Scanning Negatives and Slides: Digitizing Your Photographic Archives (Paperback)

by Sascha Steinhoff (Author)
Key Phrases: analog gain, tool palette, monitor calibration, Nikon Scan, Nikon Capture, Nikon Coolscan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A large number of contemporary photographers have either moved into digital photography exclusively or use both analog and digital media in their work. In either case, there is most likely an archive of slides and negatives which cannot be directly integrated into the new digital workflow, nor can it be archived in a digital format. More and more, photographers are trying to bridge this gap using high-performance film scanners.

How to achieve the best possible digital image from a negative or slide, and how to build a workflow to make this process efficient, repeatable, and reliable, is the subject of this book. The author uses Nikon's filmscanners throughout, but all steps can easily be followed using a different scanner. The most common software tools for scanning (SilverFast, VueScan, NikonScan) are not only covered extensively in the book, but are also provided on a CD along with other useful tools for image editing, as well as numerous sample scans.

About the Author
Sascha Steinhoff, a computer expert by training and a photographer by passion, used two lonely years in Ireland to become an expert in film scanning. Sascha is now back in Germany and has joined one of the leading technical magazines as an editor.

Product Details

• Paperback: 249 pages
• Publisher: Rocky Nook; 1 Pap/Dvdr edition (February 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933952016
• ISBN-13: 978-1933952017
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #347,257 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you want some introduction to scanning, buy it. If you want to improve your scanning, search elsewhere, November 10, 2007

By	NG S. T. Nevin (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm an amateur photographer who is learning how to scan film. When I see this book I'm very excited and expect it can improve my skill in getting a better output. To be frank I'm totally disappointed when I read the book. The book gives you a very good introduction about scanners, basic scanning principle and terminology, and popular scanning software like Nikon Scan, Vuescan and Silverfast........and it ends here.

If you expect it teaches you how to tweak options in these software? Look elsewhere. If you expect it teaches you how to extract every details from a film using a particular software? Look elsewhere. If you expect it teaches you how to handle a problematic film? Look elsewhere. If you expect it teaches you varies in-depth workflows in scanning film? Look elsewhere.

Even the pictures in the book are bad. e.g. How you can illustrate the sharpness effect of a curl film in scanning if your picture is not sharp in the first place?

Bottom line: If you know nothing about scanning, this maybe a good book for you to get "just" started. If you've been using your scanner already, skip this book and use the money to buy more film.

81 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction to scanning, March 26, 2007

By	Rakesh Malik (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a well written book that will guide someone new to scanning slides and negatives through the learning process. The author uses plain English and a lot of good examples to show how to optimize your scan settings in NikonScan, VueScan, and SilverFast. If you're interested in learning to scan negatives and slides, this book will help you learn what you need to know to choose a film scanner and how to use it.

There are probably other books out there that are more detailed than this one, but as far as introducing you to the world of scanning and getting you started on learning how to maximize your scans, this is a great book.

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expertise, experienced and articulate, August 12, 2007

By	J. CRAWFORD (Tucker, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This knowlegdgable and articulate assessment of scanning, hardware and software is very targeted for the serious hobbists, diys as well as professional. I found numerous excerpts that matched perfectly with my semi-professional (small and local photo conversion business) level of experience, which added much credibility to the rest of the book. Especially strong, detailed and valuable information was presented on the Nikon Coolscan 5000, which is our scanner. This is the best of my scanner books and it gives us a few more accurate and helpful options in pulling out the best images from our scans. The printed photographs themselves were in such high detail that they clearly illustrated what the author was writing about. These photos coupled with the articulate text make this book a technical show and tell of scanning. I highly recommend this book as a valuable resource to my fellow photo scanners.

Jim Crawford
TuckerPhotoConversions