Photography began to go digital about 30 years ago, so if you
are older than that your relatives probably documented a portion of your
childhood on film-based formats, like slides or prints made from negatives. Or
maybe you have stacks of your old slides and negatives from long-lost pictures
boxed up in the attic or garage. While not quite as simple as scanning old
photo prints, digitizing that film rescues family history from outdated media
and makes it easy to share the restored memories. Here are a few ways to get
the job done.
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The Smartphone Method
As with prints, you can “scan” a slide or negative with your
smartphone by taking a picture of it or using one of the many
slide/film-scanning apps. For best results, make sure the original is free of
dust, and evenly illuminate the transparency from behind. An inexpensive
scanning kit — which provides the backlight as well as a place to rest your
phone for a more stable shot — is an option.
Kodak’s Mobile Film Scanner kit ($40 or less) is one option. It
works with the free Kodak Mobile Scanner app for Android or iOS. Just put a
slide or negative on the battery-powered LED backlight, then focus the phone’s
camera on it from above and snap a photo. Depending on your phone and its
camera(s), however, you may have to experiment with the distance and focus to
capture crisp images.
Rybozen makes a similar smartphone film scanner. You can also
make your own slide scanner out of common materials to capture images with your
smartphone or stand-alone camera with a macro lens for close-up focus. YouTube
hosts several videos on the topic — just search for “DIY film scanner” or
similar wording to find several guides from do-it-yourself enthusiasts.
Photomyne’s SlideScan inventive app ($40 for two years; a free
trial is available) is another option. You hold the slide in front of a laptop
displaying a plain white webpage and take a photo of it. The software
automatically enhances and crops the resulting image, or you can make manual
adjustments. Photomyne’s separate FilmBox app does the same for negatives.
FilmLab ($6 a month) is another smartphone scanning app that has Windows and
Mac versions.
Smartphone scanning has some downsides. You don’t get the
highest-quality results, and it can be tedious if you have many images. But it
is relatively inexpensive.
The Scanner Method
Smartphones can be all-purpose devices, but using hardware
designed for a specific task often brings better results. If you have boxes of
transparencies to convert, investing in a compact film scanner (like those from
Wolverine or Kodak) can simplify and speed up the process for around $150.
Plustek makes higher-end models.
A flatbed scanner that can handle film along with prints and
documents is another option, like the Epson Perfection V600 (around $250
online).
If you already have a flatbed scanner for documents and photos,
check your model’s manual to see if it can handle slides and film negatives, as
some include that ability. If your scanner is not equipped to handle
transparencies, you can make your own adapter out of silver cardboard to
diffuse the scanner’s light and illuminate the image. Make: magazine has a free
template and instructions online, as do other DIY sites.
And be sure to scan the images at a high enough resolution for
them to look good at an enlarged size and for printing; 3,200 pixels per inch
is common.
The Professional Method
If you don’t have the time, patience or equipment, sending
photos out to a media-conversion company like Memories Renewed, ScanMyPhotos or
DigMyPics is another option. Most shops charge by the slide — prices can start
around 21 cents each.
For your money, you get high-quality images. Some companies let
you preview the results and even skip a certain number of dud shots in your
collection. Your originals are returned after the scanning is done and your
digital copies are ready.
Get ’Gram-worthy
Slides and negatives can fade over time, especially if they were
stored improperly. Many film-scanning smartphone apps also include basic
editing tools to adjust color and cropping. And you can always use Apple’s
Photos and Google Photos for mobile and desktop for fast, free photo-editing to
get those pictures ready to share.
Share and Save Space
All the time, effort and (possibly) money that you put into
digitizing the old film bring another benefit besides easy-to-share photo
files. You can store them in a secure place online as a backup — and as the new
archive if you decide to part with the originals during spring cleaning.
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