Scanning Negatives and Slides: Digitizing Your Photographic Archives

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.

In this 2nd edition, you will learn how to achieve the best possible digital image from a negative or a slide, and how to build a workflow to make this process efficient, repeatable, and reliable. The author uses Nikon's film scanners, but all steps can easily be accomplished while using a different scanner. The most common software tools for scanning (SilverFast, VueScan, NikonScan) are not only covered extensively in the book, but trial versions are also provided on a DVD, which also contains other useful tools for image editing, as well as numerous sample scans.

Sascha Steinhoff is a computer expert by training and a photographer by passion. He used several rainy seasons in Galway, Ireland to learn everything he needed to know about scanners and scanning software. He soon realized that a good scan requires as much work and know-how as a good camera shot, and that a scanning workflow is essential to get the job done efficiently. 

Sascha recently gave up his position as an editor of a leading German technical magazine to move to Bangkok, Thailand, where he is currently working as a freelance journalist and project manager.