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tavilach · Jul 19, 2005, 10:37 PM

My parents were recently unpacking boxes from our last move, and it occured to me that we should really digitize our photo collection. We take far less pictures than most families, and my mom actually stopped taking pictures when I reached double digits or so, but we still have at least 2,000 pictures. Scanning them in would just be unbearable, and I assume that using the negatives would produce a better final image. Does anyone have any experience with doing photo digitization on a large scale, for a reasonable price? Any tips would be much appreciated!

JoshuaZ · Jul 20, 2005, 12:56 AM

I just did a project like that. I ended up scanning in like 200 old photos. You could use negatives, or just the photos. Long story short I ended up figuring that once I got the hang of it all I was doing one photo every 30-45 seconds. Not bad.

I'm using an epson scanner I got at Best Buy. The images turned out nice, and it had a built in Negative Scanner.

No matter how you figure it, you'll end up spending a lot of time doing these photos. Just sit down and do 50 a night or something. It helps if you presort them out ahead of time, or have someone there picking out photos for you to scan.

As far as I know, there is no super easy way to do that many. Oh, and some negatives degrade over time, so they might not be as good as you'd think.

OreoCookie · Jul 20, 2005, 07:10 AM

If you use a regular flatbed scanner with option to scan negatives, it'll take you longer, but you end up with higher-quality pics. Make sure you directly catalog them correctly using professional software (e. g. iView or so).

BoomStick · Jul 20, 2005, 08:12 AM

I have a 12x18 Umax that is running MagicScan on OS9.

I can get 9 photos on it at once and the software will batch the photos individually.

Silverfast on OSX is lucky to do a single scan.

macroy · Jul 20, 2005, 08:29 AM

I got an Epson 4870 just so I can scan in my wedding photos ...

It came with these "brackets" that you can lay the negatives on. You can do 110 to large format negs. The wedding photos were medium format. It worked really well.

Did take about 3 months to do.... (about 3 - 4 hrs a night while I was doing other stuff).

Well worth the $500 or so for the scanner.

TailsToo · Jul 20, 2005, 08:32 AM

Can anyone recommend a good flatbed scanner that you could scan a stack at a time? My grandmother just passed away on Monday and when we were looking at bunch of old photos, we decided that we want to get them scanned in since many are already fading with age.

memento · Jul 20, 2005, 02:57 PM

no. no. no. If you care about getting quality scans you will not use a flatbed with negatives and you will not want to scan prints at all. You will get a "film scanner". It will scan negatives or positive slides (b/w or color). They work at like 3000+ dpi vs. 300 or 600 for a flatbed and they calibrate and focus for each picture in the negative strip.

At worst I'd suggest the KonicaMinolta Dual Scan IV. like $200 or $250.
At best you want one with digital ICE, which uses an infrared channel to detect dust and scratches on the negative and automatically remove it from the scan. $500 or so.

Seriously, I think you only want to undergo a project like this once and you should do it right.

Demonhood · Jul 20, 2005, 03:04 PM

or you could take the negatives and have them scanned for you. Costco does this (not sure of the quality yet). but at 30 cents a pop, it still cheaper than buying a film scanner and doing 2000 pix all by yourself.

OreoCookie · Jul 21, 2005, 05:24 AM

Originally Posted by memento

no. no. no. If you care about getting quality scans you will not use a flatbed with negatives and you will not want to scan prints at all. You will get a "film scanner". It will scan negatives or positive slides (b/w or color). They work at like 3000+ dpi vs. 300 or 600 for a flatbed and they calibrate and focus for each picture in the negative strip.

At worst I'd suggest the KonicaMinolta Dual Scan IV. like $200 or $250.
At best you want one with digital ICE, which uses an infrared channel to detect dust and scratches on the negative and automatically remove it from the scan. $500 or so.

Seriously, I think you only want to undergo a project like this once and you should do it right.

