Scan or take a photofraph?.

oakfieldphotography.com · November 4, 2011

I dont know where to post this so here goes. My local vintage club has asked all of their members to bring in any old photographs to their next meeting for me to copy for a inclub book. I think most of these will be sepia or black and white. My question is should i photograph each photograph or bring along a scanner and play it safe?
Kind regards
Patrick Mullan.:scratch

BradfordBenn · November 4, 2011

I would recommend bringing the scanner. From what I understand most scanners have a light element by the scan head to keep the lighting consistent during the scan. With a camera it would not be as easy to accomplish.

Art Scott · November 4, 2011

I have been copying a lot of my old photos by shooting a copy on a copy stand using 2 speedlites (SB 900's)
and it seems to be working great for me.....PLUS ...it gives me an 8mp raw file to work with.

pathfinder · November 5, 2011

I think both techniques can have merit.

Small photos are easily scanned, but photos too large for a standard legal sized scanning surface can be photographed. Light the surface with two soft box type flashes 45 degrees off axis, and you may be pleasantly surprised how nice a result you can get straight out of your camera. Set your camera white balance for flash, or create a custom white balance for the best result.

Art Scott · November 5, 2011

also I forgot...DOF..set lens to its shallowest ...like f2.8 or what ever the largest aperture is for your lens....the reason i chose shooting my prints over scanning was, I was needing to get images that could be printed at large sizes and mostly because I wanted RAW files to work with rather than a bunch of overly large TIFF files hanging around.....

The main trick to shooting the old photos is having them flat and square in the viewfinder......i just make sure one edge is on the edge of the viewfinder and make sure it lays flat, i back roll it if it is curled at all......

pathfinder · November 5, 2011

Why do one need the shallowest dof for a flat print, Art? If you shoot 2 or 3 stops smaller than wide open say f5.6 or so, your lens will significantly sharper, and since you are using flash and a stand to hold your camera, shutter speed is not a factor.

I agree that it is important to have the print flat, and perfectly at right angles to your lens axis.

Art Scott · November 5, 2011

I find that I am picking up the weave of the paper....even on glossy items.....and that was one reason I sent to shooting a copy rather than scanning.
I ran into the same thing during my film days....so far my focus has been great ... ... no softness problems as of yet ... ... ...

basflt · November 5, 2011

i would go for the scanner
after all , we live in a digital era

scanners get higher resolution than any camera , and produce no fake reflections , and is faster too

Scan or take a photofraph?.

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