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Scanning family photos/slides - need to put on a DVD?

RadDave

RadDave

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 6, 2013
187
0
North Carolina
Hi ALL - a project that I've saved for years until I retired - NOW seems overwhelming! I have hundreds of family slides & photos that I want to scan - although I have a new iMac, I've moved my old PC to a back bedroom w/ a new Canon scanner (w/ a slide adapter) - want to scan in the photos & slides of interest.

My initial plan was to load these onto digital displays and send to family members, BUT this would amount to a half dozen devices and not worth the cost or effort; SO, I'm quite familiar w/ PowerPoint (and thus Keynote) - as a former academic radiologist, however, most family members unlikely have these programs.

THUS, my potential solution is to try to put these images onto a DVD w/ some type of menu selection - I have a new iMac & an old PC - just wondering if there is a program (for either OS) that will permit me to burn a DVD along w/ a menu (and maybe other options) so that my relatives can simply pop it into a DVD player (or computer) and view these pics? Any advice would be greatly appreciated - thanks. Dave :)

P.S. I have iPhoto, Pixelmator, & Keynote on my new iMac & an older version of PowerPoint on my PC - slideshows possible in most of these programs, but can a menu be made? Thanks again!
 
D

daybreak

macrumors 6502a
Sep 4, 2009
531
0
Have you got your photos on a external Hard drive? if so the iMovie would be your path for a slide show DVD
 
D

davidinva

macrumors 6502a
Mar 29, 2009
591
30
Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, USA
I have the same situation, so will be interested in what you decide to do. I have scanned most all of my slides, negatives, and prints and have them backed up in two locations. I also have some Super 8mm movies and cost to convert is keeping me from doing them.
 
C

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,557
1,669
Redondo Beach, California
RadDave said:
My initial plan was to load these onto digital displays and send to family members, BUT this would amount to a half dozen devices and not worth the cost or effort;
Click to expand...


Why not make a web page? DVDs are poor for photos because there resolution is poor compared to any TV set sold today. you get at best 480 lines on a DVD. Build a web site. but you can distribute the Distribute the web pages on a DVD if you want

Yes you can make some very complex menus but I think you need Final Cut and the software that comes with it. The web is better for this.

BTW, you might also print out a few books. They are easier to use
 
RadDave

RadDave

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 6, 2013
187
0
North Carolina
Thanks ALL for your comments - I'm currently selecting slides & photos to scan and am now in the process of scanning these items - all scans will be saved as JPEGs (highest resolution) to the HD on my old PC computer and then backed-up on 2 external HDs.

Then I would like to make a 'slideshow' presentation to put on DVDs to send to the relatives - since these will involve different family interests in viewing this material, I'd love to make a DVD w/ a menu selection so relatives can select those 'shows' of interest to them? Recently, I DL PhotoStage which was 'free' w/ an optional purchase for further features, I assume? The program makes a nice slideshow w/ many options, BUT not sure that I can do a 'menu' presentation.

Now, putting this material on a website seems more daunting to me - I'd need some more comments on how to even set this up, but will be interested. Again, thanks again for the comments - Dave :)
 
MisterMe

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
Another vote against DVD.

Home burned DVD is a volatile medium. Data are stored in optically-induced phase change areas that form the digital bits. That which was created by light can be bleached-out by light. To maximize the life of the media, it must be shielded from light.

Another thing is that DVD depends on the combination of burner used to create the DVD and the reader used to play their contents. Just because a DVD works with one such combination does not mean that it will work with every other.

Rather that futzing with DVDs for your project, I would go with jump drives. They work with just about every TV. They also work with most smart TVs, Blu-ray players, digital picture frames, and some DVD players.
 
mtngoatjoe

mtngoatjoe

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2008
270
56
If your goal is to have everyone watch the slideshow once and then never again, then stick with DVD. If you want people to DO something with your work, then send the files. And by DO something, I mean post to Facebook, forward to friends, and/or have prints made. Fancy menus are great, but ultimately they'll prevent your audience for doing anything with your photos.

Now, that's not to say that DVDs aren't a cheap way to distribute files, but just burn the files. That way your audience can copy the files to their computers.

Good luck!
-Joe
 
phrehdd

phrehdd

macrumors 601
Oct 25, 2008
4,311
1,310
Seems like two projects - a good scan of your images and then a "slide show" on DVD.

If your goal is to preserve images, then jpeg is not really the best choice. Go for a lossless format instead like Tif. Jpeg would be a good choice for the DVD slide show and thus can be converted for that format.

I have done a lot of work in photo restoration and usually end up with 2 media storage returns - one is the tif or psd images and another is DVD side show set to canned music and some titling. The latter I don't do much of and focus more on restoration as there are plenty of creative people out there with Macs who will do it for people and enjoy that type of thing.
 
C

Chad3eleven

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2012
144
0
why not make a slide show using iphoto at HD specs (1280x720 or 1920x1080) and export a quicktime file.. burn that to CDs and give them out?

they can then copy to their computers and view whenever.
 
RadDave

RadDave

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 6, 2013
187
0
North Carolina
Thanks all for the additional comments - I'm just scanning these in using the highest quality JPEG format - not really planning to make large prints, so do not feel a need to use a lossless image format - many of these are 2 MB files and in the past I've made quite good 8x10" prints from files of this size.

In fact, these will likely be 'down-sized' for viewing on a computer monitor (or possibly a TV - will need to test the latter myself). All of the ideas are certainly great options; still in the process of scanning, so will determine 'how many' images I will have scanned and who will get what (e.g. wife's family would want certain ones & my family and our son others?). Dave :)
 
mtngoatjoe

mtngoatjoe

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2008
270
56
RadDave said:
In fact, these will likely be 'down-sized' for viewing on a computer monitor (or possibly a TV - will need to test the latter myself).
Click to expand...

I would not bother downsizing a 2 MB image. There's no point. The image resolution does not need to match the TV resolution (SD or HD).
 
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