I am scanning....

[Blossom]

just as if I have not tons of photos to chose from already, but we just bought a new scanner at work and I borrowed with me home yesterday. I love that scanner it really does great scannings and I have now gotten many photos from DD's first years on my computer. And the scanning goes fast - I have gotten over 400 photos done the past two days (was lucky that I had to stay home with a sick kid today).

I am really getting prepared for a photo show on DD's confirmation in the spring.

What I am not so happy about is the negatives. I have negatives that has never been out of the pockets it was delivered with from the developers, and still there are so many scratches when scanning.

Have any of you any experiences with this problem as well ?

[esther_a]

Yes. Negatives are so easily damaged! I think that even the process of sliding them into the sleeve can scratch them. I've scanned many old negatives. Sometimes they are scratched. Sometimes the emulsion seems to have aged terribly. But sometimes they are much clearer than the photo and usually they have lasted better. It's a tedious process, but so worth it!

[Chris]

I really like the scans I've gotten from my negatives. They seem to be crisper and the colors much brighter, and with none of the dust (even after cleaning) that I get when I scan the actual photo. I just wish Canon had a variety of holders for different negative sizes.

[Aino]

Sounds great Vigdis! I also feel like scanning photos now! And scrapping them afterwards.

I never occurred to me to scan negatives.... what do you do with them? "Develop" them?

[Blossom]

Aino - a lot of scanners have negative and dias holders so that you are able to scan those types as well. I have a lot of dias as well from my childhood that I have never seen and is going to scan too, it is so fun to see.

Yes, you can of "develop" them on the computer. It takes a little longer than with photos, but I agree with Chris that they seem to be crisper than the photos the only thing is alll of those which have the scratches.

[Aino]

Thank you - I might want to try this... If I have any negatives anywhere that is....

[Chris]

Vigdis, I forgot to say I haven't noticed scratches on the negatives I've done so far, except a couple that got loose from their envelopes - they were in bad condition. I wonder if the scratches was from faulty film, mishandling by the developers, or even from the camera as the film was being wound.

That happened to me once, many years ago on film I developed myself in the dark room, I was always very careful, so know it had to be placed in the camera wrong, or faulty film.

What a thrill for you to see some of yours for the first time! I recently had slides of my brother's family that I never saw before and it was a thrill for me!

[elseepe]

Vigdis you might look through the options in the scanner software to see if it has any type of "dust removal" option. I recently scanned a few negatives using an Epson scanner and that option really helped. It does increase the time of the scan a bit, but in some cases it was a big improvement. (Epson refers to this technology as Digital ICE.)

[ejanie]

Hi - My method may be too time consuming but . . . I've picked my favorites and cleaned them up in PSE. Discovering the damage on the negatives has been frustrating but, for me, better than nothing. Good luck!

[champsarahjoy]

Wow! What a job! Good luck in getting it all accomplished.

[carollee]

The majority of pages from early years in my family history book were negatives. Ours were pretty good quality (having sat in the back of a cupboard in a box for near on 40 years. But for the odd scratches, etc. the healing brush is a wonderful tool.