Scanning Negatives, Shooting the Moon, Fixing the Colors in a Photo

28.05.2012
Have a question about digital photography? . I reply to as many as I can--though given the quantity of e-mails that I get, I can't promise a personal reply to each one. I round up the most interesting questions about once a month here in Digital Focus.

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I've asked many people and have never gotten a satisfactory response. Is it possible to scan a black-and-white negative into a PC and then obtain a positive print of the negative? I've inherited a large number of negatives that I would like to convert into prints. The cost of having it done commercially would be prohibitive.--Joe Vincent, Neptune, Florida

Absolutely, Joe. What you are looking for is a photo scanner that accepts transparencies, and you can find high-quality models for under $100. Take a look at the ($79), for example. It comes with an adapter that can hold up to four negatives at once, which you can use to make the positive prints you need. In the scanner's software, just specify that you're scanning a negative, and the scanner does the rest.