.
Khalid: I don't use a Nikon, I have a Minolta Elite, but the processes are the
same...
1. Use the highest resolution of your scanner to make your original scan (that
is the scan res, make the output res higher than the largest size print you plan
to make ). Example: my minolta has scan resolutions of 2780, 1440, etc. that is
the res that the scanner will make the actual scan... I will then choose an
output res of 300 dpi, which will give me an approx. 13"x9" print size. This is
all at the pre scan stage... I also use at least a 2pass multi-scan... depends
on the image...I TWAIN import this into PShop as a 16 bit raw scan... so it
shows up in PShop as a neg (I am talking color neg ) where I then Invert
(Image>Adjust>Invert), after which I adjust Levels (I don't use AutoLevels, but
that is a question of personal preference)... I then do whatever contrast, and
other adjustments I can (saving my original neg file, 50 Mb, then my positive
image after Levels and contrast adjust) and then I do Image>Mode>8bit to convert
the 16 bit image to 8 bit for further tweaking with PShop's tools. I then save
that image. As you can see, this stuff chews up hard drive space fast... that's
why you need to offload it to CD.. Save all these files (your Master files) in
PhotoShop PSD format... these are the ones you will keep and use like negs...
2. If you plan to distribute photos for publication, they should be at least 200
dpi resolution (240 dpi is better, some clients prefer 300 dpi). The preferred
format for client distribution is TIFF, although I give my clients who know how
to use PShop the PSD files... JPEG is best for Web publishing, altho some print
publishers will use a 200 dpi high level JPEG.
3. There are several good image management programs... my personal choice is
Extensis Portfolio 5 Destop Edition, which you can download for a 30 day trial
from There are other that other folks on
this list like, such as ACDSee (?), Thumbsplus... One that is available in
Europe is Armadillo Photo, which is used by a lot of museums... their web site
is at .....
4.CD-R is the standard of the moment... DVD is on the horizon, and a lot of
folks still use JAZ and ZIP drives... The consensus of the CD experts seems to
be that Plextor makes the best CD writer, the best disks are the Kodak Gold
Optima... I use an HP writer, with the bundled software, and use Sony or Fuji
disks, but for archival stuff, I will use the Kodaks...My drive has a max write
speed of 10x, but I use it at 2x to ensure the quality of the write session....
I hope this answers your questions. I am sure you will get some other points of
view from the other folks on the list.
Feel free to contact me if you have other questions.
Michael Moore
www.arcportal.com
Javed wrote:
> I have recently bought a Nikon LS2000 for the purpose of scanning my old
> negatives and archiving them on CD's. Could anyone guide me on the
> following issues:
>
> 1- What resolution should I use for scanning?
> 2- What file Format should I use to save?
> 3- Any ideas on how to create a database like index to help search the
> archived negatives.
> 4- Is CD-R a good medium to archive on?
>
> Possibly this info is already available somewhere, in which case I would
> appreciate if you can point me to this information. Any Tips will be welcome
>
> Thanks
>
> Khalid Javed