The problem is that if you want to scan old photo albums, the chances are good that there are no negatives anymore. I think you might get better quality with old-style photos (i. e. those which are not digitally printed yet).

tavilach · Jul 28, 2005, 11:52 PM

What about something like this? It combines a negative scanner and a print scanner, for very cheap. The resolution is very high, too. I probably wouldn't be printing these images out, but I still would want them to look very nice. How would the Canon compare to those dedicated film scanners you're talking about, memento?

lavar78 · Jul 29, 2005, 01:15 AM

Just pretend your family began after digital cameras were invented.

macroy · Jul 29, 2005, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by memento

no. no. no. If you care about getting quality scans you will not use a flatbed with negatives and you will not want to scan prints at all. You will get a "film scanner". It will scan negatives or positive slides (b/w or color). They work at like 3000+ dpi vs. 300 or 600 for a flatbed and they calibrate and focus for each picture in the negative strip.

At worst I'd suggest the KonicaMinolta Dual Scan IV. like $200 or $250.
At best you want one with digital ICE, which uses an infrared channel to detect dust and scratches on the negative and automatically remove it from the scan. $500 or so.

Seriously, I think you only want to undergo a project like this once and you should do it right.

The Epson 4870 does use DigitalICE and offers 4800dpi. And it will also scan medium and large format negatives..... So the fact that its a flatbad doesn't mean its for scanning contracts only. It is a bit more than 250 though.

DeathToWindows · Jul 30, 2005, 12:10 AM

tavilach-

easy answer: total and utter crap.

if you want a flatbed + negs, get a decent epson (hell, I'd find a Epson 2450 on ebay or something - 2400dpi and firewire). Or pick up one of the aformentioned dedicated neg scanners and sell it when you're done.

tavilach · Jul 30, 2005, 12:29 AM

What makes it "total and utter crap"?

OreoCookie · Jul 30, 2005, 04:44 AM

Originally Posted by macroy

The Epson 4870 does use DigitalICE and offers 4800dpi. And it will also scan medium and large format negatives..... So the fact that its a flatbad doesn't mean its for scanning contracts only. It is a bit more than 250 though.

A specialized film scanner will still offer far higher quality and higher speed.

Railroader · Jul 30, 2005, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by tavilach

What makes it "total and utter crap"?

Poor color quality mostly.

ender2002 · Jul 30, 2005, 06:26 PM

http://www.old-photo.com/

DeathToWindows · Jul 30, 2005, 06:29 PM

the fact that canon's flatbeds + their software have never been good... there is a reason they're so cheap

OreoCookie · Jul 30, 2005, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by DeathToWindows

the fact that canon's flatbeds + their software have never been good... there is a reason they're so cheap

That's not true. I own an Epson scanner, but nowadays, the better Canon scanners are on par with Epson scanners.

tavilach · Jul 30, 2005, 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by ender2002

http://www.old-photo.com/

That's over $1,000 for 3,000 photos

!

tavilach · Jul 30, 2005, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by Railroader

Poor color quality mostly.

I don't need the scans to be perfect. Are they noticeably poor at first glance?

Railroader · Jul 31, 2005, 12:11 AM

You won't notice them on the screen so much, but when you print them out or have them developed and compare them to the originals it is bad.

tavilach · Jul 31, 2005, 12:39 AM

It'd be a lot better than not scanning the photos in at all, though. Hrm.

kman42 · May 9, 2006, 03:12 PM

I'm thinking about embarking on this to make a DVD/video presentation for someone's birthday. This thread hasn't been active for a while, so I'm curious if there are any recent recommendations for doing this?

kman

FireWire · May 9, 2006, 11:46 PM

Maybe I can offer a controversial suggestion if you just need a scanner for a short amount of time. It's not illegal but it's certainly unethical: I call it "rental for free". Many stores offer a very generous "tryout" period for many of their products, scanners included. I used to work for Staples and I used this knowledge at my advantage on many occasion. They give you 30 days to return a product to the store for a full refund, for whatever reason. So if you respect the deadline, you basically rented a high-end machine for free!

tavilach · May 10, 2006, 01:48 AM

Originally Posted by FireWire

Maybe I can offer a controversial suggestion if you just need a scanner for a short amount of time. It's not illegal but it's certainly unethical: I call it "rental for free". Many stores offer a very generous "tryout" period for many of their products, scanners included. I used to work for Staples and I used this knowledge at my advantage on many occasion. They give you 30 days to return a product to the store for a full refund, for whatever reason. So if you respect the deadline, you basically rented a high-end machine for free!

