Original \u00a0publication September 7, 2002 \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Q. \u00a0 \u00a0 My parents recently passed away, and we’ve inherited eight photo albums, we would like to digitize and share (via CD’s). \u00a0 Most of the photos are old roughly 4×6 black and whites. \u00a0 We would like to systematically record the photos and maybe include some date and name info that might be on the back. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Do you have a suggestion as to what would be the best way to proceed? \u00a0 In particular I was concerned about the resolution and compression technique. \u00a0 I feel the pictures should be of at least good printable resolution and also perhaps we may want to magnify parts of certain pictures. \u00a0 My feeling is that we err on the resolution, we should err on the side of too much resolution.
\n-John T.<\/p>\n
A. The general consensus in digital photography is that people have a hard time seeing the difference over anything above 300dpi. \u00a0 You may want to scan in full color at 600dpi just to give yourself some extra resolution. \u00a0 As for file format, you should use a compressionless format. \u00a0 There are several available, but I recommend that you use TIFF. \u00a0 In comparison, a file like JPEG uses a lossy compression format. \u00a0 Every time you open and save a jpeg, you lose some quality even if you do not alter the file. \u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Your uncompressed 600 dpi tiff files will be around 25MB. \u00a0 However, with a700MB available on a blank CD, you can fit 28 pictures on each one. \u00a0 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. \u00a0 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. \u00a0 You will fit more pictures on the CD and 100% of the image quality will be retained- the best of both worlds. \u00a0<\/p>\n
John, you will be surprised at how really easy this is going to be for you. \u00a0 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. \u00a0 As far as scanner choices, Canon’s N670 and N1240U have received very favorable reviews for excellent image quality and a good software bundle. \u00a0 The Epson Perfection 1250 has top-drawer image quality, but is not as easy to use as the Canons and operates slowly. \u00a0 \u00a0 Some people think the effort is worth it, given the great output of the scanner.<\/p>\n
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