Today’s Question: What settings do you recommend when having slides scanned such as with the ScanMyPhotos service you recommended in your recent video?
Tim’s Quick Answer: I recommend having your slides scanned at 4,000 pixel per inch resolution. If you want to maximize image quality I recommend saving the images as TIFF files. If you’re simply digitizing to preserve photo memories, then saving as JPEG is perfectly fine.
More Detail: When scanning slides or negatives, I recommend using the highest optical resolution available for the scanner. In the case of the ScanMyPhotos service (https://www.timgreyphoto.com/scan), that means 4,000 pixel per inch scanning. Note that for prints I typically scan at 600 dpi, because prints don’t contain as much information as film images.
As noted in the video I recently shared, in my case the slides I was having scanned date back to my early days in photography, and so they don’t represent my best work. As such, I was perfectly happy to have the scanned images saved as JPEG files so they wouldn’t consume as much storage. However, if you anticipate printing the images or otherwise want to ensure maximum quality, I recommend saving the images as TIFF files.
If you missed my video about digitizing your analog photos, you can find it on my “Tim Grey TV” channel on YouTube here:
