Digitizing Old Photographs & Slides

October 4, 2008

There are a couple of reasons to move your collection of slides and prints to digital images. First, it will preserve them in their current state, that is as long as you keep the digital files alive – more on that later. Second, by getting them out of albums stored on the back shelf, you will enjoy viewing them as screensavers on your computer or using a digital picture viewer. Third, as RVers, space is at a premium. If you have a home base (or a relative does) you can keep thousands of images in a space smaller than a paperback book while leaving the originals on a shelf.

There are a couple of considerations when digitizing images:

How many are you planning to process? It the number is relatively small, the amount of labor involved is not all that important. If you are doing thousands, you might want to stick with the faster methods.
What kind of quality are you looking for? If all you want are files that you can look at on a laptop, show on a digital picture viewer, or your cell phone, and are planning on keeping the originals, low resolution scans are fine, and will be less expensive, faster to process, and offer more options. On the other hand, if you are planning to make 16″X20″ or larger prints from the files, and are replacing the originals with the digital copies, you are going to need more expensive high resolution files made with professional equipment.
How much are you willing to spend? By far the easiest way to digitize your images it to let someone else do it. There are plenty of services out there that, for a fee, will turn your slides & negatives or prints into digital files. The price ranges from as little as $.16 per print & $.25 per negative or slide to well over a couple of bucks per copy, depending on the final file size, how much cleaning up of the image is necessary, and the volume. All you need to do is pick out the prints & slides you want digitized, mail them off & a few weeks later they come back, along with a CD(s) or DVD(s) of your images. Some services worth checking with include ScanCafe, Larsen Digital Services, or choose from a Google Directory of Services.
Although a flat bed scanner will do a great job digitizing prints and many of them state they will scan slides & negatives, a dedicated slide/negative scanner will work better if most of your images are stored as slides. Dedicated slide scanners range in price from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars. The advantage of the more expensive versions is higher resolution (not necessary unless you are planning to make large prints from your slides & negatives) and automatic stack feeding – very much worth it if you are doing hundreds of slides – stack 50 in the feeder & come back when done.
Still, I’d think twice about doing it myself with a dedicated slide scanner. If you can borrow one it may be worth it cost wise, however think about the time involved. By the time you finish loading, doing even minor editing, you will spend 4-5 minutes per slide, more if scanning negatives. If you have the time, go for it, otherwise, look for faster solutions.
A low tech method that is faster than a scanner, at least for prints is to shoot the images with your digital camera. It will take a little time to set up a copy stand, but it could be as simple as a tripod for the camera & a board to tack the pictures to. A pair of lamps aimed at the photos at 45°, and you can shoot hundreds per hour. It will help if you order your photographs by size so you don’t have to keep zooming the camera in & out.
If you are copying slides and can live with less than ideal quality, set up your slide projector & shoot the projections. Another solution for slides or negatives is an adapter that goes on the front of your camera. This is just one example, but there are a number of them designed for many different cameras. A Google search for “slide copying adapter for camera” comes up with lots of them. If you are shooting negatives, you will need to invert the image file to turn it into a positive. In Photoshop, use Images>Adjustment>Invert.
How are you going to store your image files? – Actually, how is not quite what I mean. I’m not as concerned with the exact method as I am with making sure you will be able retrieve the files in the future. Whether the images are stored on a hard disk (or two – mirrored disks make sense – you can purchase a 1TD drive for under $200.00 which will hold hundreds of thousands of images) or a bunch of DVDs, or what ever storage method is available, it is important that you make sure updated computers, operating systems & drives are capable of reading the image files. You must be an active archiver – As I’ve said in past articles, you don’t want to have to send out your equipment to a retrieval service to get back your images! Which ever method you choose to store your files, make sure you always have at least two copies of everything. That way when the first method fails (note that I said when, not if) you have the second to retrieve your data.

My favorite way of showing my images is as the screensaver for my computer. Although screensavers are not really necessary with modern monitors, they offer a great method of viewing your pictures. You can also use slide show software (built into most operating systems & photo editing software) to show your pictures, or put together a Powerpoint presentation. If you don’t keep a computer running all the time, a digital picture viewer (or digital frame) will provide a good way to show your images. Since the quality of digital picture viewers is all over the map, I’d put together a USB thumb or flash drive of your images & take it to the store so that you can look at the images before buying. Also, view it at the distance you will be viewing in your RV. It is easy to purchase one too small to be useful, however they get more expensive as the size (and quality) increases. Remember, you can purchase an entire laptop PC for less than $600.00 these days, so don’t spend too much for the digital frame!

Another way to view your images is on your TV. Thee are a number of ways to do this. Many DVD players are capable of showing JPEGs as a slide show. If you have the software, you can build a picture CD or DVD that can be shown on many DVD players. Many digital TVs have inputs that can be connected to the output of your computer. There are also boxes that can be used to connect a computer through a wireless network to a TV. One example is Apple TV.

There are many other viewing devices. I have hundreds of my photographs stored in my iPhone. Woe to the poor person who asks if I have a picture of my granddaughter! There are even keychain picture viewers! The joke about the proud parent or grandparent bringing out a wallet foldout 4′ long of images is no longer a joke – you can carry around hundreds or even thoudands of pictures.

Converting your original slides, prints & negatives can be a good backup to your original film material, and provide a practical way to view the images.