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From: Shalori <>
Subject: [LAORLEAN-L] News Article on How To Sac and E-Mail Old Photos
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 13:43:01 -0700

How To Scan and E-Mail Old Photos
By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer
May 10, 2000

Q: How do I best scan old photographs and slides, so that I can put them on
my Web site? I thought about getting a digital camera, but that won't help
me with pictures I've already shot.

A: An often overlooked way to take home photography into the digital world
is the kind of scanner that scans straight from negatives and slides,
allowing you to embarrass your grown offspring by e-mailing them their baby
pictures even if you can't find the prints.

These desktop film scanners, originally made for graphics and photography
professionals, have come down in price and are now as easy to use as the
more common flatbed scanners, which are made for scanning printed pages and
developed photographs.

Some flatbed scanners come with features or attachments that allow you to
scan slides, but the image quality hardly compares with that of a true film
scanner. Indeed, film scanners trump both flatbed scanners and digital
cameras when it comes to image quality.

Hewlett-Packard's Photosmart S20 film scanner produces good images and is
easy to use. At a street price of about $450, it is more expensive than a
consumer flatbed, but cheaper than a good digital camera. Unlike other film
scanners, it actually allows you to scan printed photographs as well, as
long as they are 5 by 7 inches or smaller.

Minolta's Dimage Scan Dual costs slightly less and gives comparable images,
but it can't scan prints, and if you have a PC, you need to install a
special card in the computer to communicate with the scanner.

While they cost more than flatbeds, film scanners let you save on film
processing. Just have the film developed without prints, which most
photofinishers will do for about $4 in an hour, and then scan from the
negatives.

If you want prints of some pictures, get with a color inkjet printer, like
Epson's Stylus Photo 750, and you have your own digital darkroom.

With a digital camera, of course, you don't even have to pay or wait for
film processing. But a digital camera stores a limited number of images, and
if you are on a trip without access to your computer, you may find the
camera filling up with must-save pictures. Carrying extra memory cards is an
option, but an expensive one: a memory card that stores 72 high-resolution
images costs $190.

If you have a film scanner, you can shoot pictures on regular film, then
scan them when you come home.

But if that's a dusty home, watch out. A tiny speck of dust on a negative
can become a pretty big blot when magnified by the scanner. You don't need
to clean house to use a film scanner, though - just get a can of compressed
air to dust of the film.

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• [LAORLEAN-L] News Article on How To Sac and E-Mail Old Photos by Shalori <>