SilverFast Blog

Scanning for a presentation on a TV can be tricky.

Image resolution and aspect ratio have to be taken into consideration.

SilverFast and especially the Archive Suite can help you.

First of all things to be kept in mind is the aspect ratio.

No matter if you are scanning 36x24mm, 6×6, 6×7 or other films your aspect ratio will most likely differ from your TV or Beamer.

If you just scan your image data, put it on a disk and show it with your DVD device you will either get randomly cut or worse badly scaled and deformed images.

e.g. film formats:

24x36mm (1,5/1)

6x6cm (1/1)

6×7 (1,167/1)

e.g. TV Formats:

4/3 traditional TV (1,33/1)

16/9 wide-screen format (1,78/1)

This means your standard slide positive will not fit on your standard or wide-screen TV.

If you do not want the image to fit the entire screen without creating disturbing black bars you will have to select an area to display.

This is easily done by selecting a 1,33/1 or 1,78/1 aspect ratio for your scanframe.

For an 36x24mm image this would mean only 32x24mm(1,33/1) or 36x20mm(1,78/1) can be scanned.

The second important setting is resolution.

TV resolutions will vary according to the used technology.

e.g.:

PAL (768×576 pixel)

HD-720 (1280×720 pixel)

HD-1080 (1920×1080 pixel)

Keep in mind, that your aspect ratio is set by your input scan-frame.

When you select the output setting just put in the width (e.g 1920 pixel).

The image height will not be exactly the value listed above (e.g. 1078, 1082,… pixel).

You can select a resolution slightly above the given width to be sure (e.g. 2000pixel for HD-1080) that it will display correctly.

It is important to remember not to set the resolution too high.

Very large images can result in a considerable delay between individual images because the player has to load and scale the file.

SilverFast’s Archive Suite can be used to easily transform already scanned HDRi images.

This way you only have to scan your images once at full resolution and normal ratio.

SilverFast HDR can then be used to create images at the intended size and format.

Keeping your Archive at maximum quality while creating images tailored to your exact needs.

Also handy if the friend you wanted to show your images buys that huge widescreen HDTV a day before your presentation.