D. Webb, Botany Dept.Univ. of Hawaii
Get Set to have some real FUN!!!
I will only touch the surface of what can be done with this device. It should be enough to get you started. If you need to consult the manual for this machine, contact Dr. Carr. We will try to get a copy made for the work bench in 402.
I will install this tutorial on our departmental web site so that it can be viewed over the Internet. Look for this on my Home Page.
This machine is designed to work with Photographic Slides, Color & BW Negatives & Small Prints.
The largest print size is 5 x 7 inches
Photo Insertion Slot - Photo Type Button & Photo Stop Eject Button
The scanner is designed to be "on line" when the computer is "booted up"
The small lighted panel just below the Insertion Slot indicates the type of media that is selected. (See Above)
If it isn't in the correct position for your image type press the bar until the light is in the correct place.
Gently insert the slide into the Insertion Slot so that the Narrow edge of the film is placed inside. (See Above)
If you can tell which side of the film is dull, place that side of the slide facing down. This may be hard to determine with Ektachrome film. I always put the labeled side down.
The slide should go into the slot without any difficulty.
If it is hard to insert, the slide may need to be trimmed or remounted in a new holder. This can be a problem with older slides mounted in paper.
Plastic mounts should pose no difficulty unless they are thick.
If you have slides mounted in thick plastic you should remount them in thinner frames. I (DTW) have a supply of these.
As you insert the slide you will notice that a light comes on inside the slot.
The inserted end of the slide will meet resistance.
Stop pushing and hold it in place.
It should then be drawn inside by the scanner.
If your slide is not captured by the scanner, remove it completely and start again
You will hear the motor engage and the slide will be swallowed. A loud gulping sound is a sign of approval by the gods of scanning.
After your slide has entered the scanner two things may happen.
1] You may see the opening screen (below) which prompts you to click a line of text near the base to start scanning.
Clicking the white text will
bring you to the image editing page.
OR
2] You will find yourself on the image editing page.
Note the contents of the image editing page below.
We will go through these one at a time.
Click on this to see the following menu.
Cropping allows you
to exclude undesirable
areas of
your image. It can also be used to magnify areas if you have
an excellent slide.
It also sets the size of the scanned image.
When you click the Crop Button a Crop Box appears over your image.
If you place the cursor inside the crop box it will turn into a 4-sided arrow.
If you hold down the left mouse button you can move the box over your image without affecting its size.
If you place the cursor over the edge lines of the crop box you will see a 2-headed arrow.
If you hold down the left mouse button you can move the boundary to either shrink or expand the area covered by the box.
It is always a good idea to look at your image with the crop command before scanning it.The default setting does NOT show you all of the scanned image.
You may think that
the scanner has deleted areas on the edges of your slide. However, they may be there but
they don't show up until you look with CROP!
Furthermore, these may get lost because the program will crop the image automatically if you move on.
You can reset your crop to the original dimensions so long as you haven't moved on to another task, by clicking the Reset button near the top of the control panel.
You can select standard sizes and appropriate resolutions for your scans by clicking the Size & Resolution Button.
Size & Resolution Button.
Sept, 2002: This is my current modus
operendi with
I routinely scan
Slides at 2400 dpi. |
Rationale: JPG compression is
"loosey" because a sample of the image is
taken and stored so that the image can be reconstituted from the sample. Thus, data is
lost in this process. Data is lost each time the image is "JPEGED". TIF & BMP images contain all of the image data. Consequently, they can be saved many times without losing data. However, they are too large to send over the Internet. |
You can CHOOSE Monitor or Web
if that is the destination for the image.Select XVGA (pix = pixel) -> Click OK!!!
You can scan the image again to make a nest of image sizes which can include a Web Thumbnail ( 100 x 150 pix). This can also be done with an Image Editor like PhotoShop.
These values can help you decide an appropriate size-range for your pictures.
You can crop free-style by manually changing the Crop Box dimensions.
Furthermore, you will be able to crop these later with an Image Editor.
