User`s guide

Hints and tips

Scan images only once

If you want to try different ways of processing a negative or slide, you don't need to scan it more

than once. The raw scan data for both preview and scan is kept in memory. Just adjust the

settings and use theFile | Save image (p. 39) command on the File menu (p. 39) to save the

image once more.

Be discriminating

The best way to save time when scanning in a lot of photos is to first make some hard decisions

about what you scan. A good rule of thumb is that you should only scan one out of five pictures

from a roll of film. Most people can go through a set of 36 photos or slides and quickly see the

7 or 8 that they would like to scan.

Of course, if these are the only existing photos of your parent's wedding, then you probably

want to scan them all. Otherwise, be discriminating - nobody needs to scan out of focus

pictures of a cousin's friend's back garden from 10 years ago (smile).

Use JPEG files

Save disk space by scanning all photos and slides using the JPEG file format. Few people will

see much difference between JPEG files and file types such as TIFF and BMP, but JPEG files

take up only 10 per cent of the disk space of these other file types. With VueScan, set Output |

JPEG file (p. 83) to do this.

Back up to CD

After every day's work, burn every image you've scanned to a CD, label the CD, and then make

sure you can read the images from the CD. Burn two sets of CD's, keep one set for yourself,

and store a master copy separately.

Alternatively, upload the images to a cloud service, and for good luck use two different cloud

vendors.

Only use the master copy if your main copy has problems, otherwise don't touch it again. If

friends or relatives want a copy, make them a copy from your main copy.

CD's can fail, wear out, get scratched, get lost, get eaten by the dog - so always keep two

copies! Cloud vendors can go out of business - use two different ones.

Use default options

The default options have been designed to work well with most images and on most systems. If

you're having problems scanning, reset all the options to their default values by choosing the

File | Default options (p. 40)command from the File menu (p. 39). Now try changing one option

at a time and re-doing the scan.

It's also a good idea to reset to defaults whenever you start a new job. This means you can start

with a clean slate each time.

Use TIFF if archiving or editing files from VueScan