Genealogy Chat

Hello everyone, I need to pick someones brains lol. I have loads of old (60+ years) photo Negatives, I am sure once...somewhere...I read that you could scan and save to PC and then print then out. Can anyone tell me in laymans terms .....how to do it, I have tried and failed...not sure what I am doing wrong. all help welcome.....thanks ......Lilly

Hi Lily , I know you can get scanners that can do negatives but not all scanners can. Do you know if yours has that facility? Sorry I'm not much help. Christine

Hi Christine, you know more than me lol... I have a one touch 6600 usb scanner, it only a few months old, so, still getting use to it. thanks for your reply anyway......Lilly

you need a scanner that will scan negatives/transparencies of the size of your negatives and if they are 60 or so years old they will probably be up to at least 2.5x3.5 inches if not larger The instruction book for your current scanner will tell you if it scans negatives and at what sizes. Depentant upon the software that came with your scanner you may be able to scan and invert the results of your scanns But first you must establish that your Scanner is suitable for scanning negatives of the size you hold if it can scan negatives Dont hesitate to contact me if you need any further help WALTER

Hi Lily, I have a One Touch 9020 and it comes with masks for slides and negatives. You have to work with the program Walter - what's the best DPI for negatives. please? I find they have to be VERY distinct to make a good print. Another suggestion - if they are black and white can you not take them to your local newspaper, especially if it is a small one. They probably still have a dark room. .. or am I still in the dark ages?!:)

Hello Lily, I have a very ordinary scanner and scanned an old neg. of my dad in army uniform so must have been about 1943. I just scanned it like a normal photo, into my photo editing software. I have several different ones, microsoft digitial image pro, adobe photo deluxe etc. I think I used adobe, can't remember now. I then used the 'effects' facility. It lets you do all sorts of tricky things with your photo at the click of a mouse. I clicked on the negative effect and low and behold my negative was reversed. It was quite a surprise because you couldn't really tell from the original who it was in the photo. Hope you have some success with your negs. Penny.

Hi, I have just found some negatives of me as a baby - it's my 44th birthday today!!!! - so approx 39and a half years old! Unfortunately they were a bit 'stuck together' but I seem to have separated them without doing any damage that I can see - what I need is a photographers that can print them. My scanner blew up about a fortnight ago, and it doesn't have a negative facility anyway, and I would rather let a professional have a go. Does anyone have any suggestions of a photographers that specialise in this sort of thing - I am prepared to travel if necessary, but Buckinghamshire or Northamptonshire preferred. Many thanks Trudy