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Community Newsletter: Q&A: 12/02/05 Best advice for digitizing 90 years of photos
- 12/1/05 5:16 PM
Yes...
by comicfan - 12/4/05 2:48 AM In reply to: Scanning photos. Use a Commercial Service? by edurshoI'll do it for 50 bucks on my epson. lol. kidding. 
Holiday spirit kicking in.
Paul
BARRY IS WRONG
by lionshooter - 12/2/05 10:34 AM In reply to: Use a Commercial Service by barry_hoffmanYes, a commercial service will save you time but at what price?
I use an Epson Perfection 4180 flatbed which comes with an excellent software package and has the capability of scanning up to 12,800 DPI. Not that I have ever needed that much, but when I scan a 645 negative to go 30x40 print size I do need the higher end capability.
In this case scenario, scanning the family pics at 600 DPI will take about 3 minutes in color mode AND the scanner only cost $175 with the negative carriers. My lab charges $12/scan. Others are much cheaper. But the Epson turns out higher quality scans than I can get from my pro lab and I maintain complete control of the final image.
As far as printing the images, I gave up on inkjets a couple years ago. Too much trouble and too expensive. Now all my digitized files go to Costco where I get pro prints on Fuji Archival paper for .17/4x6 and .39/5x7. 2 5x7's on a sheet of quality inkjet paper can run $2 with the cost of ink...that is IF you get it right the first time around. One screw up and you double that price.
I scan to file in JPEG and only convert to TIFF if I have to do extensive editing. Then I resave the final image for archive as a JPEG.
Stan Burns
Ah, clarity prevails
by comicfan - 12/4/05 2:34 AM In reply to: BARRY IS WRONG by lionshooterYes, I have old photos and have an Epson flat bed. I have complete control over what I do. I have printed my old pictures that look awesome, flawless. Why would I pay when I can do that? I agree with you 100%.
Paul
Why not Continuous Inking??
by MegsL - 12/5/05 7:14 AM In reply to: BARRY IS WRONG by lionshooterI'm surprised nobody using an Epson printer ever mentions the possibility of attaching a CIS (Continuous Inking System) to it and printing-out with bottled ink. That's a fifth of the price of cartridge inks, and several of the available brands are more lightfast.
I have used a CIS for four years now, with few problems. The delivery system (from MediaStreet or from NoMoreCarts, see their websites) is a bit of an outlay, but if you are dealing with a great many pictures the overall cost saving is enormous.
Printing pictures, of course, doesn't solve the biggest problem of all which (for some of us, at least) is storage space!
Cheers
Megs.
Recommended settings
by johnhakimi - 12/2/05 3:36 AM In reply to: 12/02/05 Best advice for digitizing 90 years of photos by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I also started to archive some old family picture probably some 80 years old and found very little guidance on what setting to use on my all in one 7130. My objective is long term storage and eventually restoring/fixing the damages.
I think it would help if you can recommend the appropriate setting for the scan such as resolution and pixel depth.
I use 600 and true color/24-bit for most of my scans. Also use the highest JPEG resolution for saving the file. This is overkill since the files are several megabytes large depending how big were the originals.
Could someone advise whether one get ultimately the same quality of image if one scans each photo individually or multiple photos at the same time then crop. I believe you suggested scanning a sheet.
and your input would be appreciated.
Your input would be appreciated.
Use Photomax to digitize your pictures
by photoease - 12/2/05 5:07 AM In reply to: 12/02/05 Best advice for digitizing 90 years of photos by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Preserving older pictures is the core product offered by Photomax.com. It is called PhotoSaver. They will scan prints, slides and negatives for around $.55 each. For that price they also upload the jpeg files to your free online storage area (5 gb, or upgrade to more for a small fee) and send you a cd with all your images. Of course, your originals are returned also.
To maintain your free storage you must buy at least one 4x6 print a year - so for $.12 plus shipping you can save all your precious family pictures online permanently.
