scanning negatives

[jno]

I've got a new Plustek scanner and tried to scan a negative. It converts it to positive, but it will only make it a Tiff file. (Gigantic, but I expected that.) How can I convert this to a JPG file?

I've tried Save As in Photoshop but though it gives other options, including PSD and JPG2000, ordinary jpeg isn't one of them.

[weeal]

you could try some of these converter sites for info, i just googled it

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=tiff+co nverter&meta=

[jno]

thanks, weeal, I'll run through them. I was just wondering if there was any way to do it with the standard software I already have. Given how common jpegs are, I would have thought conversion capability would have been lying around Windows somewhere, but perhaps not.

[weeal]

possibly can be done using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, then choose the edit function which opens in a bitmap format, normally there is a long list of save options on there
its worth a try, I didnt mention it as im not too sure if it will work

good luck x

[jno]

no, that refused to open. I'll work through the others you linked to, thanks.

[jno]

aha, I seem to have done it through the HP Image Zone bundled in with my printer. Thanks for the steer - I could only get into it via Windows Picture Viewer. Lordy what a palaver. Fingers crossed it will work ok. (Actually, the picture itself is terrible, maybe because the neg is so old.)

[gen2]

When I used PhotoShop in the past it always had an option to save as JPG/JPEG and I would be surprised if has been dropped from the current version as it is such a ubiquitous format. I don't have access to that program any more and use PainShopPro at home.

I suspect that your photoshop image may have layers in it so jpg isn't being offered. Have you tried flattening your image down to a single layer first?

[jno]

no, I thought of that, gen2 but there don't seem to be any layers. I've always had the JPG option before too but I don't think I've ever actually tried to work on a tiff before, so maybe tiff-to-jpeg is something it won't do

[kempie]

Strange behaviour by Photoshop! I can see no obvious reason why JPEG is not offered as an option for saving.

Multiple layers in an image are automatically flattened by PS when saving in a format that doesn't support layers.

TIFF images support multiple pages and when saved in a format not offering this support, all but the first page (image) are ignored.

If you wish to experiment, here are 2 bog standard TIFFs (i.e. within PS capabilities to convert to JPEG)...

Single-page TIFF - 174 KB
Multi-page TIFF - 1.43 MB

Right-click the links and "Save Target/Link As..."

[kempie]

BTW here is a quick and easy (and free) image viewer, manipulator and converter which I wholeheartedly recommend...

http://www.irfanview.com/

[ianmunt]

open in almost any photo program,choose "save as" and select jpg from the drop down menu

[jno]

thanks for the advice, everyone. It seems to be working now - I managed to tweak the scanner program itself so it would save as a JPG. Why my other programs, except for my printer, wouldn't convert from TIFF I don't know. The printer has its own problems - uses up colour ink even while performing black-only printing - so I'm glad I found something it could do right and I've given it a little pat on the back to encourage it.