 Brook |
Taking photos of photos I want to inquire if anyone has expereince taking pictures of old photos. I have thousands of old family photos that I want to put onto CD/DVD. I know that I could use a photo scanner, but I started doing this and its absolutely too time consuming. Therefore I was considering buying a digital camera and setting up a faster method of copying all our old family by taking photos of photos. Will this work? Has anyone tried this?
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W. |
Yes, Brook, that will work. IF with a copy stand with proper lighting, a good SLR in macro mode, and the appropriate macro lens. You will need to flatten your objects down with a glass plate (and deal with the reflections!). However, a simple scanner is MUCH cheaper than a copy stand with proper lighting, a good SLR, and an appropriate macro lens. A scanner is also a lot simpler to operate. And a scanner will give you much more consistent results than copying (by taking pictures) will. Have fun!
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Todd Bennett |
To add to W's comments it would probably be more time consuming to take the photos of the photos and upload them to the computer and tweak them than it would to scan them in. With "thousands" of photos, any way you try to digitize them is going to time consuming.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Scan three at a time?
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robert G. Fately |
Brook, in general it's better to scan the shots, and there's a company that offers a service that scans as many photos as you can stuff in the prepaid box they deliver for a flat fee: http://www.scanmyphotos.com/ Check their site for details - I'm planning on gathering all those old family pix from my parents' house and sending them all in to get them scanned at one time. For 50 bucks it seems like a pretty good deal.
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W. |
Bob, I'd want to check others' experiences with that outfit good before handing over my precious photos. What is the quality of the scans they deliver? What happens to my old photos? Do those run any risk at all of being destroyed or damaged? What if they DO get destroyed or damaged?
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W. |
Oh yeah, Brook, just one more thing: if image QUALITY is in any way important then photographic copying – however professionally executed – can't hold a candle to scanning: the user definable resolution is vastly superior to what any camera can deliver.
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W. |
Illustration: scan yields a super reproduction of the Mona Lisa http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/10/17/monalisa.mystery/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
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Brook |
Thank you, Mr.Smith, Mr.Fately and Mr. Bennett for your replies to my inquiry about taking pictures of pictures. I think that I will follow your advise and scan the photos rather than using a digital camera. I like the idea of letting someone else do the work and taking them somewhere, however, being one of a kind old family pictures I can't risk loss or damage, especially in the shipping process. Any suggestions as to a good quailty scanner that can scan more than one photo at a time? Sorry it took so long to reply. Thanks again! :)
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W. |
Flatbed scanning is simple technology. Scanners can be relatively cheap, starting at US$ 39,95, yet deliver excellent quality scans. So look at a scanner between US$ 100 and US$ 150 of one of the well-known brands. They are often on sale. So look for the best deal. There isn't much that can go wrong. Most cheap flatbed consumer scanners have foolscap sized platens (the glass you put the original(s) on, face down). That's about 8,5"x13". Good luck!
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Oliver Anderson |
seeeeeeee.....every once in a while we all answer questions seriously.....well done...you can go to heaven now W.S. .....I'm the ID photographer.
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Just one thing to add to this is when you do scan the photos, you will have the option of setting the DPI that will determine the quality of the scanned images. You do not want to scan them at 72 DPI as this is used for documents and may be the default setting. At 800, they will be larger and will also take longer for each scan. Play with the DPI settings when you start and see what you prefer. I have also read a few reviews about scanner driver compatibility problems with Vista so read up before you buy.
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