Need a good photo scanner for my old photos

[crzdcolombian]

I didn't know where else to post this but I need a photo scanner to scan my old photos. I do have a all in 1 HP that apple gave me 2 years ago when I got an imac. The scans look ok but I was wondering if there is a better option. I have over 1000 photos so a very high quality scanner would probably be worth the 200-300 bucks if there is a difference between that one and the all in 1 that I got from Apple.

Also is there a website that would just do this for me? I have seen a few of them and they just don't seem that legit. They just seem like little mom and pop shops.

 

[r0k]

I didn't know where else to post this but I need a photo scanner to scan my old photos. I do have a all in 1 HP that apple gave me 2 years ago when I got an imac. The scans look ok but I was wondering if there is a better option. I have over 1000 photos so a very high quality scanner would probably be worth the 200-300 bucks if there is a difference between that one and the all in 1 that I got from Apple.

Also is there a website that would just do this for me? I have seen a few of them and they just don't seem that legit. They just seem like little mom and pop shops.

If you don't mind assuming a little risk, there are sites that allow you to mail your photos in and they scan them for you and mail them back along with a cd/dvd of the scans. I'm not sure what they charge but I seem to remember the price was a couple hundred bucks for a shoebox full of photos.

I would not want to invest in a specialty piece of equipment. It would be like owning a 78 rpm to mp3 encoder. Once the photos are converted, who needs the scanner any more? I suggest you look into one of those services. If you live in the bay area, you should be able to find one locally so there would be no risk of losing your photos in the mail.

I've been too busy to pull everything together to mail it out so what I've been doing is using my Brother MFC 7840 AIO printer/fax/network scanner. I place 3 to 5 photos on the machine, pick "scan to ftp" and hit start. I don't plan to do this for my "mother load" of several shoeboxes full of old photos so I'll probably use one of those mail in services when I find the time.

 

[crzdcolombian]

Yea I was thinking that because I don't want to buy a 300 dollar machine to only use it till my photos are on iphoto then will never use it again. I also don't want to lose all my parents photos who will be very pissed if they get lost.

Any one use any of these services before

 

[foodog]

I tried to do the scanner thing to digitize all my old family photos. I figured out pretty quick my time was worth more than it would cost to pay someone else to do it.

I've used scancafe.com on three occasions each time was excellent. They allow you to reject a certain % of the photos if they don't turn out to your satisfaction.

Also is there a website that would just do this for me? I have seen a few of them and they just don't seem that legit. They just seem like little mom and pop shops.

 

[andiwm2003]

I bought a slide scanner to scann old family slides. After that I gave it to a friend for her slides. I assume others would do the same. Try friends to get a scanner for free or Craigslist to buy a scanner that was used for photos. There should be many "one time users" of good scanners for photos out there.

 

[crzdcolombian]

thanks foodog I just wanted to know someone who actually used any of those sites. I have many pictures of my grandparents and my parents weddings that they would love to have on their iphoto.

Yea I scanned all my old HS pictures and it was a pain in the ass and it was only like 50-100 pictures before I got a digital camera back in 2004. My parents didn't welcome digital cameras till 2 years ago so they need many way to many pictures to be scanned

 

[flynz4]

If you have the negatives... you will get significantly better results having the negatives scanned. Photos only have about 200 ppi resolution... and there is tons more information on the negatives.

I am slowly but surely scanning 10's of thousands of our negatives and slides. It is a daunting process that goes slow... even with good equipment. I bought a $1500 (with accessories) Nikon slide/negative scanner (CoolScan 5000 ED)... because it is capable of doing the job... plus I realized that it is cheaper to buy a great scanner, and sell it when you are done... rather than buy a so - so $200-$300 scanner that has no intrinsic value when completed.

/Jim