Converting Photos to Digital

[ccdl72]

I have hundreds of photos that I took before digital photography, for most I have both the photo and the negative...

What is the best way to convert them to digital at a high quality... I have heard the following:

1.) Use a high quality camera and simply take a picture of the picture
2.) Scan each photo at 300 dpi, (I have heard that this is very time consuming
3.) There are tools or programs that you can buy to slip the negatives into that will scan and upload.
4.) Take all of the negatives to a camera store to be scanned and uploaded.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks!

[teaking]

If you are talking about quality and the best quality available your options are to buy a scanner for this purpose with a high optical resolution. Scanning at, at least 300dpi and 600dpi maybe preferable or the highest optical resolution your scanner can achieve. This will leave big file sizes but hopefully future proof leaving you with the best quality. How ever as you say there old films if it is something you wont be doing often the outlay for a scanner may not be worth it and you may want to take them to be scanned for you and put a dvd they should have professional scanners and both option give you the best in terms of quality.

[pjl]

My folks had boxes of Kodak slides from the 50's/60's.
I went through the same kinda q's.

I built a small light box and started snapping pics of the slides with a D80 and a 60 2.8 w/tripod.
Turned out quite sufficient for what I was trying to do.

Don't know how pics of your pics would turn out.
There are negative 'readers' available; you could pick one up and make your own light box.
I'll have to dig up the thread I found the box construction on; might be another forum.

Mom and me, 1956...

[CheaperKings]

Originally Posted by pjl

My folks had boxes of Kodak slides from the 50's/60's.
I went through the same kinda q's.

I built a small light box and started snapping pics of the slides with a D80 and a 60 2.8 w/tripod.
Turned out quite sufficient for what I was trying to do.

Don't know how pics of your pics would turn out.
There are negative 'readers' available; you could pick one up and make your own light box.
I'll have to dig up the thread I found the box construction on; might be another forum.

Mom and me, 1956...

That's a pic of a pic?! That's pretty darn good!

[pjl]

Hehe; thanks, CK!
The pic posted is a pic of a slide that has a light lit from behind.
Almost as if it was being projected onto a screen.

Most of the slides were in varying states of disrepair, so I didn't want to get to washing them all off, dusting, etc...yeechh!

I was pretty much limited to reproducing the image as shot by whoever back when...
And the varying camera operators snafu's...
Some of the slides are absolute gorgeous, most are just family snapshots of weddings, christenings, Christmas and such.

It was a fascinating trip into MY childhood and the look/feel of the mid 50's/60's.
Also theraputic for other family members; my mom was the oldest kid in her family, and I'm the oldest kid/oldest grandkid on her side.
I sent cd's out to all family with the pics on 'em; joy abounded!
No one remembered much of these happenings; to see them again was incredible!

I don't think I remember ANY adult NOT having a smoke and a drink at a family function.

Here's a few more:
1. me da, me & me younger bro 2. me da's 'control panel' at work 3. me sis & youngest bro 4. me sis

[Jim Bryant]

You can always purchase a negative/slide scanner. Most scanners come with a slide to hold transparencies and another one for negatives. I happen to use the Canoscan FS-4000 USB.
Nikon makes them as well as minolta, HP to mention a few. You can always use Google to check as well.