Last week I discussed how it sometimes
makes more sense to use a 35mm camera instead of a digital one.
However, sometimes it's still convenient to have your photos on
your computer, whether you want to send them to someone, upload
them to a website or use them as a desktop background.
In order to get your pictures onto your Mac, there are a couple
of options.
The first option is simply to scan the photos that you want. To
do this, you need a scanner, which can be bought for as little as
$50 on sale from your local computer, electronics, or office supply
store. I've got an old, very large Umax Astra 1220S (from about
1998), which does the job perfectly. Today you can buy a decent USB
powered Canon that is a third as large.
The drivers that come with the scanner may or may not be decent.
The Umax drivers that came with mine are good, but they only work
in OS 9. Unfortunately, the newer version of the Umax scanning
software available on their website is horrible, and it's still OS
9-only. It treats you like you've never used a computer before and
makes it difficult to access some of the more advanced options.
There are no OS X drivers for the 1220S; however, there are
third party solutions. The US$60 VueScan application is great,
as it works with over 300 scanners (including the Astra 1220S) and
gives you access to all of the scanning options you might want
without the ugly "newbie" type interface. (See Charles
Moore Reviews VueScan 7.6 Scanner Software for a lot more
on this program.)
When scanning your documents, make sure that the options in the
scanning software are set correctly. If you don't bother setting
brightness, contrast, resolution, and other settings, your scan
won't come out right. It still may not be perfect even if the
options are correct, but you can always edit the image once it's on
your Mac.
If your scanner supports scanning negatives, that's another way
to go as well.
If you plan on printing your photos, I recommend scanning them
at a higher resolution (300 dpi or better), as it will appear
pixelated if you try to print out a large size photo from a low
resolution scan.
The other option for getting your 35mm pictures onto your
computer is to order a picture CD when you get your film processed.
It's usually just a few dollars extra and gives you images on a CD
that can be accessed by either a PC or a Mac. More often than not,
these will be 1.5 MP scans - fine for viewing on your computer
screen but not good enough for large prints.
The downside to this is that it gives you every single picture
on the roll on the CD. If you only wanted 2 or 3, it may be best to
scan them individually yourself instead of ordering the whole CD.
But if you want most of the pictures on your Mac, it's a good way
to go - scanning all 24 or 36 pictures does take some time.
Once you've got the pictures on your computer, how do you edit
them? The obvious answer would be to use Photoshop, but not
everyone has it. If you don't have Photoshop, you can use one of
the other image editors out there. There is always GraphicConverter,
and if you have a relatively modern (within the last 2 years or so)
Mac, it may have come preinstalled - check your Applications
folder. If not, you can download it. It's a shareware application
that sells for US$35 ($30 without a CD). It may be worth buying
when you consider that Photoshop costs several hundred dollars.
If you want a bit more power, Photoshop Elements is available.
As the name suggests, it consists of "elements" of Photoshop with
an interface very similar to the full version. You can get a
demo
version on Adobe's website, and it can be purchased
from Amazon for $50.
An older version of the Photoshop might also be an option. If
you're running OS 9, you can get version 4.x or 5.x for very
little (and these older versions work well in OS X classic
mode as well).
Another options is Color
It!, which sells for $49.95 and runs on any Mac with System
7.0 or later that supports color. It doesn't have as many features
as Photoshop, but it doesn't cost much either. I bought a new,
boxed, shrink-wrapped copy a couple years ago for about a dollar.
It doesn't work natively with OS X, although MicroFrontier is
developing an OS X version. (See Almost High-End Graphics for a Low-end
Price for more on Color It! 4.)
For a relatively small investment, you can put your 35mm photos
on your Mac. And for not much more, you can print out any size that
your printer can handle - and you'll still have the original 35mm
prints for your photo album.
