Technology has taken over virtually every aspect of what would otherwise be considered mundane tasks.
Quite often, this means that you have to change how you do things.
When it comes to photos, the emergence of digital technology has seen more and more people toward converting their photo slides into digital images.
This thus goes to explain the growth in the demand for slide scanning services.
Vintage analogue images that had been kept as slides can now be scanned and conveniently stored on a DVD or CD thereby safely preserving them.
35 mm slides carry two very important attributes: they often carry precious information and memories, and are also very delicate.
Since it would be very difficult if not impossible to reenact the same scene and have another photo take, it is of paramount importance that you carefully select the slide scanning services provider to use.
Stick with service providers of repute and that have a track record that attests to the care taken in the handling of the slides during scanning.
So what are the processes involved during slide scanning? First of all, the 35mm slide is set on a film carrier which is secured to the scanner.
Film carriers come in various sizes with some meant for one slide while others can hold multiple slides simultaneously.
It provides stability to the slides during scanning as well as allowing slides to be well aligned during the scanning.
The carriers are usually made from metal or plastic.
Each slide scanner also has a light source which could be a fluorescent bulb or an LED light.
Note that scanners that use fluorescent bulbs need to be warmed first before the scanning begins.
This because fluorescent bulbs take some time to move to optimum and steady brightness.
If scanning just after the fluorescent bulb is turned on, the quality of the scanned images will be poor due to the varying levels of light.
However, the warming up period for fluorescent bulbs can be reduced by fixing a cold-cathode lamp into the fluorescent.
The source of light is usually placed in an opposite direction from the sensor to ensure it reaches the slide.
Another important aspect of slide scanning equipment is the sensor which could be considered the engine of the entire process.
The sensor is the part responsible for the critical process of converting the light that passes through it to a digital format.
The film carrier is connected to an electrical stepping motor which enables it to move the slide over the sensor assembly and light source at a constant pace.
The electric stepping motor contains a pinion system or a belt which drives the film carrier.
It is then that the sensor, which contains an array of light diodes, captures the light waves and converts them into digital signals.
Depending on your preference, the slide scanning services provider will then transfer the scanned image onto a computer where it is saved on CDs, DVDs or USB.
You could also have the image saved in one of many different formats including Tagged Image File (TIF) and Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG).
One of the other strong points of slide scanning services is that the image is saved under high resolution thereby maintaining its quality.