Scan photo negatives

It may seem a while ago that (amateur) photographers mainly worked with film rolls. They had them developed into negatives at a photo shop or at the local drugstore. Usually they were then printed right away. You can still do that, but the vast majority of people now use a digital camera. They store the photos digitally on the computer or on the internet with a storage service. Do you have any photo negatives and would you like to add them to the digital photo collection? Scan them and save a digital copy. Outsource the scanning of negatives or do it yourself.

It is wise to digitize analog films. After all, negatives are very fragile and it would be a shame if you lose precious memories. You can easily copy a digital photo to any PC, laptop, tablet and smartphone. In addition, you can also print a digital photo.

All kinds of companies scan negatives for a fee. Think of photo shops, specialized web shops or the Hema around the corner. A good company uses professional equipment for this. This ensures that the digital copies are of good quality. It is best to bring the negatives personally in a special folder. If you go into business with an online store, you send the negatives. That entails slightly more risks. Negatives are vulnerable and you depend on the postal company to what extent they arrive undamaged. After roughly one or two weeks you will receive the photo files on a USB stick, external hard drive, CD or DVD. Note which negative formats the company accepts (35mm and/or large). In addition to negatives, you may also outsource the digitization of slides.

Photo companies charge a fixed rate per negative scan. Bee Hema that costs, for example, 35 cents per photo. If you want a higher resolution, you pay a dime more. Hema charges a fixed price of at least fifty negatives. With a DVD or USB stick, that comes out to €32.50 or €37.50 for a higher resolution. (Price October 2021)

Some specialized online stores charge a rate of 25 cents per negative when you want to digitize more than a thousand analog photos, such as the company trigger. Incidentally, there is often a minimum number of negatives per assignment, for example fifty or a hundred. Furthermore, companies also charge an amount for transferring the photo files to a storage medium. Also note whether color correction, image errors and lighting are included in the price. This is usually the case at photo shops.

If you own a lot of photo negatives, then purchasing a (negative) scanner is worth considering. Perhaps that is ultimately cheaper than hiring a company. Place the negatives in a special holder and then pass them through the scanner. The scanner makes a digital copy of every negative. The device saves this digital copy as a photo file on a memory card, USB stick or connected computer. The cheapest negative scanners digitize the negatives one by one. That takes a lot of time. There are also expensive scanners of hundreds of euros that digitize several negatives at once. Be careful with the cheapest group of negative scanners. There are already products available from a few tens, but the quality is very disappointing. Usually you can also digitize (mounted) slides with a negative scanner.

On negative scanners you can choose settings. This can be done directly on the device or via supplied software on the computer. For example, indicate whether it is a black and white photo or a colored photo. Also set the number of dpi. This abbreviation stands for the number of dots per inch (2.54 centimeters). The higher this value, the more accurate the digital copy is usually. With photo editing software you can remove any imperfections afterwards. Think of dust, hairs and discolored photos. The better scanners automatically correct cosmetic flaws. You do not need to edit the photo yourself, if at all.