Scanning Slides in FCP to Edit

[Chris Babbitt]

Did you render?
Also, don’t concern yourself with DPI. Instead, set-up your scans according to the frame size of your project. If you intend to zoom and pan across your slides, make your scans about double the size of your project’s frame size.

[Shelby Langley]

Thanks Chris-
I did render and nothing changed. My slides frame size are all around 2000*3000. My timeline is set to DV NTSC Anamorphic. I know I’m dealing with 720*480. Do my frame sizes need to be exactly 720*480 and do I need to make sure pixels are rectangular (vs. square for HD). Or does that matter? Do I need photoshop for this? Also, I did try to change the size to around 720*480 in Preview and nothing changed with the blurry image.

[Chris Tompkins]

Ya, just like when u bring in stills too small. When u bring them in HUGE, they will not look their best.
Double the size of ur sequence if ur doing moves on them. 72 DPI for video – RGB – 8 bit.

Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta

[Zane Barker]

[Shelby Langley] “My timeline is set to DV NTSC”

This may be the problem. DV NTSC is a horrible codec for preserving image quality.

**Hindsight is always 1080p**

[Chris Babbitt]

Make your scans 853×480. FCP will automatically change the pixel aspect to rectangular. If you intend to zoom or pan on the images, make them double that size. No need to go any larger.

[Walter Soyka]

[Chris Tompkins] “72 DPI for video”

This old rule of thumb of 72 DPI for video isn’t relevant. DPI has nothing to do with video. A 42″ 1080p HD TV has 52 pixels per inch. A 50″ 1080p set has 44 pixels per inch. The new iPhone’s “retina display” is 326 pixels per inch.

DPI is only useful for converting a physical size to a pixel size, or vice versa. For example, an 8×10 print at 72 dpi is 576×720 px. The same 8×10 print at 300 dpi is 2400×3000 px. Video apps don’t care about — and don’t honor — a photo’s DPI metadata (if it even carries it); they only care about the size of the raster.

A 35mm slide is roughly 1.33″ x 0.9″ inside the mount. To get the DPI you need to scan it, you need to divide your desired raster size (in pixels) by those measurements (in inches). For example, if you wanted a 1920 pixel wide scan: 1920 / 1.33 = 1444 DPI or higher.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Shelby Langley]

Hey Dave-
Which Pro Res 422 should I use? I plan to use slides and photos in the timeline and also Super 8 converted to .movie files… then later on in the project plan to use HD footage.

I’ve tried some of the suggestions in the thread and none are working with the blurred slides. Do I have to buy Photoshop to transfer the slides to exact dimensions? It seems my scanner only allows me to set dpi.

Thanks,
Shelby

[Shelby Langley]

Hey Chris-
How do I make the scans 853*480? Through Photoshop? Or through the Epson Scanner? I’m looking for a way to do it with the scanner and can’t seem to be able to figure it out. The scanner only gives me the option for dpi.

[Walter Soyka]

[Shelby Langley] “How do I make the scans 853*480? Through Photoshop? Or through the Epson Scanner? I’m looking for a way to do it with the scanner and can’t seem to be able to figure it out. The scanner only gives me the option for dpi.”

You have to do a little math to figure out what DPI you need to scan at. Measure the image area of the slide. Standard 35mm slides are about 1.33″ wide by 0.9″ tall.

DPI is dots per inch; divide dots (pixels) by inches to get your scanning DPI.

853 dots / 1.33 inches = 641 DPI
480 dots / 0.9 inches = 533 DPI.

You have to scan at a minimum of 641 DPI to get an 853px image.

Scan at the highest resolution you think you’d need. You can always scale back down with Photoshop, as you mentioned.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Chris Babbitt]

If you’re using EpsonScan software, you need to be in Professional Mode. Then, you can change Target Size from inches to pixels. Enter the dimensions, and then save that setting. All your scans will be locked-in to that setting. Understand that you will be cropping your photos to a 16:9 aspect ratio.