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Scan/Catalog of my parents 'stuff'...
M38A1
Registered Users Posts: 1,317 Major grins
Being the 'shutterbug' in the family (as was Dad) I've been tasked with finding a solution to scan and catalog all the images shot over the years. Some of this stuff is old, as in OLD, early 1900's stuff. Some is wonderfully preserved Kodachrome slide material from WWII/Korea. But it's a bunch.
So I'm faced with a couple questions.
1) What's the best approach to get it all scanned high res
2) What's the best approach for getting it cataloged with dates, locations, people etc?
I wrestle with the scan part in purchase of a higher-end scanner for the slides/images and do it myself vs the 'box' scan solutions.
And I wrestle with the catalog part. I certainly won't be able to do it since I have no knowledge of the content. So that leaves it to my parents (88 and 77) to do it all. They are reasonably computer literate, so that's a consideration.
I have a spare Dell laptop/monitor that I could probably dedicate to this project for scanning and theirs for the catalog part too.
I can't be the only one with this predicament, can I?
As always, any guidance is greatly appreciated.
So I'm faced with a couple questions.
1) What's the best approach to get it all scanned high res
2) What's the best approach for getting it cataloged with dates, locations, people etc?
I wrestle with the scan part in purchase of a higher-end scanner for the slides/images and do it myself vs the 'box' scan solutions.
And I wrestle with the catalog part. I certainly won't be able to do it since I have no knowledge of the content. So that leaves it to my parents (88 and 77) to do it all. They are reasonably computer literate, so that's a consideration.
I have a spare Dell laptop/monitor that I could probably dedicate to this project for scanning and theirs for the catalog part too.
I can't be the only one with this predicament, can I?
As always, any guidance is greatly appreciated.
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http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/496399-REG/Epson_B11B189011_Perfection_V500_Flatbed_Photo.html
http://www.adorama.com/IESV500.html
Film curvature may impact on quality but that would be true of any of the less expensive options. You can get 3rd party film holders which can improve scanning by allowing variable offset distances to the scanboard.
http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/models/v500.html
Third party software is avalable to improve compatibility with Vista/Win 7, but I had no problems with the scanner and Win XP.
VueScan:
http://www.hamrick.com/
Reviews:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2213394,00.asp
http://www.shutterbug.net/news/091907epson/
The CanoScan 9000F Mark II is the Canon model I would suggest and it gets similar if not slightly better reviews, but it does not seem to have the following that the Epson has generated.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/905050-REG/Canon_6218b002aa_CS_9000F_Mark_II_Image.html
http://www.adorama.com/ICACS9000F2.html
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http://picasa.google.com/
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
We have several users who have had (mostly) good experiences with companies like ScanCafe.
I would remind everyone that anytime you send irreplaceable items by mail and to a remote service they may be lost or damaged, without true recourse. My recommendation is to either use a local, proven service which allows personal delivery, or do the scanning yourself.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
I wholeheartedly second the CanoScan 9000F. I've had mine for about 2 yrs now and I've never been disappointed in the scan quality .
http://www.arkreations.com
Nikon D700 | D300 | D80 | SB-800(x2) | SB-600(x2)
Nikkor Lenses: 14-24 f/2.8 | 24-70 f/2.8 | 50 f/1.8 | 85 f/1.4 | 70-200 f/2.8 VR II | 70-300 VR
I'm just trying to get my head around the volume aspect at the moment and how to attack it when I figure out the hardware side. Then the cataloging......
Not having tried either, it seems a dedicated model to slides and negatives is variable for scanning a large quantity of slides and negatives.
Something like this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/980019-REG/plustek_783064365345_optic_film_8200ise_scanner.html
Does anyone have experience with direct scanning as opposed to flat bed management?
I have a Minolta DiMAGE Scan Dual III film scanner and I used it as late as 2004 to scan wedding negatives and slides. (More recently it was used for digitizing old personal negatives.)
Basic quality of the scan is very nice but scratches and dust make using it a tedious affair. Sometimes, you can't get full dynamic range with a single scan exposure, requiring a second scan and then tone blending to get better results with subjects of high contrast.
I gather that the Plustek OpticFilm 8200i SE you linked to has "Integrated Infrared Dust/Scratch Removal", which is generally incompatible with Kodachrome and B&W film. (You can also scan without the infrared scan enabled, and then use software in post-processing to remove dust and scratches.)
White balance and color balance can be a problem with old color negatives/slides, so a color-accurate display is a distinct benefit, along with software to automate color balance of whites, blacks and skin tones.
Third-party scan software, like VueScan, can be more efficient than much of the OEM software bundled with film scanners. VueScan also allows older scanners to work with new operating systems (assuming a compatible scanner driver too, and an otherwise compatible hardware interface).
Getting back to your question, I like to use a flatbed scanner in film scan mode for quick scans and culling, then the dedicated film scanner for finals and highest quality. Alternately, you can still find individuals and services which offer film scanning on very high quality scanners including wet scanning and drum scanning.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Ziggy, I checked B&H page and the Epson V500 is discontinued, since my finances are a little bit stretched now, I have a Epson 1200 Photo which used to be a decent photo scanner but after Apple switch to Intel the driver for that scanner is so poor that I use it only to scan general documents when I need a copy. Are you aware of better app for the 1200 availability? Do you know if the Canon Pixma 100 has image scanning capabilities?
Thank you.
If it is the ip100 you are looking at, then no, it does not have a scanner but uses 2 ink tanks only.
The Epson V500 was replaced by the V550. I have the V500 and it is my horse that I ride to scan negs, slides and images.
If you mean that you have an "Epson Perfection 1200U Photo Scanner", then it appears that VueScan should work with your scanner and most Intel Macs with OS-X:
http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/epson_perfection_1200u.html
It's free to try.
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Changing platforms, are the recommendations above still valid options? Or are there alternate/preferred Mac products which should be considered?
I'm looking at some downtime for me in the next six weeks or so and thought this would be the ideal time to get this project done.
Thoughts?
that are kept under control in Lightroom. Various keywords are assigned.
1. Year, if known. Unfortunately, too many are unknown and keyworded
by century.
2. Family side. My direct family, father's side, mother's side, father's father's side,
mother's mother's side, etc. It doesn't take a lot of keywords.
3. I don't keyword by name. That gets far too complicated with multiple people
in a photo, and very little reason to find individuals.
Dating old photos is the tough part. Some prints have the date on the
back, but not all. Sometimes just looking at the clothing style helps.
I sent out Dropbox groups of photos with unknown dates or people
to various family members, and it turned out to be a project that
interested quite a few people. Almost a detective game.
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/