Re: filmscanners: Scanning negatives for archiving

[Arthur Entlich <artistic@ampsc.com>]

Khalid 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?

The highest optical, in your case 2700 dpi.  For archiving, you want the 
best you can get.


> 2-    What file Format should I use to save?

TIFF or any other you think you will be able to read years from now, 
which is lossless.  That precludes JPEG.

> 3-    Any ideas on how to create a database like index to help search 
> the archived negatives.

Not offhand.

> 4-    Is CD-R a good medium to archive on?
> 

Well, know that all media deteriorate in some manner, over time, and all 
are superseded by others over time.  The big advantages of CD-R are:  It 
is pretty much universal now, and will probably therefore take longer to 
fall into obscurity, it is a non-magnetic medium, so if kept cool, dry, 
out of the light (CD-R use dyes which are light sensitive) aren't played 
very often (and you buy quality CD-R blanks known for longevity) and you 
double archive using two different brands, it should remain relatively 
readable for years to come. Further, its very cheap, stores quite a lot, 
takes up little space, and the burners are cheap now.

Regarding a burner... I strongly recommend you buy a IDE interfaced name 
brand (like Plextor) which has burnproofing, and/or a SCSI interfaced 
one, to allow for multi-tasking during writing.

Art


> 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