Anyone use a service to scan old family photos?

[jon_kobeck1]

I have about 10 photo albums that I inherited over the yeas. They are sitting on the shelf calling me to get them all

scanned in. Every year I say to myself that I am going to get all those photos scanned.

I have the feeling I never will. Im too lazy and impatient to sit through all that :(

 

What would a service charge to scan family photos?

Maybe I could ship them to India where they will do them for cheap cheap lol

[pcnilssen]

<p>You don't have to buy a scanner.. Why don't you use your camera and photograph the old photos with that? Often that gives you a quality good enough...</p>

[otto1]

Depending on the age and specific quality of the print, you should be aiming for 1200 ppi. The difference of this to 600

ppi with old prints is astonishing, however most services offer 600 (sometimes only 300) ppi maximum. Modern prints (post

1960 typically) have only 600 ppi resolution.

 

Using a camera can produce good results, but the variation in print size will need constant adjustment, and in our

opinion at Oscans.com we feel that scanners produce a better result, even with prints sometimes realizing 2400 ppi. There are some special conditions where cameras are advantageous, but scanners usually produce better results, and may be more effective at batching.

[mattb1]

A decent point and shoot can do a good job. But, it is still a lot of work. Find someone local to copy them for you. You

will have to spend a lot of time just putting names to faces and places anyway.

[Hector Javkin]

<p>Look for a local place. In the Santa Barbara area, I would see whether Color Services on East Cota would do the scans. I very much disagree with the advice to photograph them yourself. A scanner is much less work (takes care of set-up and lighting) and usually yields much better results.</p>

[derek_hofmann]

<p>ScanCafe charges 29 cents per photo, up to 8x10 size.</p>

[peter_wald]

<p>Another happy ScanCafe user user. I did all of my old pre-digital pics this summer, and now am starting to do the old "family" pics. It's so efficient to have them do it for you instead of taking all of the time to do it yourself</p>