Scanning slides and negatives

This chapter covers scanning film — slides (positives), color negatives, and black-and-white negatives — on both dedicated film scanners and flatbeds with a transparency unit.

Pick the right Media setting first

Before anything else, set Input | Media to match your film:

• Slide film — mounted slides and unmounted positive transparencies.
• Color negative — most consumer film (Kodak Gold, Fuji Superia, etc.). VueScan inverts the negative and removes the orange mask automatically.
• B/W negative — black-and-white film. Note that infrared dust removal does not work on traditional silver-halide B/W film.
• Image — for unusual cases (slide duplicates, B/W reversal film) where you want VueScan to skip negative inversion.

Batch scanning a strip of negatives

Most film scanners hold a 4- or 6-frame strip. To scan all frames in one go:

• Set Input | Batch scan to All.
• Use Crop | Auto offset or set Input | Frame offset and Input | Frame spacing so VueScan knows where each frame begins.
• Press Scan once and walk away.

Working with old or faded film

For slides that have shifted color over decades, see How to restore faded slides. For uneven exposure across a roll, see How and why to lock exposure.

Recommended DPI

• 35mm: 2400–4000 dpi.
• Medium format (120): 2000–3200 dpi.
• Large format (4×5 and up): 1200–2400 dpi.

Higher DPI captures more detail but produces much larger files and slower scans. See Choosing the right resolution for the math.