Scanning Photo Negatives – Is It Possible?

People with box after box of photos and negatives often wish for a magic wand that will turn those old images into a useful digital file. Scanning photos is definitely an option some consider, but the time and hassle is often a strong deterrent. Negatives, on the other hand, pose an even greater problem. Do you have the negatives printed, spending a lot of money on pictures you don't need, just so that you can scan them at home, or is there another option?

Scanning photo negative films is entirely possible. In fact, you can do this at home if you have the right equipment. You can also send your negatives to a scanning lab to have them converted into a usable digital format.

Slide/Negative Scanner

If you tried scanning photo negative or slide films on a traditional flatbed scanner, you would not get a usable image. This is because flatbed scanners are designed to scan photographs and documents, which are not transparent. You will need a slide/negative scanner. This device is designed specifically for scanning transparent films. It has the capacity to scan several images on a negative strip in a short period of time.

Adapters

You can also purchase an adapter to use with your traditional flatbed scanner to make it possible for you to scan negatives without a dedicated scanner. The quality on these is sometimes compromised, and it takes a lot longer to scan negatives with an adapter than with a dedicated negative scanner. However, if you already have a flatbed scanner, it may have come with this adapter. Even if you have to purchase it, this is the most affordable way to archive negatives.

Sending Them Off

The most efficient way to get your negatives scanned is to let someone else do it. Scanning companies have the equipment necessary to quickly produce digital images from your negatives for just pennies per picture. This saves you time, and also lessens the chance that you will end up damaging your negatives through the scanning process. The professionals at the lab know exactly how to handle your delicate films. Best of all, you will get your negatives back along with the digital files on CD or DVD.

Benefits of Archiving Negatives

There are two main benefits to scanning photo negative films in comparison to scanning the actual pictures. First, if you are using a quality scanner, you will get a truer image because you will be scanning the original image, not a print copied from it.

Second, scanning negatives makes sense from an archive's perspective. When you bring your photos home from the developer, most of them are used for some purpose or another. They are glued into scrapbooks, placed in frames, or passed around to friends and family members who want copies. Rarely do all of the images from an event stay in one place. Archiving from the negatives means you will have digital copies of all of your pictures, even the best ones that are no longer with the originals.