How to convert .bmp & .tiff images to jpegs for CD-R burning?

[Dennman6]

I've been using a Canoscan 5000F for the last few weeks scanning tons
of old family pictures, 35mm negatives & slides & saving them as either
..bmp or .tiff images. Yes, I know that superior resolution is gotten
from dedicated film scanners for 35mm, but I had to compromise due to
being a delivery driver who wanted to get started NOW rather then
later(my view at the time). I have the images saved in different
folders in "My Pictures" on the computer, each according to its own
category-being careful not to have more in a folder than I can burn
onto one CD-R. The computer is an E-Machines T-2862 with 2.66 gHZ
Celeron D processor & 256 MB memory, which balks at 1200 dpi
scans(very, very slow & pop up screen warning me about huge size of
file, etc.). Also, the HD is 60 gig, & eventually I want to explore
getting an external HD in the 200-300 gig range. At 600 dpi, files run
anywhere between 5-25 MB, depending on the source(prints, negatives,
slides). Also, B&W prints were scanned as 'grayscale'. Prints were
wallet size to 8x10s, the oldest being a baby picture of my grandmother
from 1903.

I want to share burned CD-Rs with family members, but averaging 18 MB
per image that's about 36 images per 650 MB CD-R, not really
acceptable. Some guy at work says I should just "batch convert" them as
jpegs & thereby have a CD-R with HUNDREDS of images on it, rather that
a few dozen. What is this "batch convert" deal & how can I do this with
my .bmp & .tiff files? I notice when I right click on a pic as "send to
mail recipient" the pic is re-sized for e-mail purposes, so do I have
the capacity in the computer to do this "batch converting" or must I go
out to Staples & buy a specific program for it? I think it's a neat
idea to be able to do this, but i NEED step by step advice from a
learned member of this list

Thanks for any pointers!

Dennis

 

[CSM1]

I've been using a Canoscan 5000F for the last few weeks scanning tons
of old family pictures, 35mm negatives & slides & saving them as either
.bmp or .tiff images. Yes, I know that superior resolution is gotten
from dedicated film scanners for 35mm, but I had to compromise due to
being a delivery driver who wanted to get started NOW rather then
later(my view at the time). I have the images saved in different
folders in "My Pictures" on the computer, each according to its own
category-being careful not to have more in a folder than I can burn
onto one CD-R. The computer is an E-Machines T-2862 with 2.66 gHZ
Celeron D processor & 256 MB memory, which balks at 1200 dpi
scans(very, very slow & pop up screen warning me about huge size of
file, etc.). Also, the HD is 60 gig, & eventually I want to explore
getting an external HD in the 200-300 gig range. At 600 dpi, files run
anywhere between 5-25 MB, depending on the source(prints, negatives,
slides). Also, B&W prints were scanned as 'grayscale'. Prints were
wallet size to 8x10s, the oldest being a baby picture of my grandmother
from 1903.

I want to share burned CD-Rs with family members, but averaging 18 MB
per image that's about 36 images per 650 MB CD-R, not really
acceptable. Some guy at work says I should just "batch convert" them as
jpegs & thereby have a CD-R with HUNDREDS of images on it, rather that
a few dozen. What is this "batch convert" deal & how can I do this with
my .bmp & .tiff files? I notice when I right click on a pic as "send to
mail recipient" the pic is re-sized for e-mail purposes, so do I have
the capacity in the computer to do this "batch converting" or must I go
out to Staples & buy a specific program for it? I think it's a neat
idea to be able to do this, but i NEED step by step advice from a
learned member of this list

Thanks for any pointers!

Dennis

Irfanview. (free!)
Irfanview will batch convert in one operation all the images in one folder.
http://www.irfanview.com

Get the Plug-ins, Irfanview needs them for all the great things it can do.

 

[Björn Hein]

That's no problem. You can use the program Irfan View for that job, It's
Freeware and can be downloaded at www.irfanview.com. I do all my batch
conversions with it (File --> Batch Conversion). You can choose the folders,
the conversion can do everyone of them with one step and it saves them in an
extra folder, that can have the same name then the original. How exactly you
can do it with this program is shown in the help-file of the program.

In IrfanView you can choose the resolution and also the dpi, in which the
pics should be saved. If you want to watch the JPEGs on the TV-Screen, 72
dpi should be enough, if your family members want to print the pics, I would
save them with at least 200-300 dpi. But remember, it takes a lot more
memory then the 72 dpi, so be careful.

Hope this helps.

Greetings form Germany

Björn Hein

 

[Dances With Crows]

I've been using a Canoscan 5000F for the last few weeks scanning tons
of old family pictures, 35mm negatives & slides & saving them as
either .bmp or .tiff images.

I want to share burned CD-Rs with family members, but averaging 18 MB
per image that's about 36 images per 650 MB CD-R, not really
acceptable. Some guy at work says I should just "batch convert" them
as jpegs & thereby have a CD-R with HUNDREDS of images on it, rather
that a few dozen. What is this "batch convert" deal & how can I do
this with my .bmp & .tiff files?

Well, you're using 'Doze, so you probably don't have ImageMagick or bash
installed. Irfanview (free beer for personal use, Google for it) has a
"batch conversion/rename" tool that may do what you want.

So do I have the capacity in the computer to do this "batch
converting" or must I go out to Staples & buy a specific program for
it?

Buy something this basic? There's a lot of free-beer and free-speech
software out there. A little Googling can save you money and hassle.
Other things to Google for include Firefox, OpenOffice, and Thunderbird.

I think it's a neat idea to be able to do this, but i NEED step by
step advice from a learned member of this list

This is a newsgroup, not a mailing list. Anyway, it goes like so:

0. Download and install Irfanview on your 'Doze machine.
1. Start Irfanview. Select File->Batch Conversion/Rename.
2. foreach directory containing .bmp or .tif files, pick directory, add
all .bmp and/or .tif files.
3. Either click "use this directory as output" or pick a directory
elsewhere on your system.
4. Click "start".
5. Wait until file conversion is done.
6. if(more_directories_to_convert()) { goto 2; } else { drink_beer(); }

....try it on a test directory with a couple of images in it, so you know
what this does. Modify settings to taste if the defaults don't do it
for you.