Basic Scanning


Left Image:
Minolta Maxxum 7, Tokina 80-200mm f-2.8 ATX, Kenko extension tube, Fuji Velvia, Bogen tripod and ball head. Aperture priority at f-5.8, shutter speed approx. 1/30, multi-segment metering. Manual focus.

Scanner is the most important piece of equipment in your digital darkroom. There are three types of scanners available: flatbed, drum scanners, and film scanners. Flatbed scanners are fine for prints, but not negatives and slides. Drum scans produce the highest quality, but are very expensive and available mainly at professional labs. For professional results at home or office, use film quality film scanners. Scanners are digital cameras, except they take pictures of negatives, slides, or prints. No matter which type of scanner you use, choose the best images as your scanner can only capture the quality of the original and any mistakes will show up in the final result.

The best results depend on the type of film you use. Select the right film depending on the subject, lighting condition, and your own personal taste. Use sharp, fine grain films to achieve best scans. Negatives are excellent for scanning as they have greater exposure latitude than slides. Both type of films however, will produce excellent images if the original is of high quality. Select the image you want to scan. It should be correctly exposed and sharp. You can adjust exposure to some degree using your image editor, but not much can be done with an unsharp original. It is best to use the scanner software to adjust exposure, contrast, and color before scanning the image. This will produce a much better file which can save you a lot of time trying to fix problems in your image editor. Use a camel hair brush to remove any dust from the original that may show up in the scan. Carefully place the negative or slide inside the holder. Turn on the scanner before turning on the computer. Wait 5-10 minutes for the scanner to warm up for best performance and calibrate the scanner before you start scanning your images. Open the scanner software and click on the preview button. You can select one or more frames to preview. Adjust exposure, contrast, and any other tools your scanner software has to offer. Depending on the type of scanner you own, you may be able to adjust a number of other different settings. Select the area you want to scan. Don't be afraid to play around with all the tools your scanner has to offer.


Minolta Maxxum 9, 300mm f-2.8 APO, , Fuji Velvia, Bogen tripod and ball head. Aperture priority at f-2.8 and 1/60, spot metering. Manual focus.

Once you have the perfect setting, select the resolution. Resolution is very confusing to some. It is really very simple. Resolution is the measurement of the number of pixels (tiny squares that make up an image) a scanner can capture. An average flatbed scanner for example, has a resolution of 300 or 300 dots per inch (dpi). This is called optical resolution and is measured by how many pixel the scanner can actually see. A 300 dpi scanner can capture 300 dots per inch. Scanner head moves in one direction capturing 300 dots per inch. To scan in the other direction, head is moved along the area to scan 300 dpi in other direction stopping 300 times per inch.  The optical resolution of this scanner is therefore 300 X 300. You may see some scanners with resolution of 300 X 600 or higher second number. This only means the scanner stops 600 times per inch in the other direction. Frankly, only the small number counts as it makes no difference in detail by scanning more in one direction only. Some scanners use interpolated resolution which is an "educated guess" made by the scanner to turn a scan into a higher resolution scan. A 300 X 300 scan can be interpolated into a 600 X 600 dpi. Pixels are inserted into the image by sampling each original pixel. Avoid interpolated resolution as it can lower the quality of the scan.

So, how much resolution do you need? It depends on what you want to do with the image. For viewing on your monitor or web pages, 75 dpi is enough. For printing, 300 dpi is enough as most printers usually have 300 dpi resolution. Film scanners have 2400 or higher resolution. This is because of the smaller film area that needs more resolution to scan.   To produce a scan with enough information to make a 4 X 6 print, a resolution of 1200 dpi is required for film, but only 300 dpi to scan an original 4 X6 print.