple-scan them. These are some of the different ways to turn slides into great, state-of-the-art digital pictures.

Slide scanning : The Scanner
One of the easiest ways to scan slides is to use a scanner with a special attachment. The attachment is like a mirror box, which diverts light around to the back of the slide so that the scanner picks up transmitted light instead of reflected light. However, this method does not produce the best results; scanned pictures can look soft, unrefined, too dark, and often appear with white spots all over them, which is actually just dust that is being lit up. Some scanner models have special transparency adapters that can be bought to scan images from negatives and slides. These can be very pricy, though, averaging about $1800.00 for a decent one.

Many people claim that the image results using the adapter are no better than the scanner that uses the mirror box attachment. One advantage of the transparency adapter, however, is that an entire large image can be scanned all at once, making it easier to restore old photos than it would be to piece several scans together and then start the restoring process.

Slides Scanning : The Digital Camera
It makes sense to use a camera to get a picture of a picture. However, although this can be a simple way to get results, it often proves to turn out some pretty disappointing photos. Missing hues, colors, highlights, effects, and downright blurry, fuzzy images are very common. Devices exist that can link your camera and a slide projector so that when a projector changes display images, the camera is set up to snap a picture of it. These can be frustrating, and the obvious downfall is that you must have a working slide projector to use the method. Other devices are on the market that attach right to the camera and hold a slide to it; however, you can only insert and deal with one slide at a time, and the devices are usually specific to a certain make and model of camera.

Slides Scanning : The Professional
By far the most hassle-free, low-effort, cost-effective way to scan slides is to take the slides to a professional. Someone at a camera shop or photography shop will be able to work the gizmos, gadgets, equipment, and devices needed to safely turn your slides into perfect pictures. Prices vary depending on the amount of slides to be transferred, but many people find it is an invaluable service to have when they need to scan slides to have digital pictures.

If you are thinking about those boxes of slides stuffed in the basement from your 1973 trip to see the worlds largest coconut and want to turn them into digital pictures, do yourself a great favor and take them to a professional who can scan slides for you. You will be glad that you did when Aunt Ferns portrait isnt restricted to appearing on a slide screen anymore and has gone digital for all the world to see.

Today, almost everyone has a digital camera, a camera phone or a video cam of some sort. They are amazing little gadgets that send images through cyberspace to another computer, Blackberry, cell phone or PDA. And you can share them with anyone, anywhere! This is all wonderful technology, however, one question remains:

What do we do with all the old photos we’ve taken, developed, collected, carefully placed and captioned in dozens of photo albums? And how about those boxes of pics stored somewhere in our homes, basements and garages? The art of putting together photo albums is becoming a thing of the past. You may even have a photo collection that spans generations of family and friends. And don’t we only consider their irreplaceable value during a disaster that could take those memories from you in a matter of minutes?

There are natural disasters all over the world. Some areas, such as Los Angeles, CA are especially vulnerable. This metropolis, county and neighboring cities in Southern California experience a wide variety of destructive forces of nature. There are floods, which can create havoc within hours and sometimes, minutes. Floods can cause subsequent mudslides, rockslides and rivers of water that flow through homes, ruining or even carrying away everything in their path. Earthquakes happen without notice, bringing down buildings and causing damage — sometimes irreversible — within its epicenter radius.

This is where ‘old school’ photography meets digital age technology. The breakthrough answer to keeping those past memories safe and protected is — photo scanning! Of course, if you had a scanner, a lot of free time, money and patience you could take on this tedious endeavor yourself, or use the fastest, most-efficient and cost-friendly alternative — professional photo scanning.

It’s so simple. Find a local photo scanning company that offers pick up and delivery or has drop-off centers near you. Many people feel uncomfortable sending their personal photos through the mail and possibly having that company send them overseas for several weeks to be scanned. That’s why most people seem to prefer using a local scanning service with fast turnaround.

The best photo scanning businesses will be able to actually restore some of your photos with amazing color quality, turning some of your older gems into better-then-new copies. You should ask if your photo scanning company is able to do all sizes of photos up to 8″x10″,
slide scanning, negatives and film. Many services also offer VHS to DVD transfer for preserving family home videos.

