Prints and negatives to Disc?

[Rod Hagen]

I've decided to finally send all my prints and negatives in and get them transferred to disc.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have time to run them through a scanner, and most of the photos, but not all, are prints, not negatives.

 

I need it to be cheap, and I hope that they are good quality and not opposed to general disorder. I found lots of companies when I googled this, but was wondering if anyone here had any good experience with any particular company?

 

THANKS!

 

RH

[RockHard]

Cheap + scan does not = quality. Especially if we're talking scanning prints. A print is already a second or third generation away from a film/chrome original. Unless the prints are exceptionally high quality and scanned on a very expensive machine, the results aren't going to be "quality," depending on your definition of this word. Unfortunately, the cheaper the scan equipment, the lower the D-max, which means: no shadow detail. A cheap scan usually produces a cheap looking result.

 

The Epson V750-M Pro gets the highest ratings for its low price. When you consider a drum scanner costs $40,000, the Epson Flatbed is a steal at $850. The Epson scans prints as well as film/chromes. I believe wet mounting is possible as well.

 

As far as I know, there is no machine that sorts and scans hard copy photos en masse. Each photo has to be handled separately. I know of no cheap way around this expensive labor cost.

 

I recommend you call Duggal in NYC and speak to a rep. They will explain the available technologies and the associated costs. From there, you will be able to make a more informed decision.

 

http://www.duggal.com/

[Lookin]

Good advice from RockHard.

 

Your first step should probably be to define what you mean by 'cheap' and 'good quality'. They are inversely related, and there are wide ranges for each.

 

You might also consider separating your prints and slides into two groups: ordinary snapshots and the real keepers. You'll want to give special attention to the keepers, and maybe let Walgreens handle the everyday stuff. They charge about fifty cents each for their conversions, but I have no idea what the quality is. I sure wouldn't send them my good stuff.

 

Talking to the pros is a good idea. I'd also suggest you take some of your stuff to one of the media conversion specialists - LA must be brimming with them - and let them show you the trade-offs.

 

I recently made a video for a friend based on a couple hundred wilderness slides he had taken over the years. I thought it was going to be easy, as a local conversion specialist had already put his slides on a CD. Au contraire. Some of the disk images were usable, but many had too little detail for even a high-definition video. Some were dirty, and others were washed out or had poor color. I ended up re-scanning most of them myself on a mid-range Canon 8800F scanner, and touching them up in iPhoto or Photoshop. They were plenty good for a video or a 5 x 7 print but, as RockHard says, they would not make for a great framed portrait.

 

I realize you don't want to spend a lot of time doing this work yourself but, for the important ones anyway, you might consider letting the conversion specialists scan them at a high resolution and then use iPhoto or Photoshop yourself to clean them up and get the exposure and color right. iPhoto is remarkably easy to use, and you can often get a more pleasing image than the original in a few minutes time. Once you have the images right, it's easy to export them to a video with music from your iTunes library.

 

When you have all your photos on disk and looking good, I'm sure you'll get much more pleasure from them. Seeing them scroll by on a big TV with your favorite music in the background is a great way to share memories.

 

Good luck!

[Rod Hagen]

Thanks guys, very helpful.

 

RH