So I could use like a $2000 scanner for a month, for free? Or are there different policies for the very high-end equipment?

Gamoe · May 10, 2006, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by FireWire

Maybe I can offer a controversial suggestion if you just need a scanner for a short amount of time. It's not illegal but it's certainly unethical: I call it "rental for free".

Exactly.

You know, I wonder if there's some practical way to "share" a device like this among interested people. I say this because I am also interested in scanning in old family photos and negatives, but I also don't have the appropriate equipment.

Maybe if we all pitched in and divided the cost among us and then whoever uses it last could re-sell it here or on eBay or such and re-distribute the money to all the original donors. This plan could work, except for the probable geographical distances involved. Still, if we were willing to pay shipping costs and actually ship it to each other... Well, it's a nice, if improbable, idea anyway.

FireWire · 02:18 AM

Originally Posted by tavilach

So I could use like a $2000 scanner for a month, for free? Or are there different policies for the very high-end equipment?

Unless the policy changed since I left, there's no limit on the price or the quality. Of course, if you buy a 10 000$ color laser printer and use 300$ worth of ink, you better have a good explanation

, but for goods that don't contain "consumable" parts, there's no problem. Just be sure to unpack it neatly and return it in resalable condition. On one occasion, I needed a PC urgently and couldn't borrow one in time, so I "bought" a laptop and returned it a few days later (I think you have 10 days for computers, 30 for electronics, be sure to ask). The guy looked a me with a strange look but it's their policy. In fact, the manager at my store frequently told us to encourage customer to buy it right away then try it at home "Sir, I not only give you 5 minutes to try it, I give you a whole 30 days", so they can buy it there confidently, knowing that they can try it with their setup and even check the price elsewhere after buying it.

Of course, I'm not publicly encouraging you to do it, but should you decide to do it, maybe it's best not to tell them blatantly that you only wanted to "borrow" it and find something like you bought a model a little bit too in the high-end for your needs (or that it doesn't match with your curtains

)

Just be sure to keep the receipt and pay attention to keep the scanner in pristine condition. I got burnt in one occasion, where I ended up with an unwanted 350$ all-in-one because I lost the bill

You'd be surprised at the numbers of high-end gadgets that got returned after the holidays, by people that only wanted to impress their relatives with their slick PDA and other high-tech gizmos. Or even a set of powerful speakers or the ultimate gaming PC for a LAN party!

[Edit] Of course, some common sense apply when doing this. It's obviously of questionnable morality when the stores loses money, like if you print 1000 pages with a printer, but for things like a scanner or a ditital camera, they just reseal it properly and sell it "as new". If the customer notices it's a return, they sometimes give him a free extended warranty, rarely a monetary discount, but most of the time, they will just pretend the box was opened to show something to a customer and sell it at full price, so it's up to you to make your own judgement...

kman42 · May 10, 2006, 12:16 PM

I'm thinking of getting a CanoScan 8400F from the Apple store (I have a $50 gift card) and trying it out to see if the quality is sufficient for my needs. I am not a photographer, just a point and shoot guy who captures holidays, vacations, etc. Most of the photos were taken on <$300 point-and-shoot cameras and capture memories rather than artistic elements. I don't foresee myself making additional prints from these photos in most cases, but they might be nice for future screen-oriented projects like DVDs, iMovies, etc. Our wedding photos may be the exception to this and they might be worth getting done professionally.

kman