old photos to digital....

[jessjgh1]

At some point I would like to get some old photos, my wedding photos, etc. into digital format. Our scanner doesn't really do a good enough job, but I have done a few here and there- and will probably use that for small projects.

How costly is doing this? Is it better to go with a local service (I think there must be one) or an online one?

I have my wedding photo negatives. Can they do it from the negatives??
I would probably go through and pick 100 or so old photos that I really want to have and the rest I would do myself as needed.


And I have a few vcr tapes that I would probably add on to the order, if it made sense too.

Any advice, thoughts?

On one hand, we want to do this, on the other, I feel like it is going to be really costly. Certainly not an immediate project, but I have no idea how this works.

Jessica

[pieohpah75]

I just bought a new scanner that scans negatives, a Canon. I pictures turned out really nice after I printed a couple just to see a hard copy. I've never had any problems scanning old photos as long as you scan at 300dpi or higher. The scanner cost about $140-150. I'm not sure how much a professional would cost as I've never done that. But maybe it would be cost-effective to buy a new scanner with the slides that way you can scan way more that 100 pictures? Of course, I can understand not wanting to sit there and scanning 100 photos! Just an idea though....

[Teresa]

I scan all of my own stuff. The scanner that does slides and negatives belongs to my girlfriend's brother and when I make it to the bottom of that pile, he can have it back.

I have a regular printer/copier/scanner by HP that works great to scan pictures. I scan them at a super high res.

My brother and my aunt have both gotten into converting video tapes into digital files. It's awesome. I was able to go through the video of my son's first time on two wheels and snag some great stills for a cute scrapbook page (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=233127).

[pieohpah75]

I scan all of my own stuff. The scanner that does slides and negatives belongs to my girlfriend's brother and when I make it to the bottom of that pile, he can have it back.

I have a regular printer/copier/scanner by HP that works great to scan pictures. I scan them at a super high res.

My brother and my aunt have both gotten into converting video tapes into digital files. It's awesome. I was able to go through the video of my son's first time on two wheels and snag some great stills for a cute scrapbook page (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=233127).

WOW. That's a great idea. And it opens up even more ideas for scrapbook layouts. I have videos from trip to Europe that I would love to have converted. How does your brother do it? Can you PM me?

[sanra]

I had been separating all my photos and was scanning them using Epson. Then saw where Costco had a special and I had Costco do them. About 500 photos scanned to CD's. They were all about the same size which helped. They scan at 300dpi. Sooooo glad I decided to have them do it, as it was very slow going when I was doing it.

I am now conveting video tapes to digital. Or trying to as I haven't quite figured it all out. :)

[jessjgh1]

Then saw where Costco had a special and I had Costco do them. About 500 photos scanned to CD's.

Do you mind sharing about how much that was?? That sounds like what i would want... and did they scan them from the negative or photos?


There's no way I can scan them all in now-- and our current scanner should be adequate for most things, but I'd like the wedding done so it is not crooked or streaked, etc. from our scanner

We just spend $$ on elements and a printer, so a new scanner is out of the question right now- plus it just wouldn't happen.

Jessica