Scanning Old Photographs
Original publication September 7, 2002
Q. My parents recently passed away, and we’ve inherited eight photo albums, we would like to digitize and share (via CD’s). Most of the photos are old roughly 4×6 black and whites. We would like to systematically record the photos and maybe include some date and name info that might be on the back.
Do you have a suggestion as to what would be the best way to proceed? In particular I was concerned about the resolution and compression technique. I feel the pictures should be of at least good printable resolution and also perhaps we may want to magnify parts of certain pictures. My feeling is that we err on the resolution, we should err on the side of too much resolution.
-John T.
A. The general consensus in digital photography is that people have a hard time seeing the difference over anything above 300dpi. You may want to scan in full color at 600dpi just to give yourself some extra resolution. As for file format, you should use a compressionless format. There are several available, but I recommend that you use TIFF. In comparison, a file like JPEG uses a lossy compression format. Every time you open and save a jpeg, you lose some quality even if you do not alter the file. If you ever open a JPEG and do not change it, be sure to select “don’t save” or just close it without saving it to keep from degrading the file.
Your uncompressed 600 dpi tiff files will be around 25MB. However, with a700MB available on a blank CD, you can fit 28 pictures on each one. Blank CDs are so cheap these days it is pretty much a non-issue, and once you have masters made you can burn off lots of copies for all your family members. If you want to save more on the disc and keep the full quality of your images, you could use a compression program like Winzip to compress your uncompressed images. You will fit more pictures on the CD and 100% of the image quality will be retained- the best of both worlds.
John, you will be surprised at how really easy this is going to be for you. Decent scanners are available for under $100, and they come with easy to use image editing software that allow you to enhance the images, add the information you want, and save in a variety of file formats. As far as scanner choices, Canon’s N670 and N1240U have received very favorable reviews for excellent image quality and a good software bundle. The Epson Perfection 1250 has top-drawer image quality, but is not as easy to use as the Canons and operates slowly. Some people think the effort is worth it, given the great output of the scanner.
Product of the month: Music lovers and gamers interested in getting top-quality sound from the computers should check out Monsoon Audio’s line of planar speakers. For those unfamiliar with planar speakers, rather than cones or domes as drivers, planars use a flat element supported in a magnetic field. Sound from the element is allowed to radiate from the front and the back of the speakers. The planar driver and the combination of direct and back-reflected sound yields stunning clarity, as well as a wonderful sense of spaciousness and precise stereo imaging to the listener- a very satisfying experience. Monsoon Planar systems start at $99 including subwoofer and are available at retailers as well as online at www.monsooonaudio.com. Well worth the money- I bought a set myself!
