Digitising/preserving old photographs

[LFC_SL]

Back home in Manchester for the weekend and I will be sneaking off with some old photographs. Hopefully my mother will not notice

Now they range from 1993-ish to 2000. The film negatives are long gone and some of them are primary school photographs anyway. Wow I was the picture of innocence as a child!

So is it possible for the photographs to be scanned into a computer by some kind of high quality photo scanner? And can you actually have this done on the high street?

Any other ideas are welcome. Thanks

[denno75uk]

Try Snappy Snaps if there's one by you. I think there'll be somewhere that does it.
If you have lots to do, may even be worth considering buying your own.
Canon
Epson

[kBm]

I have a Lexmark all in one bit of kit, cost £25 from Tesco couple of years ago. The scanner is quite good, old photos come out really well.

They still need a bit of work on the PC though. I could get a reasonable 6x4 print if required.

[LFC_SL]

Didn't think a bog standard all-in-one (no offence) could produce decent results

I'll probably check out the high street first. Moving house next week and in any case don't need any more faff

Hope they use digital cams now for the little darlings!

[kBm]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

Didn't think a bog standard all-in-one (no offence) could produce decent results

You'd be surprised!

[senu]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

Didn't think a bog standard all-in-one (no offence) could produce decent results

I'll probably check out the high street first. Moving house next week and in any case don't need any more faff

Hope they use digital cams now for the little darlings!

There are Canon "all in ones" which may (I imagine ) cost a bit more then the Lexmark but will give far better quality, for scanning but especuially more for printing
My own experience ( from doing restoration on occasion) is that
Your PP skills are perhaps more challenged than the scanner you use
I have Epson scanners and Canon/Hp/Epson printers but find that the most the time is what you spend in PS to revive the photos
If you have PS elements ( which may infact come bundled with these devices) I can scan as a pdf and email to you the relevant chapter on photo restoration if any other sources of info don't prove useful
enough

[LFC_SL]

Precious memories vs my time and money

Hmmm... leaning more towards the high street. I have light room and PS 7 (thank you student discount) but tbh whilst I have fun with the sliders in LR it is limited to just that and I have no clue what I am doing in PS

Thanks for the post. Seems this is may be harder than I originally presumed it would be. Although looking at the photos the colours seem quite OK

[senu]

I would suggest you scan them, digitising them onto a HDD for the time being and them do the restoration work at your own leisure when you have a burst of inspiration
You could then do slide show onto DVD with music ( your folk will love it better than reprints)

I did something like that for a friends recent 40th birthday which was projected in the Party ( done in a hall).. went down very well indeed..( There were 106 pictures. took a good few hrs but not at a time, and it really is a one off so dont let it put you off)
Scanners dont cost that much and an MFD will last you way beyond this project

regarding the high St ..Suppose you don't like what you get..? besides, they will scan and charge per picture. I cannot imagine it being significantly cheaper

However, You cant not know how to use PS.. that really is sacrilege!
(Says he who has CS3 and LR but reolutely sticks with DPP and Elements )
There are easy to read books but actually using it for a project will make the use of it all the more enjoyable
( I think!)
HTH

[LFC_SL]

This thread was just for me but something for my mum... hmm possible

Good point about potential cost... although first time I printed pics on high street (ref other thread), the guy walked me through each photo. But there is at least a "degree" of control at home albeit at the hands of a PS novice

[senu]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

o But there is at least a "degree" of control at home albeit at the hands of a PS novice

I don't buy PS novice mate.. lose the fear.. get one of Scott Kelbys easy to read books
Seriously , PS can be easy to use ( it does have newbee mode auto stuff althoogh elements is better with that)) .. you generally determine what you want from it. and just use it in such way
Its problem is that it tries to aim at graphic designer, web designers , Digital photographers ( Amateur , Semi Pro Pro) and students of all ages
I have CS3 ( very seldom used ) but I do use Photshop Elements rather more often ( Ver 3/4/5) even though I have Ver 6
What is important is that you can get images in a way that pleases you rather than be a PS whizkidd
Some of the more skilfull guys here simply get decent kit , shoot RAW and never PP much ..
And some of my more PS savvy friends canoot shoot a decent photograph to save thier lives

PS; You can actually photography the Pictures ( digitally) instead of scanning them , you know