Has anyone scanned negatives?

[SunnyAB]

I just got a new scanner and it has the option to scan negatives and slides. Has anyone done this? Can you print from these scanned images? or is it just for copy/backup purposes that you scan them??

[WebLady]

If you scan a clean, sharp and large enough image you can certainly print from the file.

When I was a photographer I shot with film and had the negs scanned all the time. I would do enhancements in Photoshop and have them printed from the digital files.

[SunnyAB]

Thanks WebLady! I am usually a bit more 'up' on techno-puter stuff - but this one must have zoomed right over my head! :D Now I can't figure out why I didnt get this sooner. (I just needed a new scanner and this one was on sale - so, done deal! I will have to experiment, but if I can pick your brain a bit? - what settings would you scan at? (say for printed pics at 4x6 vs 5x7 vs 8x10)?

[WebLady]

Thanks WebLady! I am usually a bit more 'up' on techno-puter stuff - but this one must have zoomed right over my head! :D Now I can't figure out why I didnt get this sooner. (I just needed a new scanner and this one was on sale - so, done deal! I will have to experiment, but if I can pick your brain a bit? - what settings would you scan at? (say for printed pics at 4x6 vs 5x7 vs 8x10)?
I would scan at around 300dpi at least and set the document size for the size you want it to print. For 8x10 or larger you may want to scan a bit higher, just play with it and view in "print size" to get an ideal of how sharp the pixels are.

When you crop the image, be sure to leave enough room for framing or matting if that is what you are gonna do with the pic.

And save as a .tiff file, jpg are compressed and usually not as sharp. All in all remember that you won't be looking up close at a picture in an album or on the wall, so if it is not super sharp it will probably still be fine.

Hope that helps, good luck :)