Photo Negative / Photo Slide Scanner

Photo Negative / Photo Slide Scanner

This guide is a step-by-step tutorial for how to use the Photo Negative / Photo Slide Scanner in the Freedman Center Technology Lab. 

How to Use This Guide

• This home page has an image of the equipment, an overview of what materials it can digitize, and links to the operating manual.
• Need to work quickly? The quick guide will help you do a short project
• Does quality matter for your project? Work through the step-by-step tutorial
• Frequently asked questions aid in troubleshooting and common concerns with this scanner

Need Help? Guides support self-service equipment use. If you need additional help, you can:

• Come by the lab during staffed hours
• Chat with us
• Book a consultation
• Email FreedmanCenter@case.edu

If something is not working as expected, report the problem to Freedman Center staff.

 Equipment Overview 

The Photo Negative / Photo Slide Scanner captures the highest resolution or PPI (Pixels per Inch) for negatives and photo slides. In App-Functions allow for photo editing before the first scans are made. 

Alternatives: The Flatbed scanner scans high-quality flat images, and scanning time is dependent on resolution settings chosen. 

User Manual: PlusTek OpticFilm 8200i (Scanner), SilverFast 9 (Computer Software)

Tips for handling photographic materials

Any type of photo material should be handled with clean dry hands away from liquids or food. Nitrile (not cotton!) gloves are best to keep your photos fingerprint free (bring your own); soft bristled brushes can be used to gently remove dust and lint.

 What can this scanner digitize?

35mm Strip Film are flat, transparent strips of multiple photographic images, most of the time they are negatives and usually cut into strips of 6 frames. On negatives, both color and tone are inverted so light areas appear darker, and dark areas appear lighter. Color (top) and Black & White (bottom) negatives are shown.

35mm Slides are single, transparent photographic pieces of film encased in a paper or plastic housing (sometimes with glass). They are almost always positive and in color. 

 This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. You are free to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) this material under the following terms:

• You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
• You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
• If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.