Scanning photos...

[bijoux]

I looked for a more appropriate place to insert my scanner question, but I think this is the best place to stick it.

I have a HP psc 750 [now discontinued] all-in-one printer/scanner. It does an okay job. Sometimes when I scan my photos it can make them a tad distorted, so I was flirting with the idea of upgrading.

What do you guys use to scan your photos? I don't really understand "dpi", so when I'm looking all these scanners up, I have no idea which would be better. Is anyone else using these all-in-one dealies?

 

[Big Mike]

The all in one machines use a flatbed scanner. There are probably some all in ones with good flatbeds and some that have cheapo flatbed scanners. You could get machine that is just a flatbed, there are some good ones and some bad ones as well.

To get the most detail, you should scan the negatives. This means using an adapter with a flatbed or getting a scanner than only scans negatives/slide film. The dedicated film scanner will give you much better quality than a flat bed but they can be expensive.

I just get my film developed and scanned at the same time. Most labs use digital machines now so it's just a simple matter of burning them to a CD for you. It usually costs a couple bucks.

 

[bijoux]

I just get my film developed and scanned at the same time. Most labs use digital machines now so it's just a simple matter of burning them to a CD for you. It usually costs a couple bucks.

Wow! I had no idea they'd scan them for you. Maybe it'd be a good idea to just keep what I have and get some scans done for me at a store. Thanks for the info.

 

[Big Mike]

You might even be able to save some money if you don't get prints made. Just ask for develop only and scan to CD. It's easy & cheap for them to do it because the machine scans the whole roll of film before they cut the film into strips.