How Do I Convert Negatives to Digital Photos?

If those methods sound like too much work, some services will convert your negatives for a fee.

How Do I Digitize My Negatives?

Checking slides for dust.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

The best way to digitize negatives and slides is to use a film and slide scanner.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

Use compressed air to clean your scanning gear if necessary.

Insert a negative or slide into your scanning unit.

Inserting a slide into a negative/slide digitizer.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

Check the display to view your negative or slide.

The image may appear automatically, or you may have to press a preview button.

Flip, mirror, or invert the image as necessary using the controls on your film and slide scanner.

Viewing a slide in a negative/slide scanner.

Jeremy Laukkonen

Jeremy Laukkonen

Press thescanorcopybutton.

Repeat steps 3-6 to digitize additional negatives or slides.

When digitizing negatives, some scanners will automatically feed an entire strip.

The Copy button on a negative/slide scanner.

Jeremy Laukkonen

Can You Scan Negatives With a Regular Scanner?

The simplest method requires a sheet of white printer paper and a desk lamp or other source of light.

Place your negative or slide squarely along one edge of the scanner.

A scanner bed.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

Turn on the light, and double-check it’s shining on the slide under the paper.

Scan the negative or slide.

Are There Any Other Ways to Convert Negatives to Digital Pictures?

A slide placed on a scanner.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

Carefully frame the slide or negative with your camera, and take a picture.

How Much Does It Cost to Convert Negatives to Digital?

Flatbed scanners with a transparency feature designed to scan negatives tend to be significantly more expensive.

A piece of paper placed over a slide on a scanner.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

If you have a film strip containing several pictures, you pay a fixed amount per picture.

Prices vary, but you might typically expect to pay between $0.25 and $1.00 per image.

Specialty negatives, like disc negatives, usually cost more.

A light set on a scanner.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

Open a scanned file in GIMP and selectColors>Invertfrom the menu bar.

If you don’t have the equipment, get help from a disc negative scanning service.

Use a film scanner that comes with large format negative holders.

A light shining on a slide on a scanner.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

You could also use a lightbox with a digital camera and software likePhotoshopto invert and edit the negatives.

The scan button on a flatbed scanner.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

A slide placed on a light box.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire

Taking a picture of a slide on a light box.

Jeremy Laukkonen / Lifewire