Fun and Games with Scanners

The old Hicks House in snow, winter, 1988.

Scanning is the art/science of converting slides and negatives into digital files so they can be edited in a computer, printed by a digital printer, posted online, etc. At least half the pictures you've seen on this blog were originally shot on film and scanned for posting online. That includes, for instance, all the Rock City barn photos and all my foreign photojournalism except El Salvador.

I was a film photographer for 35 years. I've only been working with digital cameras for 20. When sixty percent of your  photographic history is written on slides and negatives, you can either learn to scan, find someone to do it for you, or kiss that history goodbye.

I have two scanners: one is a Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400, which makes extremely high quality scans from 35mm slides and negatives. In fact, I have two 24x36-inch prints from scans made with the DiMage hanging on the walls of my house.

The other scanner is an Epson Perfection 4990 flatbed, similar to the scanner on your printer, but capable of scans of much higher quality. I use it for scanning transparencies and negatives larger than 35mm, and also for scanning prints. The picture of the old Hicks House at the top of this post was scanned today, with the Epson, from a 2-1/4x2-3/4-inch transparency that I found recently while going through some file folders I had packed away when we moved from the farm.

The old house was on our property when we bought it. Apparently it had been built around 1850. We gave brief consideration to restoring it, but decided it was not really what we wanted and the cost could be nearly as much as building a new house.

The picture was made in 1988, during our first winter at the farm, with a Pentax 6x7, the 105mm f2.4 Takumar lens, and Kodak Ektachrome film.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     scanning     Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner     Epson Perfection 4990 Photo scanner     film photography     film cameras     Pentax 6x7     Takuman 105mm lens     Kodak Ektachrome film     McLemore Cove