Scanning Negatives and Slides: Digitizing Your Photographic Archives

EAN:9781933952307 Label:Rocky Nook Author:Sascha Steinhoff Binding:Paperback

This book was over my head as an amateur Waaaay over my head. At a glance, I knew that they were referring to equipment and activities that I didn't even know existed2009-03-19 Rating 1. It may be a great book for the right audience. I returned mine, and thank Amazon. com for a common sense way to return it. This is a book that should appeal to the baby boomer generation Scanning for Those With the Time To Do It. Most of us have slides of our childhood, or prints from our grandparents life scattered through our homes, often in attics or basements2009-03-11 Rating 5. I got this book because I'm interested in turning those prints and slides into digital images that I can save for my children. This review is about the 2d edition of the book, its publication date is 2009. Most of the reviews in Amazon concern the 1st edition. I haven't looked at the 1st edition, so I don't know the additions that have been made for this book. The book focuses on dedicated film scanners and flat bed scanners that can be used for film scanning. It is very complete in those areas. After discussing commercial scanning services, there are detailed analyses of scanner types, critiques of connection types, USB vs Firewire, the type of computer that is required, amount of disk space necessary (a lot, as a single high density image can take up 100 MBs), and the scanning software. Software evaluated include SilverFast SRD, VueScan and Digital ICE, as well as proprietary Nikon software such as Nikon Scan and Nikon Capture NX 2. There is a section on post scan processing using Photoshop and Photoshop plugins. And finally the pros and cons of various back up strategies are discussed. The back up strategy discussion doesn't include backup up to the net, using any one of a variety of commercial firms that offer it at very reasonable prices. This allows you to have automated off site backup, a good option for valuable photos. The book is focused more towards the semi-professional and professional. They're the only ones who have the time to use scanners for conversion from analog film to digital media. The rest of us will most likely use a slide copier on a digital camera to copy slides (very briefly discussed in the book), and for the occasional print, we'll either use a professional service or a scanner that didn't come with the specialized software discussed in the book. But if you'd like to go beyond those modest goals and have the time to do it, this is an excellent book. . I found this to be very useful in helping me decide what scanner to purchase as it lightly covered the various software packages that were sold with film scanners Helpful Reading. It also helped me decide not to buy less expensive software that was available to supplement the scanner package2008-12-16 Rating 4. The coverage of the software packages is not as detailed as I would have hoped for but it was adequate and accurate in its description. I did purchase a film scanner based on the facts presented in the book and I am satisfied with my purchase. For those with little photography or scanning experience (i Excellent for the intermediate photographer. e2008-11-04 Rating 5. , not knowing about bits or resolution) this book would be of little value. However, for those with intermediate experince it is excellent. It discusses, in depth, factors that affect scanners (i. e. , DPI, RAW vs JPEG, etc. ) and does so in good detail. It points out the many practical fallacies that underlie advertising with respect to scanners (that DPIs for example really are very limited in telling you the resolving quality of different scanners as they vary so much between scanners even if they are stated to be the same (i. e. , a 1600 dpi Nikon is not equivalent to a 1600 Canon). The book also provides very good high resolution pictures that actually show difference in photos (i. e. , different bit rates, resolutions, etc. ). The reason for this is the book is printed in high quality museum quality paper with high resolution (hence its relatively high cost). Examples, even subtle, are evident in these pictures, unlike so many photo books. In addition, the book is an excellent buy before purchasing a new scanner. It not only discusses the subtle differences between the major scanners (i. e. , Nikon and Canon) but there is a DVD included with pictures that actually ENABLE one to view the differences in scans produced (and the subtle differences/tradeoffs between scanners in terms of color saturation, resolution, etc. is evident in these). The last major strength of the book is its good discusion of scanning software. The major brands are discussed in detail with good comparisons between them. Very good discussion also of color correction, eliminating scratches, dust removal and other such touch ups. Last but not least equipment such as different stretch negative holders and scanhancer are discussed (helps soften scanned images). This book should be on the shelf of any person interested in advanced scanning or purchasing a scanner that is beyond entry level. Excellent book Well written. 2008-10-18 Rating 4. covers a lot of basics on the options currently available out there. Definiely reccmd it to anyone considering digitizing your archive of negatives and slides. Many photographers have either moved into digital photography exclusively or use both analog and digital media in their work In either case, there is sure to be an archive of slides and negatives that cannot be directly integrated into the new digital workflow, nor can it be archived in a digital format. Increasingly, photographers are trying to bridge this gap with the use of high-performance film scanners