LaserSoft Imaging

Hello-

Well, I thought it would be nice to digitze the thousands of family slides to give out as Christmas presents. I got a decent start on the scans but really am a novice at working with pictures. I think I did OK at scanning the slides using a Plustek 7200i slide scanner and the SilverFast software.

But, I am at a loss as to the best way to now convert these to CD's or DVD's.

My first problem is that I think I scanned everything to big (each picture is 50 MB or so making it so I can only fit 14 slides on a CD. What would be an optimum size to convert a slide to a picture that would be clear on a TV or computer monitor? As a follow up-would there be an easy way to convert the 2-300 slides that I have already scanned to this smaller size?

Secondly, I thought I might use the Microsoft Media Center Software to create DVD's or CD's but this software does not seem to recognize the format that Silverfast saves in. Is there a way to overcome this obstacle?

Just hoping that someone with more experience than I could lend a hand.

Thanks,

Randy

COnvert to SRGB workspace, and save them as 640x480 jpgs, medium to high quality . Leave your originals alone as archive. If someone has a LCD panel as a TV 1024x768 may look better. Most any slideshow program will read them in then.

Sorry for being such a newbie.

Thanks for the reply but I'm still not sure what to do.

Is there an easy way or program to use to decrease the size of the images I already scanned? I only seem to be able to open them with the microsoft office document imaging and there doesn't seem to be a way to edit from there.

Additionally, for future scans with teh Silver Fast Plus software, is there a suggested Q-factor and Screen setting. I don't see how to set it at a certain level as was suggested.

Thanks again,

Randy

Try opening them with the included NewSoft Presto! ImageFolio 4.5 software, rescale and save as jpg.

Thanks!!!!!

That definitely helped!

I guess there is no easy way to transform a few hundred files at once-gotta do each one individually?

Thanks again,

Randy

not without $$ or a teenager for $ ;-))

Well-

I finally completed the task of resizing the images and they came out great. Thanks for all the help.

Now, for the rest of the slides...is there a way to scan the images to the size I want (say 1024x768 which seems to work perfectly) and save as JPEG images to avoid the future step of resizing every image? When I resized the images, they ended up being in the neighborhood of 220 KB in size.

In Silverfast, is there a way to scan a 220 KB image at 1024x768? I just can't seem to figure out how to do this by adjusting the dpi and Q-factor, etc. Or, do I simply scan and resize as before?

Any help is appreciated as usual :)

Thanks,

Randy

See if Imagefolio has a batch processing mode or actions recorder to allow you to convert all the scans at one time.

Don't worry about Q factor. Just set the dpi in the frame size ( 1.25 x 1 inch about) to give you 1024x768 pixels. Unfortunately, 1024x768 is not at the same ratio as 1.25x1 (slide size) but you might be able to work it by changing the scan frame size (image crop). Otherwise, you will need another program to do the downsample in a batch mode.

Generally, you get better image quality doing the rescaling after the scan. Most people scan at the native optical resolution of the scanner ( or an even divisor of the OR - eg 4000 or 2000 or 1000 ppi and then downsample to whatever size they want. That scanner probably is able to resolve around 2000 to 3000 real ppi so 2000 ppi would be a good starting point. Best way is to do the two scans and convert to the resolution you want and see if you can see the difference. Go with whichever way works for you.

Dear Randy,

in the SilverFast dialog you will be prompted with the true image size, which is for your 1024x768 pixels about 2.4 Mbyte.
When scanning you may choose Jpeg as output format and choose the compression such that your 220kb result.

Best regards
Martin