How to Use Film Scanners

Scanning film can be a time-consuming operation, but nothing looks as good as film. Some professional photographers still use film cameras, process the film, then scan it because it gives them the look they want. Most people have boxes of old photos with film still in the sleeves. Reproducing the images from paper pictures will lose a lot of quality. Scanning the film—negatives or slides—can bring back color and images that may have faded. Film scanners range from flatbed to per-frame models. Flatbeds are less expensive and more common, but not all of them will scan film. If there is a lot of film to be scanned, a flatbed that has multiple image scanning capability is necessary, and per-frame scanners can be left to the pros. Here we’ll use a standard flatbed with batch scanning capability.

Things You'll Need

• Personal computer
• Film scanner
• Scanner software
• Scanner cleaner
• Film cleaner

Instructions

1. Clean the scanner glass with the proper materials. Lint or streaks can affect image quality. A standard glass cleaner may damage film. Scanners come with instructions for what should be used to clean the scanning surface.

2. Clean the negatives and slides. There are special solutions for this. Don’t use water. It can ruin the images. Film cleaner is available from photo and other stores. Use lint-free gloves to handle film.

3. Place the negatives or slides in the appropriate film adapter. Most flatbed film scanners will have adapters for 35mm, 120, Instamatic and other film types. They will be labeled. Follow the scanner's instructions for fitting negatives or slides into the adapters. Use lint-free gloves and handle the film with care.

4. Scanners come with software, but scanning directly into a photo program may give better results. Some basic settings such as brightness, contrast and tone can be set prior to the scan in scanning software. For photo manipulation software, scan as is and make adjustments later. Set the scanning software to the highest resolution available. Resolution is described in dots per inch. The best quality is necessary to have details of each negative or slide available for processing in a photo manipulation program, but it will take longer to scan. Most film scanners will have a top resolution of 4,800 to 9,600 dpi. The higher the dpi, the better the image quality.

5. Begin the scan. At these resolutions, it will take some time for each set of negatives or slides. Make sure not to move the scanner during the process

6. Save the batch film scan as one file immediately. TIFF format is best for quality, but JPEG saves hard drive space. This will help prevent accidental image editing on the "master" scan.

7. Open the batch file and select one film frame. Copy it and paste it into a new file and save. Work on the new file to fix color, contrast, sharpness and other attributes before printing. Don't alter the batch file, because that could mean rescanning.

Tips & Warnings

• If the highest quality isn't necessary, scan in a lower DPI.

• Scanning in lower DPI limits the size of enlargements.

• If 4-by-6-inch prints are all that are required, lower DPI resolution is fine.

• For 8-by-10-inch prints, stick with higher resolutions.

• Don't start scanning unless there is plenty of time to complete the process.