Taking/Making Film Into Digital Images

I guess there should be a distinction between what an analog camera produces and what a digital camera produces. The not-yet-quite common term for digital camera output is images and the common term for analog camera output is pictures. I make the mistake all the time and call the output from either camera type, images and/or pictures, interchangeably. I think the rationale for the distinction is that analog has a couple of steps between taking and viewing – most often a negative stage, or a slide transparency stage.

It’s fairly easy to see what you got on the slide – sometimes requiring a magnifier, but the negative state is almost useless. But in those cases with film, you need to scan the images to get them into a digital format so they can make it to the internet or your printer. I have an Epson 750 scanner and it will scan anything from negatives, slides, photos, etc. Basically, whatever you can put on the glass can be scanned at resolutions up to and beyond 4800 dpi. That’s a subject for another day. The Epson scanner comes with software that you can use to manage the scanning process and it’s pretty good. But if you want to use the scanner to the fullest, you might need something extra . I purchased a software application called SiverFast Ai Studio and it’s doing a great job – however, it takes some learning to use all the features.

You can also scan slides and negatives by taking a picture (image) of the slide or negative with your digital camera and a macro lens. That’s another subject for a long winded tutorial. I have done this and it is a good way to transfer analog to digital. But, let’s not get into that here. Look up Nate’s Negative Lab Pro (https://www.negativelabpro.com/) for a full understanding of the process and the software.

I can go on and on but will leave that for another day and time. Have fun, and enjoy your day.