Author Topic: Photo scanning?  (Read 2920 times)

Spondulix

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Photo scanning?
« on: January 09, 2015, 09:49:33 PM »
I've got a couple boxes of photos I need to scan. Anyone have recommendations on software or technique to help streamline the process? (I'm looking at things like VueScan, ScanSpeeder)

I've been surprised how hard it's been to find info on this - it seems to be pretty popular to just send to those services that scan for you (which I'm shocked about the popularity, given the prices. I guess it's just another way for people to spend a lot of money for a little convenience)

Mr. Frugalwoods

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Re: Photo scanning?
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2015, 04:19:49 PM »
Commenting so that I can follow the thread :-)  I too would love to scan a bunch of old photos, and I don't really want to pay a service to do it!

I mean, heck, what I really need is to rent a badass photo scanner for like a week.  I wonder if there's a market for that...

Peacefulwarrior

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Re: Photo scanning?
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2015, 04:24:07 PM »
If you have a smartphone you can find an app that's good at "scanning" old pictures and saving them to your phone. And then you can, depending on your type of phone, set your phone to upload all new images on your phone to dropbox automatically. Then you have then all backed up online or you can save them to your computer. Might loose some quality by scanning with your phone but if it's just for good ol' memories it should be good enough if done correctly.

GizmoTX

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Re: Photo scanning?
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2015, 04:31:19 PM »
I bought a Canon CanoScan for a similar project. It was $200 new. I controlled the process & still use the scanner on a regular basis.
You may be able to find a similar unit used; many people buy these for a project & then sell them. (I was up against a deadline & didn't have the time to wait.) Look on Amazon Marketplace or CraigsList.

Spork

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Re: Photo scanning?
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2015, 04:47:56 PM »

I use simple-scan in linux.  I don't do buckets and buckets of scanning... and I do not generally do retouches on the photos.  I am by no means "a photographer" or "an archivist".  It's fine for a few here and there.  I'm not sure I'd want to do 2000 photos with it.
Cost: free.

PMG

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Re: Photo scanning?
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2015, 06:37:35 PM »
I'm work in archives at my college.. Just an assistant.  We use the programs that came with the scanners.  We save things in .tiff I was surprised by that.  I thought photos were always JPEG but my supervisor says that Tiff doesn't degrade and JPEG will.  So, there you go.  Federally funded archival program, we scan 24 bit color, 600 dpi and save as tiff.   

I've been taking my personal photos in and scanning during breaks.  I use jotnot scan app on my phone for documents and have great results. Easy, much faster than a real scanner and clear legible results.  I set the phone up on a nifty stand with a white background and lit it well.   I wasn't as happy with results for photos, so I've taken them to work like I said.

Since thanksgiving I've gotten rid of at least 50 pounds of paper.

Spondulix

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Re: Photo scanning?
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2015, 08:02:43 PM »
Commenting so that I can follow the thread :-)  I too would love to scan a bunch of old photos, and I don't really want to pay a service to do it!

I mean, heck, what I really need is to rent a badass photo scanner for like a week.  I wonder if there's a market for that...
I found a place locally that was $200/week. That's probably close to what I'd spend to get one of those services to do it for me, though.

I do need to buy a scanner now (or all-in-one) - my printer officially died...

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!