Posts Tagged ‘old’

Scanning Old Photos – All-in-one Photos Scanning Solutions!

Monday, October 26th, 2009

If you are in the process of searching for a way to scan old photos but you don’t know which type would best fit your needs, then you just have to listen to some good advice on the subject that will make the process of researching and buying a scanner a lot easier. Using a portable scanner can significantly improve the way you deal with digitized information, for example, when keeping valuable documentation is of the utmost importance. So before you decide to purchase a portable scanner, we recommend that you keep in mind the following points.

As is true of every new and sophisticated computer peripheral, small scanners have evolved to be easy to learn and to get comfortable with. They can answer a multitude of scanning tasks, for instance, photographs you don’t want to risk losing, documents, and even checks. It’s done in an instant, and portable scanners offer unbelievable scanning clarity in a format to meet your every need. Digital slide scanning using the latest imaging technology available in the market. In today’s market, the best way to scanning old photos is going online and finding a solution that is certainly worth the expense whether you are buying it for personal or business use.

According to many users, the best thing about these handheld scanners is the great convenience of them anywhere you happen to be. Included with the scanners is user-friendly software which makes it simple to obtain impressive results from pictures and text and save the image or data in a number of different ways. Let’s say you need to scan an id card. the scanner extracts the various parts of the card: the photo, the signature, and all the text of the card and set it all up in convenient files, which can then be exported to a clipboard or another software program.

Before you find your preferred solution to scan old photos it’s highly recommended to follow the next five steps: (1) clarify what you will be scanning; (2) search the internet for scanners you think might fit your needs; (3) what makes the scanners different from each other? (4) verify that the company has a good reputation and read reviews by customers of the scanner; (5) find out about freight charges and returns.

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Old Photos and Slides: the Fun of Going Digital

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Transferring old photos and slides to a digital format brings numerous benefits, not to mention the space savings. Say goodbye to all the old photo shoeboxes and slide carousels in your basement or garage! New digital services allow your precious images to be converted to DVDs, online sharing, and other fun digital media. This untraps your photos and allows them to be shared and enjoyed with your family and friends, whether they’re in Boston or Boise.

Overview
If you’re like most families, you have dozens of boxes and albums of old photos, as well as carousel trays of old 35mm Slide scanning. All of these pre-digital formats unfortunately can be considered trapped in time, as they sit wasting away in homes around the world. The photos in the boxes get torn or crushed, while the plastic cellophane pages in the photo albums react with the chemical makeup of the photos and often discolors them, turning them yellow over time. Storage in extreme environmental conditions, such as the heat of an attic or the cold and humidity of a basement, also affects the quality of the photographic paper.

Slides fare somewhat better, since they are usually protected in circular trays that house anywhere from 20-140 slides. It is difficult, however, to find a specific slide without having to load up the projector and go through each slide. And the once popular individual slide view finders that were manufactured in the 20th century are fast disappearing.

Digital Transferral
With the advent of digital cameras that are now extremely popular and affordable, families for the first time find that they have significant photo and slide collections in multiple formats: those images that typically pre-date the 1990s, and those taken during or after the 90s, when more families turned to digital media. It’s time to open the door to enjoying and sharing your older photos and slides by ensuring all of the older formats are transferred to digital.

This process uses equipment to scan each image and produce a digital version without ever actually touching the photo or slide, so the original is never harmed. Specialized software enables the now-digitized image to be restored and enhanced, fixing such problems as red-eye, scratches on the original, or distorted colors.

Benefits
Once in digital form, there are four clear benefits to the new format:

1. Organize, combine and label – It’s easy to arrange and identify your transferred images once they are in digital format. Moving them around is as simple as moving them around on your PC screen. And you can combine all of your memories, both pre-1990s and post-1990s, into one digital collection of DVDs or storing online. Say goodbye to boxes and carousels that take up space in the garage.
2. Make them look better – It’s a fact that the old photos and slides we grew up with do not improve with time, but rather, lose their quality. With digital technology, you can have them restored to their original color and vibrancy.
3. Preservation – Natural disasters aside, we’ve seen what happens just with the simple passing of time – photos are unorganized and unlabeled, remaining a mystery to future generations. Storing the images in a digital format preserves them for generations.
4. Enjoy and share – What good are memories if no one can ever enjoy them? If you never view the photos in the boxes, look through the albums, or fire up the slide projector, those images are lying dormant. You can do fun things with digital photos:
a. Build photo books online
b. Produce photo calendars and other family momentos as gifts
c. Use them as revolving “wallpaper” (background screens) on your computer
d. Send them to an iPod or mobile phone for your kids or grandkids
e. Create DVD slideshows for special occasions, like a birthday, anniversary or graduation

It’s not only fun but easy today to convert old photos and slides to a digital format. You can join the digital revolution!

