Digitizing Old Photos

jfrenaye

Not sure if this is the correct forum, but....

I have a bunch of old snaps that I want to digitize and put on my smugmug site.

I have looked at services and the cost is prohibitive for me. I am considering a scanner but I am not sure how long that would take.

Someone told me that (and this sounds almost too simple and too good to be true) to take digital photos of the prints. Is this a viable alternative? If so, does anyone have a recommended set up to do it. I just (back in May) got a Nikon D70S. No external flash, but I am guessing a flash would produce a glare.

Thanks in advance!
John

pathfinder

I think a flat bed scanner will do a better job than trying to photograph the prints with a digital camera, for the reasons you mentioned. Glare is foremost. Keeping them flat also while shooting.

Flatbed scanners can be found for less than $200. You may already have one or access to one.

ChrisJ

I agree... the quality will be a vast improvement over digital pictures (even with a nice dSLR), even with an inexpensive scanner.