For those who shoot film, what file format do you scan developed photos with?
It may be a noob question, but I've been scanning old photos lately in jpg with a really old flatbed scanner.
Just wondering about tips and all that stuff.
Thanks.
Scanning Developed Photos
(11 posts) (7 voices)-
Posted 3 years ago #
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If your scanning to simply store them as is or you've got a mountain of pictures, then hi-rez jpeg is ok. You can down size the better one's to email. But if your going to do a lot of photo manipulation on a particular set of photos then I'd import them as Tiffs (or Photoshop .psd files if you've got it)
It's always better to scan straight from the negative but that's not always possible so make sure you've got a clean flatbed before each scan.
If your scanning a lot of pictures fit as many as you can (away from the scanners edges) into a single scan. Save that as a file (like 1995summer001.jpeg or whatever) and when you need a particular picture just crop it out of the scanned group and save it as another file. It's faster then previewing and scanning each and every single print.
I hope that's not too "mickey mouse" of an answer.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Have them scanned at a photo store. If they know what they are doing, you should get pretty decent results ... unless they are also scanning with a crummy flatbed instead of a drum scanner. Just inquire what kind of a scanner they work with and if they can scan the negatives as DNGs which is a universal RAW-format.
You can have developed roll made into into JPEGs to determine if there are any keepers. When you one day decide to blow one up, then you just take the neg and have it scanned properly if you think that it needs PP or just have prints made from it directly.
Posted 3 years ago # -
If you're in the US, Costco scans your negatives and it is not expensive. Haven't tried it yet so I don't know what's the quality...
Posted 3 years ago # -
I don't think I'd trust anyone with my shoebox full of Kodachrome slides or 1950's prints.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I didn't know you could scan jpegs as dng, thanks monty!
Posted 3 years ago # -
Uhhh, I don't think you want to scan the jpegs as dng, you should re-scan the original negative into dng format.
Posted 3 years ago # -
For slides I use a tube attachment that goes on the front of on of my lenses. Pop the slide in, snap a photo, pop it out. It's not the best solution in the world, but its fast and easy. It works best if you do it outside. Otherwise you have to sit in front of a mirror and hit it with some flash. Incandescent light bulbs make everything to warm.
Posted 3 years ago # -
@Ken, JPEG and DNG are different file types as TIFF and JPEG are. When scanning it as a DNG the prerequisite for this would be a scanner and software that allow it.
@Willis, wouldn't such a solution require a perfectly white illuminated background not a mirror?
Posted 3 years ago # -
Hard to Say without knowing what they are supposed to look like in the first place.
I think camera flashes are pretty white in the first place. So if you shoot them at a mirror you are going to get mostly white light reflected back at you... enough that the ambient gets overpowered. I suppose hot lights with a giant softbox would be the best approach.
These slides are all from the 50's & 60's so the color is a bit off to begin with by now.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I used to use a daylight balanced photoflood or a flash with my slide copier attachment (back in the 70s and 80s - haven't used the attachment in quite a few years). Going outside should do the job, too.
Posted 3 years ago #
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