If you are a graphic artist that has to archive your slides in your portfolio or just someone that has a number of slides which you want to preserve, by using a flatbed scanner you can digitize them quickly and extend their life. It's also nice to be able to have your slides available quickly so that you will be able to be quick about reproduction, printing or emailing your images as you so desire. It definitely is cheaper to scan your own slides then by sending them out to a lab to do this work for you. You will find that the process is not that difficult once you get the hang of it.
What you will need to do first it open your photo editing program and locate your flatbed scanner. You can do so by going under file menu of the editing program. You will then select the name of your scanner and you will then see a screen pop up that will open your flatbed scanners tool interface.
You then will need to line up your slide that will be scanned in the scanning device according to the flatbed scanner that you have purchased. More then likely your scanner will come with a removable piece that is just for scanning slides and or negatives.
The next step is to slide whichever item you are scanning into the film guide. It should have numbers on the piece to assist you in the placement of your slide. Some flatbed scanners will come with a special film adapter unit, if so make sure to place it over the slide, and then secure the scanner lid.
Now what you will need to do is to go back to the scanning window and decide which will be the correct film type in order to obtain the right sort of scan. You will also be looking for a location that you will choose to select source. Then choose the color positive film if you slide is color or keep it in black and white if the slide is in black and white.
Now find the area where you can choose your color mode. Choose to scan the slide in either color or grayscale for whatever your needs are.
Make sure to check the output resolution because if you need to make prints from the scanned slides you will want to make sure you have a higher resolution like 300 dpi or more. If the slide is going on a website make sure the resolution is at least 72 dpi.
If applicable you need to select the number your slide will be located on your removable device. Then all you need to do is select the preview to see what your result will be. And make sure your slide is in the correct place because sometimes you need to straighten it a bit with your film guide.
All you do next is click on the scan and when your scan is complete save the image to where you want it to go but only after making sure you do not need to make any additional adjustments. That is all that is to scanning a slide!