Digital pics from prints? Can it be done?

[Bronx]

I've acquired a collection of photographs over the years and I'd like to convert some of them to digital format to store on my PC.

Can this be done?
How?
Is it expensive?

Thanks.

[RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike]

Buy a scanner. Loads to choose from at PC World, Jessops or similar. I'm not even going to begin getting into the debat of which is best :hmm:

Quality of scanned images will depend greatly on both the quality of the scanner and the quality and size of the original print.

If you get a scanner with a sufficiently high resolution, you may be better off trying to scan the original negative. You can get software which handles inverting the colours.

Get yourself plenty disk space and look forward to hours of swapping prints into and out of your scanner :)

HTH

[Cornish Jack]

If you've got the original negatives (or slides) the best bet is a dedicated film scanner with the highest resolution you can afford - nowadays about 4000 dpi. A SCSI interface will help speed things up and the end product is best burned onto CD to avoid subsequent loss from the HD. It will also mean that you can use your 35mm 'proper' camera to generate digital output. Takes time but worth the effort.

[Bronx]

Thanks guys. To be honest my computer skills are very basic and I can't see me being up to that stuff.

I meant do photo shops do it?

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

Bronx

Photographic shops will do it but for quite a hefty fee me thinks.

What the other guys above have descrbed would be perfect, you can get a scanner for very few notes these days and the software pretty much does the rest for you.

You managed to hook up to pprune and scanning is not much more difficult.

[ORAC]

Just about any photographic shop should do it. Here is one in Huntingdon NY (http://www.llcamera.com/services.htm) who gves quotes. It's not cheap though, in the UK about 50p a photo, I presume it will be about 50c each in the USA.

Since a decent scanner is between $100-300 depending on if you want to be able scan negatives, it just depends how much you're willing to spend.

[FJJP]

Bronx, don't be daunted by you lack of experience with computers. These days, adding hardware such as a scanner is as easy as plugging it in and inserting the accompanying CD. Everything starts automatically and just follow the instructions on the screen.

As for using it, READ THE MANUAL, whether it be paper or on the CD, and carefully follow the instructions. Most software is user friendly these days, and it will usually come with a window of icons that lets you scan in and save in a very simple way. When you get more adventurous, you can clean up, enhance and manipulate (including use of special effects) your pictures with digital imaging software. But beware, it can turn into a very time-consuming hobby!

Ask around you friends and work colleagues to find out if they have any experience - one demo is worth a hundred hours of finding out for yourself. Computer stores will demonstrate it all to you in an effort to sell you the scanner and imaging software. I don't know what you'd be charged to convert the images in a retail outlet, but I bet if you did the calculations you would find that you would rapidly pay out more than the cost of a good quality high spec scanner in an incredibly short time.

But don't buy immediately; do your research, asking about other Ppruners' experience and recommendations for scanner and software brands (I did this before I bought my digital camera last year, and it was through advice posted on this forum that I settled on the model I now routinely use) - start a new topic with your question - say, 'Advice Please - which scanner to buy?' (I can't help you there - mine's over 4 years old and still producing high quality images!).

And there are thousands of Ppruners out there who will readily give you answers to your questions, no matter how basic and dumb you think them to be - we've all been there, and it is a warm and fuzzy feeling that the professionals that post in these specialist forums are prepared to be so understanding and helpful .