Once they are online you can organize them into albums, share them with anyone who has an email address (Photomax sends them a link to your album), order reprints of any pictures, put them into leather bound photo books, create DVD movies with them, etc.
To sign up for a free account and receive 20 free 4x6 prints and a free 8x10, go to http://www.photoease.com.
Deb C
Kodak offers the same thing
by cesareDH - 12/2/05 6:21 PM In reply to: Use Photomax to digitize your pictures by photoeaseYou can also do most of this through Yahoo. I use Yahoo for storing some pictures and to put together albums to send to friends and family, free.
Photo preservation
by photomaxed - 12/7/05 10:24 AM In reply to: Use Photomax to digitize your pictures by photoeaseThat's a great service. I live here in Utah and I have seen the company that does it. If you are curious to see how they handle your photos, there is a little video clip available here
http://photomaxed.com click on ''services'' and a window pops up. It's pretty interesting how it's done.
Scan DPI is very important
by NASA_Mike - 12/2/05 6:52 AM In reply to: 12/02/05 Best advice for digitizing 90 years of photos by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Scanning With Higher DPI:
I have photos from my family that are also extremely old - some are mounted on the old cardstock backing. One thing that I realized after having to go back and rescan a couple hundred photos: scan the files with at least 300DPI. The reason: detail. If you scan the picture with more DPI (dots per inch), you'll have a larger file, but you'll also have much more detail. An image file can be reduced in size and not lose detail, but when you want to enlarge the photo, you will lose detail very quickly as you enlarge the pixels. I have a scanner that connects to my printer port. It's old and slower, but the scan quality is still very good because of the DPI.
Naming Your Files:
Now that you have the photo scanned, you need to name the file with a name that will mean something. The format that I use for family photos is
YYYY-MM-DD--Familyname--Event (location).jpg
- Use the 4 digit year for obvious reasons.
- The ''Familyname'' is the lastname of the people in the photo. If there are a lot of different family members with different last names, I generally use either the lastname of the oldest person in the photo, or if the majority of the individuals are of the same lastname, I'll use that.
- Event can be a description of the event, people's names, etc.
- (location) - I've often wondered where a photo was taken. Adding this information - an address, park name, cemetery name, etc - allows me to also compare the background of other pictures and sometimes determine a location (wow, I didn't know they lived in that house for that long). This and the date will allow you to quickly group your photos using a filename search.
Backup Your Work!
I'm going to be sending my work out on CDs as Christmas presents this year. The side benefit for me is that if I ever lose the originals due to a fire or flood (we had to evacuate Hurricane Rita), someone in another state will have a copy of all of my work. I can remain the central point for my pictures, but I can also share quickly and easily.
Scanning 35 mm mounted slides
by JRoge - 12/2/05 9:25 AM In reply to: Scan DPI is very important by NASA_MikeSounds like you have a pretty good system working. I want to put my slides on DVD. Haven't done anything yet but I thought that I would purchase a Canon 4450F film scanner and start out and see what happens. This scanner will scan 8 mounted slides per batch. Do you have any advice? I just want to get the slides on a discs, copy the disc and give each family member a copy.
film/slide scanning
by cesareDH - 12/2/05 5:54 PM In reply to: Scanning 35 mm mounted slides by JRogeMake sure your slides are ULTRA clean before you scan them, because at 2400dpi every speck shows.
clean slides
by masuk39 - 12/3/05 8:07 PM In reply to: film/slide scanning by cesareDHI agree about the slides. they certainly collect dust spots sitting in their boxes.
I wipe them with a soft cloth and then dust them, but there's always some dirt shows up.
I use Photoshop and edit the spots out.
Spaces in file names
by aceaceace - 12/2/05 12:23 PM In reply to: Scan DPI is very important by NASA_MikeAll great information! I'm learning a lot on this thread. I am going to switch to TIFF format from now on when I scan, it makes a lot of sense especially with disk drive costs now below $1 per GB.
