Long before the technology of high quality digital cameras 35mm slide film was the choice for many amateur and professional photographers alike and to archive those photos and bring them into the digital age a 35mm slide converter is an indispensible tool. From old vacation photos, to weddings and first birthday’s slides used to be the way to show off your photos to family and friends. With digital technology all you need now is a laptop or computer and a cd or DVD recorder and some very inexpensive blank media and you can share your entire photo collection with everyone to view on their own terms at their own house. Heck if you want to share those old photos with the world you can scan them and stick them on a website for the world to see.

One of the benefits of converting old slides is of course archiving old photos so they don’t get damaged or destroyed. It is also great to have several backups in case of a disaster like a fire that can destroy everything one owns in a matter of minutes and memories can’t be replaced with an insurance check. Digitizing old slides is also a great way to restore any faded photos you may have as well as fixing errors in the photos. Maybe you over or underexposed your eldest daughters first birthday party. This can quickly be fixed with a little work in Photoshop. There are many fixes that can be done like removing dust and scratches from photos, removing the dreaded red eyes, and all kinds of little things that creep into film based photography.

There are a few things to keep in mind when shopping for a 35mm film converter. While you may be thinking mainly about slides make sure it does fit negatives as well. This way if you do happen to have a few rolls of old 35mm you have the option of archiving them along with your slides. Also check to see how the scanner accepts slides. Some scanners require you to remove them from the individual slide holders while some will let you keep them on. Also if you have thousands of slides look for a scanner that allows you to load batches of slides at a time and feeds them into the scanner. This way you’re not trying to scan one individual slide at a time by hand which can be a tedious and drawn out process. Also if you want to help keep the fixing of scratches and dust to a minimum there are some scanners that come with built in software technology that helps detect and fix these things while they are being scanned. These features work very well and help save loads of time with you’re fixing your scanned slides later on.

If you’re not too keen on doing things yourself you can have the slides scanned by a third party service. However with the inexpensive cost of a good quality film and slide scanner there is no reason not to do it yourself. It is a matter of installing some software and plugging the scanner in a computer and then just going through your slides yourself. Make this a family experience and enlist your kids or a spouse to help. With a little time and money bringing those old slides into the digital age is much easier than one would expect.

One of the less often talked about pieces of equipment used in photography is the scanner for negative film, a bridging product between old film-based photography and newer digital photography. Both methods have their merits and drawbacks, and if you’re uncertain about which to go with, you may be overwhelmed by having to make a decision. However, negative film scanners can ease the pressure by allowing you to get the best of both worlds, instead of picking and choosing. The basic intention and operation for these machines is to take film-based photography and turn it into digital-based pictures. In a sense, it’s very little different from using a copy machine, which most readers are probably somewhat familiar with.

A negative film scanner works by analyzing the colors of the film, then illuminating the negatives with a cold cathode lamp and reflecting the picture through a series of mirrors, filters, and lenses to get the right overall effect for maximum accurate translation. Finally, the information is turned into electronic signals and sent to your computer. This has varies upsides compared to ordinary ways of developing film. Firstly, you don’t have to go to a film development shop to see your pictures! And you don’t need a darkroom. All you have to do is buy a negative scanner and use it in the comfort of your own home, right next to your computer. Another advantage is the added control the device gives to photography. The development and translation to digital format is a single streamlined process, rather than a clunky two-step develop first, then scan in procedure. This lets you edit your pictures on the computer more accurately and efficiently, to get just the look you want for the end result. Since a slide and negative scanner can be purchased for as little as fifty dollars, and easily fits on any computer desk, they’re an easy addition to your workplace office or home. If you have traditional film-based cameras available, accompanying them with a scanner is a very natural thing to do to bring the oldschool into the modern world.

But why should you even bother? Why make the commitment to an extra piece of equipment when you can just ditch negative film scanners and ditch film-based cameras for digital ones? Well, it’s certainly a convenient and less expensive way to go, but all-digital photography has its own price to pay. The digital camera market is absolutely packed with subpar models that can’t leave up to their marketing promises. Ask any professional photographer, and he’ll tell you that most digital cameras simply make bad pictures. And the few, elite digital cameras that can create quality on a level with film cameras tend to be even more expensive than their film-based counterparts! If you don’t care about your pictures looking good, then getting a scanner is definitely overkill. But if you want to take pictures that look beautiful while also having the advantages of the digital medium, a scanner is an indispensable tool.