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Turn your Old Photo Paper Prints Into Modern Digital Format Albums

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Although digital cameras have been around for a few years and are becoming more and more popular many of us still have a large number of older film camera paper prints, slides and negatives. Most people keep their paper prints and negatives at their homes and only use digital formats for new photos they shoot with their new digital cameras. In this article we will discuss converting your old paper prints into digital format.

Photos are usually kept at home in one of three formats:

# Paper prints: the most common format, usually at sizes like 4X6 and 5X7. Over time paper prints tend to lose their quality. Depending on how well they are kept the paper might turn yellow and bend and the colors might fade.

# Negatives: also known simply as film. This is the processed film usually 35mm from which the prints where made. Although negatives can get damaged over time they are more likely to maintain their high quality. Negatives are hardly used unless new paper prints are needed.

# Slides: very similar to negatives used for projecting photos on a large screen.

There are many advantages to digital photography. Having your photo album in digital format allows you to easily print paper copies either at home or using a printing service, to view your photos on your computer, to share photos with friends and family and maybe most importantly to practically archive your photos for eternity. So if digital format is that good why not convert all those old photos from traditional paper and negatives to digital? Here is how:

There are different considerations when converting from paper to digital. Professional photographers spend a lot of time and money on this process. For most amateurs and consumers very simple methods can be used which are both cheap and easy. Scanning paper prints and negatives requires different equipment and considerations. For most home users scanning the negatives is not necessary.

Scanning paper photos prints

Photo paper prints are easy to scan. You can choose to scan them yourself at home (purchasing a scanner that can do the job is usually cheap and costs less than a $100). You can also choose to mail them (or hand them) to a professional scanning service that will scan them for you and mail you back the originals and a DVD with the digital scans (such services include www.digmypics.com, www.digitalpickle.com, www.britepix.com and many more)

There are pros and cons to scanning at home or using a professional service. If you have a small number of photos scanning at home is easier. If you have plenty of photos using a service might be easier but you can end up spending more money. In addition mailing your one and only hardcopy of your photos is a risk since they might get lost.

If you are going to scan at home consider the following:

# Resolution: the resolution of a scan is measured by the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Most scanners can scan at 1200 DPI or more. Usually the scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and the bigger the photo file size will be. For most paper prints scanning at 300 to 600 DPI is enough but you can experiment scanning at higher resolutions if you feel it provides better results.

# Speed: If you have a small number of photos speed is not an issue. If you have hundreds or more of photos scanning speed becomes important. To get fast scans you would have to scan at the lowest resolution possible that results in good enough scans – for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough.. Also if you’re going to buy a scanner check the scanning speed (usually measured in the number of scans per minute make sure that you check the speed at the DPI you’re going to use).

# Photo feeding: if you only have a small number of photos this is not an issue. If you have many photos make sure that the scanner you buy allows fast and easy loading of photos. Some higher-end scanners will let you load a stack of photos and will automatically feed and scan them for you. These scanners are the right choice if you are planning on scanning hundreds or more photos.

Scanning negatives and slides

Scanning negatives and slides is harder than scanning paper prints. In most cases it is easier and maybe cheaper to use a professional scanning service. If you want to scan at home your standard flat scanner will not be good enough. In most cases you will need to spend money on purchasing a film/Slide Scanning. Those scanners are more expensive than the flat paper scanners. Negatives and slides are small high resolution sources and thus require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400DPI or higher should be used.

The considerations for scanning negatives and slides are similar to scanning paper prints. If you need to scan just a few negatives or slides speed and ease are not important but if you’re going to scan hundreds or more you should spend more money on scanners that can feed the negatives or slides automatically or can just load a roll of film and scan it.

The good news is that in most cases scanning negatives is not needed at all. For most amateurs and consumers scanning home photo paper prints is more than enough and scanning the source negatives is a not needed. It is recommended of course to keep the negatives in a safe place. You can use the digital scans for future prints or just for viewing on your computer screen and sharing with your friends and family.

In conclusion scanning your photo paper prints is easy. You can do it yourself at home or you can use a professional scanning service. You can convert all your memories into digital format with a small investment and make sure that you can enjoy those photos and also keep them in their original quality for eternity.

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Posted in Slide Scanning News | 5 Comments »

Creating Digital Albums From Old Photos

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Since digital cameras came into the market, most people use digital formats for new photos, and there are people keeping older film camera paper prints, slides and negatives. We will show how to convert them into digital formats.

