Question pls re copying old photos

[luvscats]

Hi.....I have quite a number of old photos from my Mom that I need to copy and get to other family members.

What's the easiest way to achieve this? Buy a good quality scanner and post them to some photo web site? Scan them onto disks? Do I need software to do this? Whatever I do, it has to be simple. I'm not technically inclined. Any suggestions pls?

Thank you kindly.

 

[retiredweaxman]

Hi.....I have quite a number of old photos from my Mom that I need to copy and get to other family members.

What's the easiest way to achieve this? Buy a good quality scanner and post them to some photo web site? Scan them onto disks? Do I need software to do this? Whatever I do, it has to be simple. I'm not technically inclined. Any suggestions pls?

Thank you kindly.

To me, the easiest and quickest fix (maybe not the best fix) would be to scan and save them to your hard drive. Once saved, you can attach the photos to an e-mail and send them out.

It is not the best solution as hard drives do fail, so you will end up saving to a cd or risk losing them in the future. However, that could be done next week once you get someone over that can show you how to do it.

 

[GopherM]

Instead of attempting to post emails that would end up being huge files I would recommend scanning the photos and then uploading them to one of the photo server sites like Shutterfly, Photobucket, Flickr, etc. The good thing about using these sites is that it maintains the original file quality and you can share the photos with as many people as you like. If you use Facebook to upload your photos you should know that the file size will be compressed and the image quality will be reduced so the image quality will be compromised.

No special software is required to upload to these sites.

If you have negatives, there are also some good reasonably priced scanners for them as well and many snapshot scanners will also scan slides.

One recommendation before you start is to have a plan on creating file folders that will logically organized the scans so it will be easy to keep track of what you are doing and plan on spending a good amount of time to scan the photos.

The bottom line is that it will be something that will be well worth the effort and your family will appreciate the effort you put into it for them.

 

[luvscats]

Thank you kindly for the ideas. I do want to protect the photos and keep good quality copies of them. Now to get them organized and to get Mom to identify who's in which pic.

Thank you again.

 

[itsbob]

You COULD get better results taking pictures of the old pictures. I don't believe ANY scanner has as good a resolution as most digital cameras.

 

[Katelin]

I do photo restoration work, from 8mm, 16 mm, 35, print, negative,slides... up to medium format.
I use Nikon cameras, coping lenses, tables and frames. No scanner!!!
I even made a carrage to hold 8mm movie film to pull one frame of a loved one. Was a challenge,,,but they got a print of a loved one!!

For your situation I suggest do as ItsBob said, take photos..do not scan.
It is much easier to make a frame to hold the photo in and take a photo with balanced lighting.
He is right in that scanners are not the best for maiking copies of old photographs.
If you have negatives or slides, use a copy table.

You can make adjustments in the camera and them upload all the images into your PC, make any corrections and save it to your PC. Then go and buy as many thumb drives (USB) as you need..copy photos to USB drives and mail to family.
Then they can do as they wish...If they want copies, they can go to WalMart, Office Depot, etc and use their professional equipment to print out photos.

It is a lot easier doing this than scanning and uploading to a web site etc. It is a lot of data to pprocess and upload.
Just do the above and send out USB drives.

PM me if you need more help.