Customer Reviews

Mastering Digital Scanning with Slides, Film, and Transparencies

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you know nothing about scanning slides, film, or transparencies, then this book may be of some help in introducing terminology and some techniques. Or if you are a purely artistic photographer, with no computer facility, then this book can help.

However, if you have done some scanning and understand the basics, then there is likely to be little here of value. The book has a lot of pages and is well organized, but each chapter falls well short of providing the in-depth knowledge required for mastery, despite the cutesie congratulatory message at the end of each chapter. If you have an analytical or engineering mindset, and wish to learn useful details of the scanning process, then save your money, this book is not for you.

Wonderful book. Lots of solid information about scanning slides and negatives, well presented, good illustrations, plenty of ideas on what to do with your scans. Anyone who wants to learn more about scanning can't go wrong with this book. Tells about scanning with both flatbed scanners and film scanners, and I own both, so this worked for me. I've been scanning for more than a year now, and still managed to learn some valuable tips. It helped me get improved results.

I hate to write negative comments but I was truly disappointed in this book. Granted, I know a few things about scanning but this book didn't provide any further inside than what is commonly known about scanning.

What about film formats, considerations for resolution calculation, where to make the adjustments (scanner or photo editor) in order to get the best quality? What about when to use higher than 8 bit scans for reflective or transparencies, how to handle and clean film the best, scanner color management, etc.? There are so many other scanning questions that I have that were not touched in any way. I would have called this book "Basic digital Imaging from film history through digital image output"

I have to say that I really liked the background information on traditional film but was very disappointed that there was so little about digital scanning and so much about photo editing, 3rd party vendors, image publishing, and other non-scanning topics.

There are better books out there if you just look for a good all-round book about digital photography.

I'm an experienced 35mm photographer switching to digital scanning, and I found this book to be the perfect complement to my scanner's rather basic instruction manual. In a clear and straightforward manner, it addresses a wide multitude of scanning situations, from the most basic to the most complex. Each of the things you need to know is concisely explained and extremely well illustrated in a most logical progression of sections. The table of contents and index are wonderfully comprehensive and make finding what you want as simple as possible. I'm very pleased that all of the illustrations were are color. All in all, this book is most highly recommended for both the beginner and advanced scanner users.

This book should have been called "What can you buy if you are thinking about playing with scanner", and it is good at that. It does not tell you much about scanning, it is more about buying equipment, and possibly software related to scanning. Just think about it: There is a chapter "Where to buy", and a chapter "Buying on ebay". There is no chapter "Do this if you miss shadow detail", though. This book is aimed at a high school student who is doing his/her first steps with a film camera and wants to get those pictures into the computer (is there such a person these days?) The book even mentions cross processing. No, it does not say what should you do if you need to scan a cross-processed film. It just says that you can process your film in the wrong developer and it will affect the image on the film.
I was greatly impressed by the chapter on sending off your slides for scanning. Well you definetly need a book to tell you that you can do that, and it greatly improves your scanning skills
If I had a chance to look at the book at the local store I would not ever buy it. Now it goes back to Amazon.

I had some experience in scanning slides and negs, but this book helped me a lot. It had exactly what I was looking for in terms of information, explanations, tricks, techniques, and background material. I believe this is the only book being sold that is dedicated to film and slide scanning for the "average Joe" so anyone who wants to improve their scans should look no further.

This is a book with 13 chapters, three of which are directly connected to mastering film scanning, the rest is padding. The front end of the book rambles about the basics of photography and the back end is about using image enhancement software like Photoshop. And this in a book the publisher calls "The Photographer's and Artist's Guide to High-Quality Digital Scanning." If it's aimed at photographers and artists, why all the copy devoted to basics? Chapter 7 is devoted to sending your film to someone else to do the scanning. A whole chapter telling you how to send your film out to a lab in a book titled "Mastering Digital Scanning with Slides, Film and Transparencies"? There is even a chapter on how to copy slides without a scanner, not what you'd expect in a high priced [$39.99USD]book allegedly about mastering scanning film. The book contains a lot of interesting information and the author obviously knows the subject, but there's an awful lot of filler between the covers. This book should be half the size and half the price.

I looked all over for a book about scanning slides and was very glad to find this one. It had all the info I needed and was very easy to understand. This book is good for beginners and intermediate readers, because it contains both good introductory material as well as more advanced tips and tricks to help you get the best quality scans from your film.

I liked the software recommendations and description of how film scanning works. I was able to get better results scanning slides with both my Nikon film scanner and Epson flatbed scanner after I read this book. Thanks for a great book.

There is plenty of good information in this book, but none of it was particularly helpful to me.

I agree with the reviewer who said that "there is nothing here for someone seeking information about making scans from difficult transparencies". I've been scanning film off and on for several years. I was expecting/hoping for much more information of that kind of when I bought the book.

Anyone interested in this subject should spend some time looking through this book in a bookstore rather than just buying it online and hoping for the best, to see if it really meets your expectations or needs.

Wow! Finally a whole book devoted just to scanning film. Everybody knows that scanning slides and negatives is more demanding than scanning prints, so a guide to this variety of scanning has been sorely needed. This book has several strengths. First, it covers scanning film with both dedicated film scanners and flatbed scanners, so those of us who can't afford a more expensive slide scanner can learn how to make the most of their present equipment. Second, it provides lots of information on optimizing scans, working with difficult originals, and correcting scans. It's also in full color, so you can see exactly the effects the author is talking about.

I especially liked the software discussion. I learned about programs like SilverFast and VueScan why I might want each one. Based on the author's recommendation, I went with VueScan, because it costs only $79 and works with my Minolta DualScan III film scanner. I was sick of finding only a few pages on scanning film in most of the digital photography or scanning books I bought, so this meaty book proved to be very satisfying.

Thanks for finally giving us a book about scanning film. It's been long overdue.