Jake said:
I want to scan about 300 slides to make a slide show. I was told that a
film scanner will give the best results. But since I will not print any
pictures do i need that good a scanner. Can anyone recommend a scanner and
at what resolution to scan.
A slide show how?
TV screen or a Digital Projector.
How much resolution to scan is dependant upon the display method.
If you are going to use a Digital Projector, then you need to know what the
display resolution of the projector is.
I which case you scan the slide at whatever dpi that results in the image
dimensions of the projector. A common resolution for a Digital Projector is
1024 x 768 pixels. Some are 800 x 600. (The cheap ones).
The size of a 35 mm slide is 36 x 24 mm or 1.417 x 0.945 inches. The dpi
required for 768 pixels is 813 dpi with a crop of the horizontal direction.
The aspect ratio of slides and the projector do not match, so there will be
either black bars top and bottom or a crop of the sides of the image. 35 mm
slides have an aspect ratio of 1.5:1. The display aspect ratio is 4:3.
I think a film scanner is a better tool because film scanners have the
software that will scan a slide at the correct resolution for screens. (1024
x 768)
Film scanners are easier to use, in my opinion. Flatbed scanners also have
enough resolution for your purpose.
For a low cost film scanner, the Minolta Dimage Scan Dual IV is hard to
beat. The only draw back, it does not have Digital ICE, which is a problem,
if the slides are scratched and dirty.