Having all of your favorite memories from over the years on CD or DVD is like having insurance on the most proud and exciting moments of your life. Sharing your scanned photos is also a great way to let others relive their precious times with you. Just copy the photo-scanned pictures on the disc into your computer and send them online to friends and family.

For ultimate safety, have a copy made (if you aren’t sure how to do that on your computer), and keep a CD set in your personal vault, safe deposit box or with a family member living in another area. With fire season coming soon and home and apartment fires occurring at any moment, it’s a good idea to get this done as soon as possible – don’t wait till it’s too late. Most of your possessions are replaceable – but not your photographs.

Preserving your photos is done by digitizing the prints you have and taking care to not practice any behaviors that will harm the prints that you have. There are many professional scanning services that can help you in preserving photos by scanning them all and putting them on a picture CD or DVD. Some people like to take their pictures to a kiosk at stores and do it themselves, and still others prefer to scan their photos at home, upload them to their computer, and then burn them to a disc. Preserving photos can be done in several ways, and no matter which way you do it, the end result will be pictures that are safe that will be enjoyed for years into the future.

A simple tip for preserving photos that doesnt cost a thing that anyone can do is to NOT touch the photos with their fingers. Fingers actually have trace amounts of acid on them, and by touching them, a person can unintentionally transfer acid to the pictures. Over time, the acid can slowly eat away at the photographs and damage them. Preserving photos by digitizing them is a great way to always have your photos on hand and having people really be able to look at them and not touch them!

Photographs are actually made of tiny silver particles and gelatin. These materials unfortunately make pictures incredibly susceptible to mold, mildew, bug infestation, and humidity. Keeping your photos in air tight containers, not in cardboard boxes, is a good storage tip for preserving your photos. Containers that are not cardboard can oftentimes preserve your photos and protect them from damage should there ever be a flood or water that gets to them. On that note, another good tip for preserving photos is to never store them in a basement or crawlspace. These areas are super prone to moisture, which spells disaster for photos as well. No matter where in your house you store your pictures, never ever store them on the floor.

Preserving your photos can be easy if you look for things in stores that are acid free. Many people like to take their photos, cut them up with cute scissors, and put them in a scrapbook full of decorations, glue, and ink. Regular pens contain acid, as does regular glue. Be careful to look for supplies for your scrapbooks that are marked photo safe or acid free and preserving your photos will be a snap.

Also be careful if you have pictures in an album. The albums that have the peel away clear sheet and sticky gummy stuff on the back are actually very bad for preserving your photos. The glue that is used is not acid free. However, it is hard with printed photos to avoid any damage whatsoever, because even the chemicals that are used to develop photographs from negatives play a role in their disintegration. Your best bet for preserving photos is to not touch them, use only acid free products with them, make sure that they are properly stored, and get those photographs to a professional Slide scanning service so that they can put the pictures on a CD for you.

Beginners and advanced photographers always ask about the best ways to scan photos to get them to a digital format. There are a lot of good reasons why doing this is a good idea not only so that people can easily share their photos with others via email, but also for preservation. Over time, printed photographs become damaged and worn, but when they are files in a computer they are indestructible, provided that the computer doesnt crash and you have made back ups of your pictures!

There are actually three different main forms of images that you can scan into digital photo files, and these are paper prints, slides, and negatives. You can use a flatbed scanner for the paper prints, but to transfer slides and negatives into your computer you will need a special machine or a flatbed machine with accessories that will provide those capabilities. Usually, when people scan photos they usually use sizes that are 4×6 and 5×7s, which is a good medium size that fits nicely with moderately low to high resolution images. Negatives are of course the actual film that has been used, and the most common film is 35mm, but many people also scan medium format, large format, and 120 film too. Slides follow the same route as the negatives.

Photo paper prints are the easiest and quickest to scan, and many people do this right in their homes using their average everyday scanner. You can also pay professionals to scan prints for you, and they usually do a really nice job and their prices are reasonable. This route is especially reasonable if you have a large number of scans to complete. These services scan negatives, slides, or prints for you, edit them per your requests, and mail the originals back to you along with a DVD of the scans that they have completed for you.

If you want to scan photos at home there are some things to consider. The resolution is measured in dpi, or dots per inch. Most machines can scan at 1200dpi or more. For most prints, Slide scanning at 300 600 dpi is suitable, but experimenting to find the best for your preferences is a good idea. If you have hundreds of photos to scan youll want a machine that can scan quickly and scan more than one photo at a time. You may also want a machine that can load quickly and easily too. Whatever your project is that you want to work on, to scan photos successfully it takes a little bit of patience and know how, but people get the knack in no time.

Scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop (or flatbed) scanner where the document is placed on a glass window for scanning.

Another category of scanner is digital camera scanners, which are based on the concept of reprographic cameras. Due to increasing resolution and new features such as anti shake, digital cameras have become an attractive alternative to regular scanners.

There are lots more other varieties like drum, flatbed, film and hand scanners. Most scanners use charge coupled device and contact image sensor to sense image. New scanners are used to combine 3d objects with 2d objects on the screen by scanning 3d object and modeling that object with another.

Animation industry makes great use of this picture to create new 3d object just by scanning real 3d object into scanner. This saves valuable time required for other important steps in creation or building of any animation film or movie.

Due to increasing resolution and new features such as anti shake, digital cameras have become an attractive alternative to regular scanners. While still having disadvantages compared to traditional scanners, digital cameras offer advantages such as speed, portability, gentle digitizing of thick documents without damaging the book spine.

In drum scanner, photomultiplier tube is used which scans different positions of an image simultaneously. Drum scanner scans all image information with this PMT tube, rather than CCD array which is found in flatbed scanners.

Light from the original artwork is split into separate red, blue, and green beams in the optical bench of the scanner. Drum scanner is capable of scanning both reflective and transitive images. A good quality flatbed scanner has capability to produce high quality reflective artwork. Therefore, drum scanner are now rarely used to scan those high quality artwork.

Positive slides or negative film can be scanned through Film scanner which is dedicated for the same purpose. Usually, uncut film strips of up to six frames, or four mounted slides, are inserted in a carrier, which is moved by a stepper motor across a lens and CCD sensor inside the scanner.

Today, Scanner art has got great advantage in various fields. Scanner art is art made by placing objects on a flatbed scanner and Slide scanning them. Because scanner uses little depth of field, it is matter of debate as to whether it is giving kind of digital photography or not.

Purchasing a digital camera opens up a whole world of photography opportunities; but of course, It helps when learning to use your new digital camera to also know what some of the more common terms mean. Going digital, so to speak, does not mean that you do not still have those boxes of negatives and old photos in your basement. The good news is that you can have these photos and film slides scanned and restored to digital quality by a reputable Slide scanning company. In the mean time, below, you will find many of the most common digital camera terms defined.

Automatic Mode A setting set the focus, exposure and white balance automatically.

Burst Mode or Continuous Capture Mode is a series of pictures taken one after another at quickly timed intervals with one press of the shutter button.

Compression is the process of compacting digital data, images and text by deleting selected information.

Digital Zoom Cropping and magnifying the center part of an image.

JPEG is the predominant format used for image compression in digital cameras

Lag Time is the pause between the time the shutter button is pressed and when the camera actually captures the image

LCD or Liquid Crystal Display is a small screen on a digital camera for viewing images.

The lens is a circular and transparent glass or plastic piece that has the function of collecting light and focusing it on the sensor to capture the image.

Megabyte or MB Measures 1024 Kilobytes, and refers to the amount of information in a file, or how much information can be contained on a Memory Card, Hard Drive or Disk.

Pixels are tiny units of color that make up digital pictures. Pixels also measure digital resolution. One million pixels adds up to one megapixel.

RGB refers to Red, Green, Blue colors used on computers to create all other colors.

Camera resolution describes the number of pixels used to create the image, which determines the amount of detail a camera can capture. The more pixels a camera has the more detail it can register and the larger the picture can be printed.

Storage Card is the removable storage device which holds images taken with the camera, comparable to film, but much smaller. It is also called a digital camera memory card.

Viewfinder is the optical window to look through to compose the scene.

White Balance White balancing adjusts the camera to compensate for the type of light daylight, fluorescent, incandescent, etc., or lighting conditions in the scene so it will look normal to the human eye.