Pictures: Scan to Digital (albums)

[Drbraunsr]

I've got decades of photos that I want to place into digital albums.
I've got digital photos to catalog, but so far the software I've seen is clumsy.
What's the best scanner or device ?
What's a good program (not pro quality/price) ? Not looking for freeware, just a good program with basic features.
Not looking to get fancy with editing the photos, maybe titles and music.

What do people do with their old SLR Nikon cameras ? Same vintage as a Corvair.
Can it be donated?

[GH85Carrera]

If you have a lot of photos, set up a tripod and use a decent digital camera to shot photos of the photos. A scanner will take you forever to scan them all.

Set up the camera pointing straight down and set up two soft lights and start making copies. It is tedious and slow but way better than a scanner.

[Drbraunsr]

I'm glad I asked. I never would have thought to do it that way.

[Scott Douglas]

Here's how I set up my camera with a micro-nikkor lens to get shots of slides.
I used a picture of a light on the laptop screen as the light source.




The mylar on the laptop screen diffuses the light so it's even and hides the matrix the screen is made of which you can see thru the slide.

I'd happily take your old Nikon off your hands. =;>)

[A930Rocket]

Great idea. I've been wondering for years how to do it affordably.

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

If you have a lot of photos, set up a tripod and use a decent digital camera to shot photos of the photos. A scanner will take you forever to scan them all.

Set up the camera pointing straight down and set up two soft lights and start making copies. It is tedious and slow but way better than a scanner.

[Charles Freeborn]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Here's how I set up my camera with a micro-nikkor lens to get shots of slides.
I used a picture of a light on the laptop screen as the light source.




The mylar on the laptop screen diffuses the light so it's even and hides the matrix the screen is made of which you can see thru the slide.

I'd happily take your old Nikon off your hands. =;>)

That's a cool rig, but a $500 lens....

[Bill Douglas]

I've just persevered with the scanner. I think probably slightly quicker that with the camera. Just work out a process and chug your way through them.

GF's old uncle has just died so I've got a whole lot of her family photos to scan then print for her to take to the funeral on Wednesday.

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by Charles Freeborn

That's a cool rig, but a $500 lens....

I got the lens for $50 off Craigslist.

[Charles Freeborn]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

I got the lens for $50 off Craigslist.

I'll watch for one. Thanks for the great idea.
-C

[wildthing]

Years ago, I sent negatives and some actual photos to scancafe.com. Not bad for personal photos, but not high res. I'm sure there are other competitors now.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

I've just persevered with the scanner. I think probably slightly quicker that with the camera. Just work out a process and chug your way through them.

GF's old uncle has just died so I've got a whole lot of her family photos to scan then print for her to take to the funeral on Wednesday.

If the photos will lay flat you can "scan" or capture a photo in one second or less. Just put down a layer of masking tape on two sides as a guide for where to position the photo. The real challenge is curly photos. Then you need to do some engineering.

Make a baseboard that has a series of holes in it and hook it to a vacuum cleaner for suction. Now you have a vacuum board to help flatten curly photos. It is more work to build and setup but shooting one photo per second you can smoke through a pile of photos in no time.

The real problem is the digital naming convention and how you archive the files. How will your kids or grandkids access those photos in 20 or 40 years.

I have prints from my grandparents honeymoon . I don't know how to keep the digital files forever.

[Charles Freeborn]

One can only hope that .jpg tiff and the other standards will last... somehow.... I'm going through my grandfathers photos from pre ww1 in France. Fascinating. He was a great shot too.
-C

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Charles Freeborn

.... I'm going through my grandfathers photos from pre ww1 in France. Fascinating. He was a great shot too.
-C

That could be taken a couple of ways in this context!

[Por_sha911]

All in one printer/scanner/fax are not the best in quality.
Using a camera seems to be more of a hassle.

I have used many scanners. The current one is an Epson V500: good clarity, plenty of adjustments, can double as a low res copier in a pinch.

I back it up with Photoshop Elements: lightweight so quicker, easy enough to use, plenty of features for the non-pro.

Use higher res - you can always lower it later. I use higher res and take time to edit important photos and rip through less important or smaller pics with lower res.

Suggestion: for faster work (but it will lower quality), scan multiple photos at once and use the editing software to cut them up into individual files.

[Drbraunsr]

Storage...makes me ask the question:
What is the best technology(hardware) to store the digital photos ?
External hard drive linked by FireWire ? I'm sure I'm dating myself.

[wildthing]

Google offers free storage for pix below 16 megapixels I think.

I personally have two three external hard drives.

One is independently powered and connects via USB for downloading pictures. The two are portable drives (USB powered). I copy the picture folders every month to one of them, bring that to the office, then bring the other one home. Then do the same next month. Essentially, two are backups, one month apart. And one is always off site.

Costco regularly has drives on sale.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Suggestion: for faster work (but it will lower quality), scan multiple photos at once and use the editing software to cut them up into individual files.

Most OEM scan utilities does this for you.

Do a preview then use the tools to draw marquees around the individual images and hit scan.

[Por_sha911]

Ext Hard drives are cheap. Even a USB 2 or 3 will fine. Disconnect it when you are done backing everything up. This way, if you catch a virus and the Ext HD is not connected, you won't have corrupted data or it locked up on you.

Do NOT depend on cloud storage unless it is a secondary backup after the ext HD. I know folks who had their files erased and all they got was "so sad too bad, sorry".

I keep a disconnected HD and a flash drive off premise for double security. The flash drive is updated regularly (flash is not a long term memory storage).

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Drbraunsr

What do people do with their old SLR Nikon cameras ? Same vintage as a Corvair.
Can it be donated?

I have an F2 and an F2S, haven't used them in years. I'd thought about setting up a dark room but digital is so freakin' easy. Not for sale though, I'm holding them for my son.

[Charles Freeborn]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

That could be taken a couple of ways in this context!

...with a camera.... Pretty interesting story, actually. My great uncle & namesake was one of the first and core members of the French American Ambulance Corps. My GF went along for the ride(s) with his camera:



I've got hundreds of photos from pre and during ww1 of a road trip (pre-war) through North Africa, and then during the war of field hospitals in Belgium and France.