With the availability of digital SLRs at affordable prices, you might think a negative film scanner is now unnecessary. If images are now stored as RAW or JPEG formats, there aren’t any negatives to need scanning, right? There are two problems with that assumption. One, not everyone has joined the digital bandwagon. Some photographers, purists perhaps or maybe hobbyists who have too much invested in high-end film camera equipment, still use film. The general consensus is that film cameras, for someone who knows what they are doing, still produce better photographs. And two, even when photographers have switched to digital, they still have all of those negatives.

Darkrooms, however, are a different story. Photo processing software has all but eliminated the need for a darkroom. Pictures are created in seconds instead of minutes and theres no need for a special room or chemical fixing solutions. And whether someone still uses film or whether they have changed to digital but still have a library of film negatives, negative film scanners are necessary in order to get those images into a format that the photo software can handle.

A negative scanner doesn’t just produce a digital copy of the negative. It actually produces a developed photograph from the negative. In the development process, the photo software is brought into play to provide color and lighting adjustment options that you could never have in a darkroom. Perhaps best of all, if you decide you don’t like the finished product, just throw it out and start over. A scanner for negative film does nothing to the original negative.

Negative scanners sound very specialized, but they don’t have to be single-purpose items. Although newspapers or publishing companies no doubt use very specialized scanners, many brands of document scanners will also function perfectly well as a quality slide and negative scanner for an average user. Epson scanners, in particular, feature 6400 dpi resolution and produce images of exceptional quality. Many scanners incorporate features to reduce or eliminate blemishes from dust or scratches. Because of these features, photographs printed using a slide and negative scanner are often far superior to those developed directly from the negative in a photo lab.

You are probably familiar with flatbed scanners. You place the image on the glass, close the lid, and scan. Scanners which handle slides and negatives typically have a special feeder in which to insert the negative, although they can also be placed directly on the glass.

Expect to pay $100 for a nice, multipurpose slide and document scanner. For more specialized multipurpose scanners, for example with page feeders or large storage capacities, expect to pay between $300 and $500. They can easily be found for sale on the internet from reputable sites, although you would be wise to visit an office supply store to examine the model you are considering before making a purchase.

Recently, negative film scanners have become a good choice for anyone looking to turn their old photos into digital images. There are people who have boxes and boxes of old negatives that can be turned into digital images with a film scanner. This type of machine can be a lifesaver for someone who no longer has the original of a particular photo but still has the negative. Film scanners can save old photos by allowing the individual to scan their film negatives in a computer. This process is useful for anyone that wants to share pictures in a digital form. It is also a great machine for those that like manipulating original photos using design software.

Negative film scanners are readily available on the current market. They can range from a low price of one hundred dollars to a couple of thousands of dollars. Certain characteristics make some scanners more effective than others. It is recommended that you purchase a scanner for negatives that is capable of handling different types of media. This will give you the option of scanning both 35mm camera negative and slides if necessary. A slide and negative scanner offers more options to convert your photos into digital media. When deciding if a film scanner is for you consider if you will utilizing different types of media, if you will then it may be best to opt for a scanner that has the capabilities to function with different materials.

Likewise, you should decide if you want a flatbed negative scanner or a more compact model. This is a choice that is based upon personal use. There are some people who like the convenience of being able to scan their negatives just about anywhere. There are film scanners that are compact, portable and lightweight. The flatbed scanners perform the same functions as the portable scanners but at a lower price. You will pay for the convenience of a portable scanner that processes your film and slides. You should determine if portability is worth the extra cost.

A very important factor when selecting negative scanners is the bits or resolutions captured. The number of bits captured from your film or slides will determine how clear and crisp the photo is in digital form. It is highly recommended that you opt for a scanner that has a high bit rate or resolution. The higher the bit rate the better your photos will appear once in digital form. Some scanners use sensors to capture the pixels for a photo. Make sure that the sensors used for the camera are high quality.

Finally, select a scanner for negative film that is fairly fast. The main purpose of a quality scanner for film is to avoid the traditional dark room process of developing photos. The dark room photo processing method can be very time consuming. Likewise, it does not offer the photographer the option of utilizing the photos in a digital manner. Film scanners do offer these options and many can process negatives and slides at very fast speeds comparably to the dark room process. There are some scanners that are a bit faster than others and they usually cost more. If you expect to use your film and negative scanner frequently then opt for a fast machine.