Digitizing 35mm slides can preserve them by keeping DVD copies as well as hard drive copies.
Transferring slides made on a 35mm camera to digital format takes at least one specific type of equipment: the transparency scanner. You can digitize one slide at a time or multiple slides depending upon which type of transparency scanner you get. While you can control the process better and produce better images with slide scanners, they are more expensive and time consuming. For most people, batch scanning works fine on a flatbed scanner, which costs less and speeds up the process.
Instructions
1. Examine and clean each slide before scanning. Unless you just shot them last week, slides tend to gather dust and other bits of debris over time. Start this cleaning process with compressed air in a can. Use the extension nozzle to get into the corners of the image. If compressed air does not suitably clean the slides, use a lint-free cloth to carefully clean them. This step will save you editing time later because you will eliminate a lot of potential spots on your images.
2. Set up your transparency scanner to accept slides. This usually entails removing the pressure plate on the underside of the scanner lid. When you scan prints, the scanner uses reflected light, so the pressure plate on the top holds the prints flat. Because you will scan with direct light, you need the light source in the lid exposed. Note that low-cost flatbed scanners do not typically have this light source.
3. Place the mounted 35mm slides on the glass surface of the scanner as squarely as you can if you do not have a template. Templates, usually made of plastic, come with some scanners and allow you to snap in the mounted slides or even slide film strips. These work best for scanning slides and negatives. Close the lid.
4. Start your scanning software. Make sure you set the scanner to transparency mode and then do the preview scan. You will see instantly if you have the settings correct because the preview image will appear well-lit and as positives. If they appear dark, check your settings. Also remember to set your scanning resolution to a high number. Because you are scanning 35mm slides, you need to gather the most digital information from the image you possibly can to make good quality images. Scan at 4,800 to 9,600 dots per inch resolution.
5. Open your photo editing software. Save the batch of images as one file--if you have not already done so in the scanning software--then cut each image apart and save each as a separate file. Once you have raw scan image files saved, you can go back and edit the images for color and other attributes. Save all your images in TIFF format rather than JPEG for better quality. Because you are saving your digital images to your PC, you will need an external hard drive if you have many slides.
6. Open your DVD burning software and select "Data" as the type of disc for storage. Drag all of your digital 35mm slide images into the copy space or select them using a browser. Set the DVD parameters and start the burn.
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