Scanning slides to a computer from a scanner takes time to achieve good quality.
It takes a special kind of flatbed scanner or a dedicated slide scanner to get film slides into digital format. The flatbed scanner, common in many households, does not typically offer transparency scanning if the device is low-end, meaning it costs less than $100. Some flatbed scanners have a motorized slot in the lid for negative strips, but this will not work if the slides to be scanned are cut and mounted. In this situation, only a scanner with a full cover light source will work. Dedicated slide scanners cost considerably more than $100 and scan only one slide at a time, but provide superior quality.
Instructions
1. Clean the slides with the can of compressed air, carefully blowing off any dust and debris that may have accumulated. If the slides are clean before scanning, it will make less work when using the photo editing software later.
2. Place the slides in their mounts on the scanner glass. You can line them up squarely so they touch at the mounts in order to get more slides in one batch scan. Nearly all of the scanner glass area can be filled with slides, but do a test preview scan to make certain the whole glass is scanned. Some scanners may cut off at the edges.
3. Use the enclosed plastic slide templates if they came with the scanner. Most full transparency flatbed scanners include several different such templates to allow you to snap in negative strips or mounted slides. You will get fewer digital images per batch scan, but you can be assured the slides are lined up evenly. This eliminates a lot of turning and cropping later.
4. Open the software included with the scanner or a third-party application on the computer. Slides, particularly small ones such as 35 mm, need high-quality scanning to provide the best possible digital information to work with later. If the software's resolution is set at a low default, change it to a high setting. The minimum resolution should be 600 pixels per inch, but make that number as high as possible. This provides better scanning, but also increases scan time.
5. Save the batch scan files to the computer's hard drive or to an external hard drive if you will be scanning many slides. Once the file is saved, you can scan more batches. Use the photo editing software to cut apart the individual images and save them as separate files on the computer's hard drive.
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