Paper Prints

Sizes 4X6 and 5X7. If they are kept too long, tend to lose their quality, the paper might turn yellow, bend and colors faded.

Slides

Are similar to negatives but projecting photos on large screen.

Negatives

Are processed film usually 35mm roll which hardly used unless to develop new paper prints.

Want to know how to convert all those old photos from traditional paper and negatives to digital? This is easy to copy and a better way to keep the photos in the computer for long time. For amateurs try simple, easy and cheap methods. Professional photographers will spend time and money on this process scanning and requires different equipment.

Scan paper photos prints on a scanner yourself, is a cheaper way, unless you want to send to a professional scanning service that will scan and mail them back the originals and a DVD with the digital scans. Sometimes, it’s a risk to take, mailing the only hardcopy of your photos.

The Resolution is measured by the number of dots per inch, if you are going to scan it yourself. Usually the scanner can scan at 1200DPI or more. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and bigger photo file size. If the higher resolutions scan is at 300 to 600 DPI, you get better results.

When you buy a scanner check the slide scanning Speed, which is measured by number of scans per minute and check the speed at the DPI you’re going to use. Speed is important if you are using more than hundreds photos. For better results, scan at the lowest resolution possible, 300-600DPI is good enough.

Photo feeding is not an issue if only small number, but for more photos make sure that the scanner is fast and easy loading. A good scanner will automatically load stacks of photos, feed and scan them for you.

Scanning negatives and slides is harder than scanning paper prints, so a professional scanning service is easier and cheaper. Standard flat scanner will not be good enough; you need a film/slides scanner. Negatives and slides are high resolution sources and require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In this cases 2400DPI or higher should be used. So scanning home photo paper prints is good enough but scanning the source negatives is a not needed.

You can see how easy to photo paper prints by yourself rather than using professional scanning service. For a small investment, get an expensive automatic scanner which has all the functions to convert your original quality memories into digital format, for you and your children to enjoy.

Plus you can keep these photos stored safely on DVD hard drive or online where you can never loose them. And you can share your photos with the world faster then you can say cheese!

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Techniques to scanning old paper photo into digital prints

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Scanning photo prints paper is rare, but sometimes you need to do just that. Scanning is a process in which photographic prints on paper are used in digital photo files. There are a few things to know and a few tips to follow when searching such photo paper prints. In this article, the most important.
There are three types of photos you scan:
paper prints photo: The most common, usually in sizes of 5×7 and 4X6. Photo paper are easy to scan. You can scan them yourself at home with a home scanner. Home scanner can do the job are relatively cheap and usually costs less than 100 dollars. You can e-mail or hand them in person to a professional service to scan them for you. Once they are in the mail service, you will return to the originals and a DVD with the digital photo files – or alternatively the service you can use online access to digital photos (examples include services such as www.digmypics.com, www.digitalpickle . Com, www.britepix.com and many more), there are pros and cons at home scanning, or professional scanning services. If you have a small number of scanning photos at home is easier. If you have many photos with a service may be easier, but it can be expensive. If you decide to home, you should consider:
Resolution: The resolution of a scan is the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Home scanner can scan at 1200 dpi or more. The scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution, the slower the scan and the greater the digital photo file. For most photo paper prints scanned at 300 to 600 DPI is enough. You can experiment with higher scanning resolutions.
Speed: The speed is not important if you only have a few photos to scan. If you have hundreds or more photo prints speed is important. For faster scanning, you should scan at the lowest resolution that is satisfactory – for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough .. Various scanners scan at different speeds measured by the number of scans per minute. When buying a scanner to focus on his speed.
Photo prints care: The type of feeding photo mechanism is not important if you scan only a few photos. It is important if you have many photos to scan. In this case, make sure you buy the scanner supports fast and easy loading of photo prints. High-end scanners can load a stack of photos and automatically retrieve and scan them. They should such scanners, if you scan hundreds or more photos.
Keywords: negatives are also known as a film. Negative film to be developed normally in 35-mm format from which paper prints photo printing. Scanning of negatives is harder than scanning paper prints photo. In most cases, it is also easier and cheaper to use a professional negative scanning service (for example, services such as www.slidescanning.com, www.myspecialphotos.com, www.pixmonix.com and many more). Standard flat home scanners are not good enough for negative scanning and money and you must buy a special film / slide scanner. Negatives are small high-resolution sources and therefore require slide scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400dpi or higher. Negative also need to be illuminated in a special way when they are scanned. Flat home project paper scanner light on the paper from the front and then scanned by the reflected light. Negative on the other side, illuminated from behind, and the search is the inclusion of the light passes through the
the negative.
Slides: very similar to the negatives, for projecting images on large screens. The same considerations and tips for scanning negatives and slides for.

