35mm negatives to CD/DVD???

[RTMiller]

Any help would be greatly appreciated. A friend of mine was recently married and the wedding photographer used film. He has several hundred printed pictures but he wants to know what his options are for preserving the film negatives. So i guess the questions are...

1. Can the negatives be scanned and put on CD/DVD?
2. If the negatives can be scanned to CD/DVD, can this digital negative be 'developed' into a printed picture in the future?
3. Better yet, is there a process where the film negatives could be transformed into TIF's or JPG's?

Hope this makes sense.

[SkipD]

A film scanner can be used to scan negatives and produce appropriate digital image files. I generally scan my stuff to either .TIF or .PSD (Photoshop files) - neither of which is compressed.

I would suggest they NOT be directly saved as .JPG, because each time you edit and save a .JPG the image details are degraded. However, you can make .JPG's from your original "digital negatives" for further use.

When I scan a 35mm slide or negative into a TIF at the maximum resolution of my scanner of 4000 DPI, the resulting file is about 131 megabytes. However, I have superb detail for anything that I want to do with the image. The detail is so good that I can see the original film's grain in the digital image. I use a Canon FS4000US scanner which is limited to 35mm or APS film and slides. If the film for the wedding was medium format (like 220 film), you'd need a different breed of scanner. The process is similar, though.

[RTMiller]

Thanks Skip. Help me understand this. If you scan a slide, you will have a positive image, right? When you scan the film negative, do you get a negative image on the CD/DVD, or is there a processing step in between?
Also, assuming that he is not going to purchase the scanner, where can he go to get this service and what might it cost (ballpark)?

[ssim]

Good scanners will detect the difference between a positive and a negative and make the necessary adjustments.

I have a Epson Perfection 3200 flatbed scanner with templates for doing film. It picks up whichever one I am doing.

[SkipD]

Thanks Skip. Help me understand this. If you scan a slide, you will have a positive image, right? When you scan the film negative, do you get a negative image on the CD/DVD, or is there a processing step in between?
Also, assuming that he is not going to purchase the scanner, where can he go to get this service and what might it cost (ballpark)?Like Sheldon said, film scanners will produce a positive image for either slides or negatives. You have to tell my scanner software what type of film you are using (B&W or color, negative or transparency), the resolution you want, etc.

I have no clue as to the cost for high-quality scans from commercial sources. I know the CD's that I have seen from Kodak (a couple of years ago, to be sure) had really low resolution digital images on them that were really lousy if you wanted to see any detail. You need to be really sure of what you'd be paying for when researching the market. I'd recommend asking for scans in the range of 4000DPI or so if you want really quality images.

[RTMiller]

Thanks guys for the very helpful replies. That was educational and I really appreciate your help. If anyone else can recommend a company who provides this type of service, I would be interested in hearing from you. Thanks again.

[PhotosGuy]

A pro lab & some camera stores will do it. Any near you?

[peterdoomen]

I would not use CD as a medium to hold anything longer than let's say 2 years. DEfinitely choose DVD and lookout for a label that says "35 years" or "100 years" or any other big number guaranteed. Always store your files twice. It's even better to store them to hard disks.

P.