Preparation for Conversion of Negatives to Digital Formats

Nowadays with technological advancement, it is very easier than ever before to convert negatives to digital format. There are many scanning services available, who will convert negatives to digital format by high quality scanning accessories. They burn the resulting photo files into a CD, which you can use to store your memories. You have a number of negatives, which you want to scan then ensure that you arrange them appropriately for the process.

Carefully Handle Negatives

When conversion of your negatives to a digital file will be done, then any damage on your negative will be shown on the scanned photos. This will occur because the scanner scan the negative exactly as it is. When you are preparing for sending your negatives to the scan services company, then do not touch the surfaces of the negatives. Hold the negative by its edges only as it is totally impossible to remove finger prints from the negative. There are negative handling cotton gloves available in the market. Purchase them and hold the negative by wearing them in your palm.

Organize the Negatives

You will not send one or two negatives for converting them to digital format to the scanning service. You must have hundreds of negatives with you for scanning. So before sending those to scanning service, you must organize them. There are certain companies, who convert negatives to digital format and assemble the images into a DVD format with captions and music. For this, it is very much required to arrange them as per the event. Try to organize them into a chronological order so that DVD or CD will organize as well. That will make it easier to find the photos, you want in your digital copy.

Clean Your Negatives

As already mentioned, there are cotton gloves available for holding the negatives, and then you can use these gloves or any cotton to gently dust off your negatives. There will be scratches if you rub them roughly. The purpose is to gently eliminate the dust without making any damage to the negatives. Remove the staple carefully, if you have ever staple the negative for any reason. During the development of the negative, some developers glue plastic or paper backing to negatives. Remove it carefully if you have this type of problem. All scanning services companies receive negatives with plastic sleeves without complaining about it as it can protect them during shipment.

Packaging Negatives

There are procedures for packaging your negatives for particular scanning company. You should pack them in a zip-top plastic bag, if there are no guidelines from your scanning company. During transport, it will secure your negatives. Do not mail them in envelope as envelope will bent during transport and it will cause damage to the negatives. So mail them in cardboard or rubber mailer. There are tracking services, if available purchase it so that you can keep track of your negatives during their route to the scanning company. A right preparation will help you to smoothly convert negatives to digital format.