To be successful with slide scanning, you must be sure to use the right tools and equipment and follow certain techniques that will ensure quality scans. Although slide scanning is fairly simple, it does require a bit more than just placing a slide on a scanners glass and pushing the scan button. There are certain things that you can do to help ensure the good quality that is possible from slide scanning.

First of all, for successful slide scanning, you need a scanner that is different from the typical at home scanner that is popular today. The scanner you need for slide scanning has to have a built in slide scanning ability, so make sure that when you are shopping for a new scanner, you get one that has this feature. A scanner for paper documents wont usually offer this feature, and with many of the special scanners, you can produce great quality scans from scanning several of your slides all at the same time.

There are many different file formats when you use slide scanning on computers. These file formats are TIFF, JPEG, and BMP files. The best files for slide scanning are the TIFFs, because they can easily be saved and edited without loss of quality. Another setting that you will have to consider when using your computer for slide scanning is the output type.

The output type that is usually the default type is Millions of Colors, which is obviously best for photos with lots of color. The output type Grayscale is for black and white photos. For slide scanning, it is recommended that you keep the output at Millions of Colors because computer software does a good job taking the color out. Keeping the output at Millions of Colors ensures top picture quality.

With slide scanning, you will want to maintain a high resolution setting so that youll be able to enlarge a picture if you wanted to, while still keeping the high quality. A good thing to remember is that for every time you double the size of the picture, you have to double your resolution settings, too. The recommended resolution setting for a 4X6 photo is 300 dpi. A photo that is twice that size will have twice the resolution.

When doing slide scanning, file sizes can get very large very quickly, with all of the saving and editing photos. Make sure you pay attention to the file sizes and the space that is available on the saving device. Make sure to plan ahead when working on slide scanning, and be sure to back up your work in case your computer crashes and you lose files.