Travel Technology - I Have a Zillion Pictures Of Hawaii, But I Don't Know How To Scan Them

Can anyone here guide me through scanning so I can share my pictures? I am technically illiterate so I need help. Thanks so much.

Can anyone here guide me through scanning so I can share my pictures? I am technically illiterate so I need help. Thanks so much.

I assume you already have a scanner and that it came with a software package. If so, it's a fairly straight-forward process. Not much more complex than operating a Xerox copying machine. There are some decisions you need to make like at what resolution you want to scan your pictures, where on your computer or the internet you want to store them, etc. But, overall, scanning pictures is not much more complex than figuring out how to log-on to the internet and post on FT. :)
Your software package or scanner manual will usually have step-by-step instructions to get you started and this info is also usually available on-line as well.
Just a thought for the future. You might want to consider purchasing a digital camera so you don't have to scan pictures. This will give you a better quality picture than one that you scan and will save you $$$$'s in film and developing cost.
Plus you can e-mail the pictures to your friends and relatives from Hawaii on a daily basis and show them what they're missing.

I think this may belong in the Technology forum... but here is my 2c

If you dont have a scanner already, for a bulk scan, getting a film scanner
makes life a bit easier. Dont confuse this with the flat bed scanners
with film attachment, but the small ones that can process films
and slides and nothing else.

Since this is more of a tech question than a Hawai`i question, I am moving to Travel Technology.

cblaisd
Co-Moderator, Hawai`i forum

Like everyone else has said, its really straight forward.

If you are using windows consider downloading Picassa from Google (http://picasa.google.com/) its a great photo orginizer with some nifty editing features...for free.

If you are on a Mac then you should have iPhoto installed. Its very similar (and superior, IMHO) to picassa.

Then, browse over to www.flickr.com and get an account. Flickr is a great photo sharing site and a good way to get your stuff online to share...if you have the interest. Both iPhoto and Picassa have tools let let you export pictures directly to Flickr.

If you don't have a scanner, ebay may be a good bet. I like the Canon LIDE series...they are really slim and make good scans. The HP one with the clear glass lid does a nice job as well, but it introduces some noise. Your scanner will come with software (or you can download it from the maunfactures website). Often the software includes 'plug-ins' that allow you to scan directly into iPhoto, Picassa, Adobe Photoshop elements, etc. That saves you a step and some time.

Lastly, if you really have a ton, you may want to have someone do the work for you. I think most major photo chains can take the negitives and give you a CD with digital copies. I have never done it so I have no idea of the cost or quality...but as someone who scanned their entire wedding album proofs (illegally) I wish I had looked into it...
:D

The easiest thing to do is to probably drop them off at the local photo store and have them scan them for you and burn them onto a CD... I'm pretty sure most places can still do this.

Scanning photos is a very time consuming job and the end results are not always great. You need to think about things like cleaning the scanner every other photo, making sure they are 100% aligned etc...

Spend a few $$$ and have them done right, it'll save you a lot of headaches...

The easiest thing to do is to probably drop them off at the local photo store and have them scan them for you and burn them onto a CD... I'm pretty sure most places can still do this.

Scanning photos is a very time consuming job and the end results are not always great. You need to think about things like cleaning the scanner every other photo, making sure they are 100% aligned etc...

Spend a few $$$ and have them done right, it'll save you a lot of headaches...


Can you name a place that would do this? i know most places
would scan the films on CDs when you get them processed, but I havent
found a place that would do it after they cut the films.
I could use something like that...

Can you name a place that would do this? i know most places
would scan the films on CDs when you get them processed, but I havent
found a place that would do it after they cut the films.
I could use something like that...
www.digmypics.com

www.digmypics.com

Thanks! its a little steep though :( but a good service to have :)

ScottC,

Thanks for that info. I will drop them off at CVS and see if they can do it. I know this sounds really stupid, but then how do I get them on line. You always have the best info. I appreciate you taking the time to help.

