I have over 3000 slides that I would like to archive to use in various formats in the future. I have an HP CD burner and am in the market for a scanner. My next question is what is the best way to save the raw info? What file type should I use and do my options depend on the software of the scanner? Or the software of the imaging editor. I have PhotoShop 5.0 but I haven't experimented enough to know the right direction. Thanks Robb

-- Robb Russell (rnkrussell@hotmail.com), April 19, 2000

Answers

Save your raw scans in TIFF format...a very common format and preserves all the quality that will be present in your scans. I don`t have a film scanner, but I am sure that they should all support this format. CD`s are cheap and getting cheaper all the time, so don`t try to skimp on space by using any compressed file formats. If you want JPEGs or GIF`s then make separate files from your original scans and you will always have those for a reference. Photoshop is an excellent program and will support many formats, including those I have mentioned.

-- Bob T. (bternes@ix.netcom.com), April 20, 2000.

To save re-scanning in the future, save your TIFFs at 48bit colour depth. I'm assuming here that your scanner supports 36bit depth and allows you to get files out of it at that depth as well. In the past I've reduced the bit depth to 24 on some of my scans before saving them, and regretted it later when I changed my mind about the image. The file sizes are big, at 55megabytes uncompressed, but both disk space and CDs are cheap these days. You can always save a bit of space by using a non-lossy compression like LZW. Good Luck, 3000 slides should keep you busy for a while.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), April 20, 2000.

look into the LS-2000 nikon coolscan... if you cannot afford it, buy it, then sell it after you're done. reason? the ls-2000 has digital ice which removes spots and scratches... but best of all... the ability to batch scan a stack of slides....

-- Keat Lim (keatlim@my-deja.com), April 21, 2000.