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Posted in Slide Scanning News | 4 Comments »

Turn your Old Photo Paper Prints Into Modern Digital Format Albums

Friday, June 19th, 2009

Although digital cameras have been around for a few years and are becoming more and more popular many of us still have a large number of older film camera paper prints, slides and negatives. Most people keep their paper prints and negatives at their homes and only use digital formats for new photos they shoot with their new digital cameras. In this article we will discuss converting your old paper prints into digital format.

Photos are usually kept at home in one of three formats:

# Paper prints: the most common format, usually at sizes like 4X6 and 5X7. Over time paper prints tend to lose their quality. Depending on how well they are kept the paper might turn yellow and bend and the colors might fade.

# Negatives: also known simply as film. This is the processed film usually 35mm from which the prints where made. Although negatives can get damaged over time they are more likely to maintain their high quality. Negatives are hardly used unless new paper prints are needed.

# Slides: very similar to negatives used for projecting photos on a large screen.

There are many advantages to digital photography. Having your photo album in digital format allows you to easily print paper copies either at home or using a printing service, to view your photos on your computer, to share photos with friends and family and maybe most importantly to practically archive your photos for eternity. So if digital format is that good why not convert all those old photos from traditional paper and negatives to digital? Here is how:

There are different considerations when converting from paper to digital. Professional photographers spend a lot of time and money on this process. For most amateurs and consumers very simple methods can be used which are both cheap and easy. Scanning paper prints and negatives requires different equipment and considerations. For most home users scanning the negatives is not necessary.

Scanning paper photos prints

Photo paper prints are easy to scan. You can choose to scan them yourself at home (purchasing a scanner that can do the job is usually cheap and costs less than a $100). You can also choose to mail them (or hand them) to a professional scanning service that will scan them for you and mail you back the originals and a DVD with the digital scans (such services include www.digmypics.com, www.digitalpickle.com, www.britepix.com and many more)

There are pros and cons to scanning at home or using a professional service. If you have a small number of photos scanning at home is easier. If you have plenty of photos using a service might be easier but you can end up spending more money. In addition mailing your one and only hardcopy of your photos is a risk since they might get lost.

If you are going to scan at home consider the following:

# Resolution: the resolution of a scan is measured by the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Most scanners can scan at 1200 DPI or more. Usually the scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and the bigger the photo file size will be. For most paper prints scanning at 300 to 600 DPI is enough but you can experiment scanning at higher resolutions if you feel it provides better results.

# Speed: If you have a small number of photos speed is not an issue. If you have hundreds or more of photos scanning speed becomes important. To get fast scans you would have to scan at the lowest resolution possible that results in good enough scans – for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough.. Also if you’re going to buy a scanner check the scanning speed (usually measured in the number of scans per minute make sure that you check the speed at the DPI you’re going to use).

# Photo feeding: if you only have a small number of photos this is not an issue. If you have many photos make sure that the scanner you buy allows fast and easy loading of photos. Some higher-end scanners will let you load a stack of photos and will automatically feed and scan them for you. These scanners are the right choice if you are planning on scanning hundreds or more photos.

Scanning negatives and slides

Scanning negatives and slides is harder than scanning paper prints. In most cases it is easier and maybe cheaper to use a professional scanning service (such services include www.slidescanning.com, www.myspecialphotos.com, www.pixmonix.com and many more). If you want to scan at home your standard flat scanner will not be good enough. In most cases you will need to spend money on purchasing a film/slides scanner. Those scanners are more expensive than the flat paper scanners. Negatives and slides are small high resolution sources and thus require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400DPI or higher should be used.

The considerations for scanning negatives and slides are similar to scanning paper prints. If you need to scan just a few negatives or slides speed and ease are not important but if you’re going to scan hundreds or more you should spend more money on scanners that can feed the negatives or slides automatically or can just load a roll of film and scan it.

The good news is that in most cases scanning negatives is not needed at all. For most amateurs and consumers scanning home photo paper prints is more than enough and Slide Scanning the source negatives is a not needed. It is recommended of course to keep the negatives in a safe place. You can use the digital scans for future prints or just for viewing on your computer screen and sharing with your friends and family.

In conclusion scanning your photo paper prints is easy. You can do it yourself at home or you can use a professional scanning service. You can convert all your memories into digital format with a small investment and make sure that you can enjoy those photos and also keep them in their original quality for eternity.

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Posted in Slide Scanning News | No Comments »