How to Transfer 35mm to Digital

You can scan your 35mm negatives to convert them to digital images.

Even though digital cameras seem to have taken over the world of photography, many of us still have a significant amount of our memories in 35mm film format. Even if you've never used film yourself, chances are your family has a stock of film photos from your childhood or before you were born. Luckily, you can scan your 35mm negatives and slides and save them as digital files. Transferring 35mm negatives to digital format allows you to share them with friends and family via email, social networking sites, blogs and more. The CanoScan 8600F allows you to easily scan 35mm color negatives, black and white negatives and slides, as well as medium format film.

Things You'll Need

• Orange antistatic cloth
• Canned air
• Glass cleaner
• Lint free buffing cloth
• Canoscan 8800F

Instructions

1. Begin by cleaning your scanner glass to remove any fingerprints or smudges. Spray a non-residue glass cleaner onto your lint-free cloth and buff the surface clean, being careful to remove dust and hairs. Cleaning the glass beforehand will ensure you have a clean scan, a sharper final image and less touch up work.

2. Take your 35mm negatives out of their protective sleeves, holding the negative by the side edges. It is important to avoid touching your negatives; oils and dirt on your fingers can eat away at the film emulsion and degrade your image. Wipe your negatives with an orange-antistatic cloth to make sure they are clean. The CanoScan 8800F 35mm negative carrier holds 2 strips of 5 images, so if it hasn't already been done, you can cut your negatives accordingly.

3. Place your negative strips into the 35mm negative carrier one at a time by lifting up the plastic frame and sliding the edge of your negative into the provided slot. Once your negative is securely in place, snap the frame secure and place the negative carrier into the scanner.

4. Spray your negatives with canned air to remove any remaining dust, holding the can 4 to 5 inches away from the film emulsion surface. This step may seem like overkill, but digitally removing dust and hairs after scanning can literally take up hours of your time, so it is always better to be safe than sorry.

5. Open the ScanGear software that is provided with CanoScan 8800F and select "35mm sleeve." If you are scanning color film, select "Color Negative;" if you are scanning black and white film, select "Monochrome Negative;" if you are scanning 35mm slide film, select "Color Positive."

6. Make any desired adjustments to exposure, brightness, contrast and color within the ScanGear dialogue box. You can also adjust the quality level, final output size and fading that occurs from the scanner backlight. Once you have made your image adjustments, press the "Scan" button. After the scan has completed, you can save your images in the desired digital file format.

Tips & Warnings

• Protect your negatives by storing them in acid-free archival sleeves.

• Never spray glass cleaner directly on the scanner glass.

References

• Canon USA: Consumer & Home Office: CanoScan 8800F