Preserve and Transform Old Photographs to Digital Format

You would love to have all your old photographs in a digital format, but what is the best solution?  HTML clipboardSide-By-Side Comparison Of Wedding Photography Prices  A Detroit Wedding Photographer Shares His Information With You.

1 Self Scanning

If you have a home scanner this is the easiest for a small number, or find a friend who owns one. But for a large pile of albums, this rates as a worse experience than an over-ambitious decorating project! The biggest problems are "technical issues" at some point or getting extremely bored a few hours in leaving a half finished job and neat piles on the floor.

2 Assisted Self Scanning

The same as the option 1 but with a helper (or several if possible).

If you have older children, you may be able to get them to take turns although this can involve various degrees of bribery. And do you trust them to do a good job, as boredom and children don't go well together so risk a half finished job again, this time without the neat piles on the floor?

3 Pay a Professional

It sounds expensive, but really is not and worth every penny if you have more than a few photographs. As well as doing a quality job and preserving your own time and sanity you receive one or more carefully organised CDs in a matter of days. With industrial strength bulk scanning equipment, the results are reliable and fast with many allowing you to send albums without removing the pictures first.

Most companies offer a 300dpi or premium 600dpi scanning service, so which is best? If you don't plan to print enlargements then 300dpi is fine but, for larger prints or digital editing 600dpi is the better choice. These companies also scan a wide range of other items: children's art work is my favorite as you can get greeting cards printed, but there are many options available.

Whichever solution you decide on, do make sure you take action - photos fade and discolour especially if you used a discount mail processing service during the 1980's. And each time you look at old albums, there's always a risk of accidents and sticky fingers!