Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Digitally Scan 35mm Slides

Digital scanning is the perfect way to transfer all of the film slides collecting dust in the closet. Today's home computers are more than capable of undertaking the task of digital slide scanning. With the right equipment, you can electronically preserve your old slides for years to come.


Instructions








1. Collect all of the old 35mm slides in one place. Clean the slides as well as possible using a very soft lens cloth. Remove all of the dust or contaminants on the photo portion of the 35mm slide. Organize all 35mm slides according to date or event for better filing of the digital images once scanned.








2. Buy a good quality digital 35mm slide scanner and software. This is crucial to the process to eliminate frustration and confusion. Dimage Elite scanners are a great option for quality 35mm digital scans.


3. Adjust the resolution of the digital scanner to best represent the image quality desired. The higher the dots per inch, or DPI, the better the resolution will be when scanning them into an image file. Typically, a good place to start is around 2400 dpi.


4. Place all of the 35mm slides into the slide scanner using the slide holder provided with the scanner and digitally scan the images. Continue scanning until all slides have been input.


5. Create a file on the computer to receive all of the scanned images. Label the images with the date scanned or with a tag providing a good description of the event or image details.

Tags: 35mm slide, 35mm slides, slide scanner