By Lou Dolinar
Fifth in a series
Updated Feb. 14, 2006

 I've had a number of questions from readers about scanning, most of which I think I answered in the course of our series. This week, though, I'd like to clear up a couple of additional points:

Q. I would like to make a slide show with transitions and music so that I can record it on DVD or CD and play it on the TV. Do you have any recommendations? Is there any freeware for this?

A. A lot depends on the functionality you want to fill out in other areas. Adobe Photoshop Elements, probably the best photo-editing package for beginners, can write slide shows to video CD, which most stand-alone players will handle. Nero and Roxio, meanwhile, are slugging it out over full-scale digital media authoring, and both offer full featured bundles that do everything from cleaning up scratchy LPs to photo editing. Both write everything to CD and DVD.

Roxio's Easy Media Creator, (www.roxio.com) at $79.95, includes a slide show function, as does Nero 6 Ultra at $79.99 (http://ww2.nero.com/enu/index.html). Nero includes Photoshow Express for slide show authoring, and here's the good part: Photoshow Express is free for download in order to promote Photoshow Elite, a more robust $39.99 slideshow program.A comparable product from Roxio, Photosuite 7, is $29.95.

If you don't need to run your slide shows on anything but a computer, you might want to take a look at Microsoft Photo Story 3, available free for download at the company Web site, or Google's Picasa2.

Q. I can easily view my .jpg files using the Windows Slide Show feature. But I do not seem to be able to view my .art files. Am I doing something wrong, or is it just a limitation?

A. Files that end in .art are in an AOL graphics format - a format used to transmit photos that's compressed to save bandwidth. To put these files in a slide show, you need to open them with Internet Explorer, then save them in a standard format, like .bmp or .jpg. Go to File menu in Explorer, select "Open," then click the "Browse" button. When the directory window opens, pull down the "File Type" menu and select ".art files." Open the file. Once the file opens, save it using the format you want from the pull-down menu. The new file should work in your slide show. Note that in some cases, AOL will save a file in art format, but maintain its original extension, such as .jpg, .bmp, .gif. If for some reason you get a file like this via AOL and can't open it, change the extension to .art and use the method outlined above.

Q. I've inherited a number of old 116 (2 1/4 by 4 1/2) black-and- white negatives. I have neither the facilities nor equipment to process them in the traditional wet method. Is there a scanner capable of reversing the image so I can print 5 by 8 or larger prints on my printer?

A. Scanning black-and-white negs is a standard feature of most flatbed scanners that can handle transparencies. These cost a little more than the cheapest flatbed units because a backlighting system has to be included. With contemporary flatbeds, you'll normally get better results with negatives than with snapshots, particularly large old ones.

One reader, Joe Papa, gave me the best tip I've seen for anyone in a hurry to digitize a pile of slides: "I recently dealt with the project of digitizing more than 3,000 slides, some over 40 years old, using a slide projector and setting my digital camera on a tripod. I took images of the projects, with really good quality, averaging about 150 slides an hour." Papa probably loses a little sharpness in the process, but digital retouching should make the copies better than the originals by improving color and light, and getting rid of dust and dirt.

Meanwhile, Papa got me to wondering about other projection approaches to copying slides, so it was off to Google: If you want to try a slightly more expensive approach, take a look at the $49 projector screen/camera stand at www.slidetophoto.com, or check the Web site of your camera's manufacturer for a clip-on slide adapter. I found some interesting photo comparisons between these techniques and regular scanners at www.andromeda.com/people/ddyer/photo/slide-transfer.html.

Q. I have the full version of Photoshop 6.0. My problem is finding the time to even scratch the surface in learning how to use it - even with a gift subscription to the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Should I consider the Adobe Elements 3.0? Is it more user friendly?

A. If you need automatic correction, you're probably just as well off with Picasa2, free from Google. On the other hand, if the wealth of manual features in Photoshop intimidates you, think about a taking a course. A couple I can recommend are Adobe's own (see their Web site) or New Horizons Computer Learning Centers (www.newhorizons.com).