It is a good strategy to make the largest scan practically possible.
This can be an archival image.
These can be stored on a CD!
It can be resized to almost any smaller size with an image editing program.
| Image Scanned at 100 X 150 Pixels |
 |
| Image Scanned at 200 X 300 |
|
In order to use Images in a Webpage, they need to be compressed.
JPEG is the web standard for compressing photographs.
GIF is the standard for line art and drawings.
The 200 X 300 image above had a file size of 170 kb. This was reduced to 20 kb after compression with a JPEG setting of 10. The maximum compression is 100.
JPEG compression removes data (loosey compression).
Thus, you need to be careful in how much compression you choose.
I routinely use the lowest possible compression.
It is not a good idea to compress a file more than ONCE as data is lost each time.
I use JPEG compression (*.jpg) for all images.
I have noticed that letters and lines can suffer somewhat with JPEG compression.
You should edit image files as *.tif or *.bmp.
I generally scan slides as *.tif or *.bmp.
I use an image editor like PhotoShop to create images of different sizes and save these with MINIMAL COMPRESSION (Maximal Quality).
If you are scanning Graphs and Line Art, GIF is may be better than JPEG.
Experiment on your own!!!!!!
There is another protocol on the horizon. It is called FlashPix. This makes several images of different resolutions at once, thus saving you some effort.
Click the Exposure Button. 
There are 3 sliding-bar controllers for adjusting the exposure.
The First to use is called Midtones.
By changing the Midtones you affect brightness of the overall image.
Changes are gradual.
The next is called Highlights.
This adjusts only the brightest shades of the image.
Caution!! Only small adjustments should be made unless the image is extremely poor. I have scanned some images in which all 3 of the controllers were completely minimized & still got Good Results. Light, overexposed, images can be saved with this scanner. Dark images are harder to scan successfully. Remember you can improve the scanned image further with an Image Editor. This can literally turn a sow's ear into a golden fleece. Well almost!!!
The Shadows adjustment only affects the darkest shades
of the image. It is not as sensitive as the Highlights but should not require a tremendous amount of adjustment.There is a Reset Button at the top of the tool panel. This will negate all of the changes you have made.When you are satisfied with Exposure, go to Color!
Color
Look at the circular color wheel. There should
be a small black circle
at its center. This is the default position for
your scan.
You can adjust the color hue in two ways.
1] Click the mouse anywhere on the circle and watch the colors change.
2] Click on the darts placed around the circumference of the wheel. One click will move the cursor a tad and the color will change by small increments.
General Advice - If the Image is too Red click the opposite, Light Blue, Dart.
The same (click its opposite) applies to the other colors.
Color Saturation
This can be adjusted with the lowermost slider. Its default is in the middle.
If you slide all the way to the Left you will get a gray-scale B&W image.
If you go all the way to the right you may get carnival colors. Don't overdue it!!!!!!!
It really depends a lot on how color-saturated your slide is. With washed out slides maximal adjustment can be OK.
You can reset your adjustments by clicking on the dot in the center of the color wheel.
Now that you have created a Salvador Dali
special. I bet Dali would have vaulted over the Washington Monument if he had had
access to computer graphics. Who knows perhaps he is in charge of sunsets.
At last my picture is going somewhere safe!!!
Your Image can be sent to a File.
This can be a Floppy Disk, a ZIP disk or the Hard Drive.
It can be sent to an Image Editing Program that is open on your computer.
You will use Adobe Deluxe or Adobe PhotoShop LE which are simple but powerful programs. The full version of Adobe PhotoShop is installed in the Micron Computer in 402.
I have dazzling web productions on how to use Adobe PhotoDeluxe & Adobe PhotoShop LE.
Place the Slide into the Insertion Slot!
Rotate the Image!
Crop the Image!
Adjust the Exposure!
Adjust Color!
Send to File!
WOW that was Great!!!!! Self-Praise is a Must & it is cheap.