ScottC,

Thanks for that info. I will drop them off at CVS and see if they can do it. I know this sounds really stupid, but then how do I get them on line. You always have the best info. I appreciate you taking the time to help.

Whoever scans them will deliver them on a CD or DVD, you then simply go to one of the big photo hosting services like Kodak, Flickr or even CVS's own service and follow their instructions; usually uploading photos using these services is pretty easy.

www.digmypics.com
Anyone know if this is a quality service? I've learned that the end product on many of these scanning places often come out in poorer quality than the original prints.

Anyone know if this is a quality service? I've learned that the end product on many of these scanning places often come out in poorer quality than the original prints.


Their samples are pretty bad: http://www.digmypics.com/scanning/print_samples.asp

You can clearly see dust on the pictures meaning they didn't clean them well before scanning...

Whoever scans them will deliver them on a CD or DVD, you then simply go to one of the big photo hosting services like Kodak, Flickr or even CVS's own service and follow their instructions; usually uploading photos using these services is pretty easy.

I vote for KODAK.... :)

ScottC,

Thanks for that info. I will drop them off at CVS and see if they can do it. I know this sounds really stupid, but then how do I get them on line. You always have the best info. I appreciate you taking the time to help.

Save your time, CVS does not scan photos or negatives to a CD. It is only done when film is originally processed. Photos can be scanned on the Kodak Picture Maker to a floppy but the floppy will only take 4 and high resolution and sorry don't remember how many at a lower resolution.

How do I know? I worked as the Photo Lab Supvr at a CVS.

I vote for KODAK.... :)
William, does Kodak have a service where they scan and digitize developed film/APS film at a higher quality than the alternative presented above?

www.digmypics.com



seems like a very reasonable price

Quantity Per Scan Price
1-499 $0.39
500-4999 $0.34
5000+ $0.29

you can do it yourself of course, there are several scanners made which have a photo feeder tray. I can recommend that you stay away from HP, I own one of these and the "auto crop" feature does not work, so your image created ends up including some of the scanner itself along with the photo you were trying to scan.

bad: HP 5500c Scanjet Scanner and most likely any of their auto-feed photo products

after researching the problem with this model, I saw people saying good things about some product from epson.

said to be good: Epson Perfection 2480 Limited Edition

Save your time, CVS does not scan photos or negatives to a CD. It is only done when film is originally processed. Photos can be scanned on the Kodak Picture Maker to a floppy but the floppy will only take 4 and high resolution and sorry don't remember how many at a lower resolution.

How do I know? I worked as the Photo Lab Supvr at a CVS.

When did you work there? My local CVS can produce a CD on their newer Kodak machine, and so can the Target.

Their samples are pretty bad: http://www.digmypics.com/scanning/print_samples.asp

You can clearly see dust on the pictures meaning they didn't clean them well before scanning...

It wouldn't suprise me. If they are the ones doing the processing, they can control dust much easier. However, they are getting negatives from other people (and some probably have a good load of dust on them).

And, I've used dedicated film scanners before (Nikon Super CoolScan 5000-ED), and keeping the negs clean was an absolute *pain in the a$$*. Also, I scanned a couple of B&W negs (not the chromogenic C-41 process stuff, but the real stuff), and getting the scanner to ONLY use greyscale (w/out distorting the density) was a great annoyance. If I had to buy one (this one was school scanner), I'd rather pick up a cheap DSLR (D rebel, etc.)

When did you work there? My local CVS can produce a CD on their newer Kodak machine, and so can the Target.

Just checked with the local Target photo lab and they CAN scan photos and produce them on a CD.

Anyone know if this is a quality service? I've learned that the end product on many of these scanning places often come out in poorer quality than the original prints.

I have used digmypics for a group of slides and was pleased with the results. I have not tried them for negatives.

Anyone know if this is a quality service? I've learned that the end product on many of these scanning places often come out in poorer quality than the original prints.

I had several dozen images scanned--some from prints, some from negs and some from transparencies. They did a great job. Granted, the originals had been stored quite carefully.