I totally agree with the file naming scheme that Mike presented. The more information the better. I recommend putting spaces in between each word in the file name for easy searching.
I spend a lot of time with both scanned and digital photos and taking the time to descriptively rename each filename really helps in the long run, also taking the time to name each containing folder makes your photography hobby fun because it is easy to locate specific photos and thus easy to share photos with others. I used to remove spaces from photo file names but found out the hard way that searching is a lot easier with spaces in file names. Filenames are also easier to read, and easier to type with spaces between each word in the filename. I have been using Picasa (picasa.google.com) since it came out and I love its easy searching and filtering capabilities plus it is free. For instance, I could easily view all Christmas related photos of one family member, from a certain year with just a few clicks. But it only works well if you take the time to rename the files with spaces.
Software for photos
by adkmom - 12/2/05 10:35 AM In reply to: 12/02/05 Best advice for digitizing 90 years of photos by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Dawn,
First, my condolences on the loss of your Mom.
I like to use Irfanview & it's plug-ins for scanning in pics. It's free & can do quite a lot of basics (resize/resample, cropping, gamma correction, enhance colors, sharpen, add text to a pic, etc...). Once loaded, use file>select twain source- then file>acquire to scan it in.
For scrapbook style software, I like Scrapbook Factory Deluxe. It's at Joann's, right now, for $30 w/$10 rebate on the box.
This allows you to make all sorts of projects- printable & digital format (for burning to CD & running a slideshow?).
-----------------------------------
Basically, you need to get started scanning- that's #1. My advice would be this:
Get a plain, paper folder to put your finished prints into. Get two or three dissimilar types of photos (black & white, color, newsprint). Decide on what settings you'd like to try, & scan the three pics, always individually, save as TIFF.
Open them in Irfanview>file>print>this will give you a preview of what you'll see & you can make adjustments, then, to how they appear on paper. Print them out & see how they look. Now, On the pics, themselves, mark the settings you used. If you notice anything you don't like, or want to try different settings, you can. Use the same three pics each time- until you're happy with what is produced. Then use those settings for the rest. The only way to truly know is to actually do some & see how they look to you on paper.
RE: size of saved images. Save as TIFF- I concur completely on the premise that you cannot add back what is removed in jpeg format. Save as TIFF & when you work on images- ALWAYS work on copies- never the original. I usually just copy the folder to my desktop so I know which is the copy & which is the original (original folder is in My Docs).
It's no big deal to save your scans to a folder called ''Scans''. When it reaches CD or DVD size, burn it off. Make a copy of the CD to hand out to others. I'd also add that no one really knows the lifespan of these CD/DVD blanks. I encourage you to date the CD & make a fresh copy the following year- checking that both work. In the third year, copy again & dispose of the 1st. This means you always have two copies.
Hope this helps? If you need any other info, get me at adkmomATgmailDOTcom
Tracy ;^)
your concurance about Jpeg
by comicfan - 12/4/05 3:27 AM In reply to: Software for photos by adkmomYour statement>>>>>>>I concur completely on the premise that you cannot add back what is removed in jpeg format.
correct...(Jpeg lossless so you won't lose it to begin with......)
Your statement>>>>Basically, you need to get started scanning- that's #1
correct...I think this is why they are asking for help , perhaps don't know how or don't have a scanner yet?
your statement>>>>'d also add that no one really knows the lifespan of these CD/DVD blanks.
correct....(supposed shelf life if in sealed controlled conditions up to 100 years "in theory".)
YS >>>>Save as TIFF
correct....there are many other formats...
YS>>>>In the third year, copy again & dispose of the 1st. This means you always have two copies.
correct...huh?? Copy in one year, skip a year(perhaps leap year?) , in third year throw one copy away??
YS>>>It's at Joann's, right now
correct....where???
take care Paul
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