Scanning Color Prints
Color slide film gives more detailed results compared to print film. Slides have been the preferred medium for seminars and teaching. Consequently, most of us gravitate in this direction when we think of documenting our work.
HOWEVER, slide film is often an all or nothing medium, especially if you are using a flash.
Furthermore, the most sensitive slide film is around 400 ASA. It is possible to push process slide film to 800 and possibly 1200-1600.
However, it can be hard to keep track of which roll you want to push etc. It is also costly and a little uncertain.
Print film on the other hand is much more forgiving in terms of exposure!!!.
I had a student over-expose and underexpose photos of a subject with print film to see what would happen.
I was amazed to see that each print was virtually identical!!!!!
The little gray cells whispered - Kodak is smart - it uses an exposure meter for each frame & this adjusts the exposure for each frame depending on the density of the negative. You get a good print every time unless you are taking a flash photo and the flash doesn't go off.
Print film comes with ISO ratings up to 1600 and possibly higher. The higher ISO settings produce a grainy image but this may be OK for certain field applications.
I have done only a few test runs but I think that print film may be the field biologists best friend, especially if she/he has access to a good scanner.
You now have that access!!!!!!! Thank you Drill Sergeant!!!!
Scanning prints is just the same as scanning slides.
Press the Right side of the Photo Type button on the front of the machine to select for prints.
The motor should come on and the slit should widen to allow for print insertion.
Insert the Print with the Image Facing UP!
The inner light will be visible (not that inner light!! you need a Ph. D. to see that!!!) & the
Opening Screen will appear.Click on the Opening Message to initiate the Scan.
The prescan operation will begin, the print will be taken into the scanner and you will get a screen that looks like this
All
Right!!!!! You know what to do now in terms of the
various scanner controls!
I was truly amazed at the quality of the results.
The scanned images looked much better than the prints I started with.
These instructions apply to 35 mm Color & Black and White Negatives. Negatives of other sizes like 120 will need to be placed in a carrier sleeve to avoid fouling the scanner.
If you are unsure of this, don't be shy, ask!
Procedure
Press the Center of the Photo Type button to select for Negatives.
If you examine a negative strip carefully you will see that there is a shiny and a dull side.
The dull side is known as the Emulsion Side.
Place the Emulsion Side facing down. You will get better results this way.
The scanner will only scan the first 4-5 frames of a strip.
Hold the film strip by its edges & insert it into the slot.
Getting the Negatives inserted correctly is a bit of a problem. I had to struggle with this! Its a bit like trying to put a dollar bill into a vending machine!!
It might be a good idea to wear nylon gloves so that the negative doesn't get fingerprints on it. I will station a pair on the wall above the scanner.
You need to insert the strip so that it is angled up & as flat as possible inside the slit.
Once the scanner grabs the negatives you will see the following screen which has some New Control Buttons.
To choose Color vs Black and White Click the Color-B&W button.
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To Select a Frame, click it with the mouse. A white rectangle shows which frame is selected.
If the automatic placement of the frame is off center, click the Adjust Frames button.
It will bring up the following screen which will let you manually select and move the framed area by Dragging with the Mouse.
This can be a problem with dark negatives.
To Rotate the negatives 180
degrees click the double-headed arrow on the cassette.
To rewind the Negative Strip into the cassette, click the sprocket on the bottom of the Film Cassette. (Film Cassette Button)
The Film Strip impinges on the large preview image if the latter is Vertical.
To see the preview image at maximal size, click the Film Cassette Button.
Voila!!!! -->>Impressive!
A comparison of images scanned from a negative and a print is displayed below. I have not done enough comparisons to give a definitive answer as to which is best. However, the good news is that both are very good.
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| Scanned from Color Negative | Scanned from Print |
The differences in color between the above could be corrected through image processing (I think). I wanted to get this to you ASAP so I didn't take enough time to do extensive comparisons. However, I think you can see that both the color negative and the print can be used.
Theoretically the Negative should give better results in terms of detail. However, the print was very good as well
Congratulations!!!!! You have survived a torrent of bad jokes
