Seeking for advice to convert hard-copy photo to digital photo

[satimis]

Hi all,

Sorry I don't know whether this is the right forum for my question, seeking for assistance?

I have more than 1,000 hard copy photos captured >10 years ago and need converting all of them to digital photos/files.

I did with following setup and technology, about 3~5 years ago to do the job. It worked for me seamlessly.

Hardware:
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra mobile phone ;
Mounted on a mobile-phone stand
Cable-connected to Ubuntu 20.04 (Linux) Desktop PC, via USB port

Software :
Remote desktop -
URL='https://scrcpy.org/']SCRCPY – Android Screen Mirroring Software[/URL]
(edited)

The operation is controlled on the keyboard of the Desktop PC remotely, to capture the photo which is inserted on an index board placed under the mobile phone-stand.

I don't know whether now there is a new technology and setup to do the job, converting hard copy photos to digital photos/files???

Please advise. I reject using scanner to do the job because the scanning speed it very slow compared to just taking a shot on camera.

Regards

 

[AlanKlein62]

Hi all,

Sorry I don't know whether this is the right forum for my question, seeking for assistance?

I have more than 1,000 hard copy photos captured >10 years ago and need converting all of them to digital photos/files.

I did with following setup and technology, about 3~5 years ago to do the job. It worked for me seamlessly.

Hardware:
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra mobile phone ;
Mounted on a mobile-phone stand
Cable-connected to Ubuntu 20.04 (Linux) Desktop PC, via USB port

Software :
Remote desktop -

SCRCPY – Android Screen Mirroring Software​

(edited)

The operation is controlled on the keyboard of the Desktop PC remotely, to capture the photo which is inserted on an index board placed under the mobile phone-stand.

I don't know whether now there is a new technology and setup to do the job, converting hard copy photos to digital photos/files???

Please advise. I reject using scanner to do the job because the scanning speed it very slow compared to just taking a shot on camera.

Regards

Modern photo scanners have automatic feeders and are fast. Some have a program that will correct tears and creases in old photos if that is a problem with any of yours and automatically correct fading photo colors as well.

 

[satimis]

Modern photo scanners have automatic feeders and are fast. Some have a program that will correct tears and creases in old photos if that is a problem with any of yours and automatically correct fading photo colors as well.

Hi AlanKlein,

Thanks for your advice.

I didn't have problem scanning old photos on mobile phone as described on my original posting. Also I can correct color and rectify those old photos having yellowish color, running the software on the mobile phone before taking a shot. Besides I can also take photos on the negative films, converting them to digital photos.

After these 3~5 years I wonder whether there are new technologies to do the job, converting hard copy photos to digital files/photos. I just tested the setup of the whole system, connecting Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra mobile phone to an Ubuntu 24.04 desktop PC running SCRCPY, the remote desktop software. The screen of the mobile phone is displayed on the display/monitor of the desktop PC. I can operate the phone camera remotely on the desktop PC shooting the old photo. It is a wonderful setup. However it would take quite long time to finish shooting >1,000 old photos.

I haven't used photo scanners with automatic feeders before without any knowledge on their features.

Can it correct the yellowish color on old photos?
Would the scanning speed be faster than taking a shot on camera?

Regards

 

[smoke665]

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[AlanKlein62]

Hi AlanKlein,

Thanks for your advice.

I didn't have problem scanning old photos on mobile phone as described on my original posting. Also I can correct color and rectify those old photos having yellowish color, running the software on the mobile phone before taking a shot. Besides I can also take photos on the negative films, converting them to digital photos.

After these 3~5 years I wonder whether there are new technologies to do the job, converting hard copy photos to digital files/photos. I just tested the setup of the whole system, connecting Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra mobile phone to an Ubuntu 24.04 desktop PC running SCRCPY, the remote desktop software. The screen of the mobile phone is displayed on the display/monitor of the desktop PC. I can operate the phone camera remotely on the desktop PC shooting the old photo. It is a wonderful setup. However it would take quite long time to finish shooting >1,000 old photos.

I haven't used photo scanners with automatic feeders before without any knowledge on their features.

Can it correct the yellowish color on old photos?
Would the scanning speed be faster than taking a shot on camera?

Regards

I haven;lt used photo scanners with automatic feeders either nor your cell phone approach. May I suggest you join a forum of users for these photo scanners to get the answers you need.

 

[Rickbb47]

OK, went back and re-read your post.

Yes, there is new technology for your method. A new cell phone with a better camera. than your 5-year-old one

A modern flatbed scanner has higher quality/resolution than a phone, but you have rejected that as being too slow.

 

[AlanKlein62]

Epson makes an auto feed scanner that scans at one second each and also on both sides of all types of photos.

FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-speed Photo Scanning System | Products | Epson US

Preserve what’s priceless with the Epson® FastFoto FF-680W — the World’s Fastest Personal Photo Scanner1. Scan thousands of photos — as fast as 1 photo per second2. Easily restore, save, organize and share photos, postcards, panoramas, documents and more. The convenient mobile app3 enables you...

epson.com

 

[satimis]

OK, went back and re-read your post.

Yes, there is new technology for your method. A new cell phone with a better camera. than your 5-year-old one

A modern flatbed scanner has higher quality/resolution than a phone, but you have rejected that as being too slow.

Hi Rickbb,

Thanks for your advice.

I have Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra phone. The resolution of my old photos are poor, some of them captured more than 30 years ago. I don't think the latest phone able to enhance the resolution of old photos.

The old photos were captured worldwide. I use them to build digital slideshows, adding both voice and words narrations and background music as well.

I found the best way to enhance the quality of those old photos, with yellowish colour, is to scan their negatives. I have tried it before, using a notebook as light box. I have to convert the negative image to positive image. The result is good. Unfortunately I have no markings on the negatives where the photos were captured, at what occasions, name of persons in the photos etc.. For such reasons I have to scan the old photos Those details were marked on the back of each old photos.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra phone has software filter on its camera. I can use it to filter the old photos before shooting

Regards

 

[satimis]

Modern photo scanners have automatic feeders and are fast. Some have a program that will correct tears and creases in old photos if that is a problem with any of yours and automatically correct fading photo colors as well.

Hi AlanKlein,

I'm aware of;

Epson FastFoto FF-680W​

No scanner can compete with camera in speed, capturing/scanning hard copy photos.

For enhancing the quality of the image scanned on old photos it needs GIMP (Linux) or Photoshop (Windows) to do the job. But it is quite time consuming.

I have no idea whether AI can jump in?

Regards

 

[satimis]

Hi all,

To enhance the quality of digital photos created, I can do it on phone, remotely operated on Ubuntu 24.04 desktop computer. But I must do it one-by-one

Can I do it globally. All digital photos, which need to improve quality, are in a folder, running a command can do the job?

Edit
===
Just found following interesting document;

To tint image using red, green and other colors, and keep color balance

To tint image using red, green and other colors, and keep color balance

I need to create red, green and purple (and, if possible, yellow) versions of the following image: Original image is here: https://github.com/jsx97/test/blob/main/folder.png For this, I use magick...

stackoverflow.com

Regards

 

[AlanKlein62]

Hi AlanKlein,

I'm aware of;

Epson FastFoto FF-680W​

No scanner can compete with camera in speed, capturing/scanning hard copy photos.

For enhancing the quality of the image scanned on old photos it needs GIMP (Linux) or Photoshop (Windows) to do the job. But it is quite time consuming.

I have no idea whether AI can jump in?

Regards

This scanner scans one photo persecond up to a batch of 35 through an automatic feeder. How is your camera faster than that? Some features. I bolded some that you seem to favor:

• World’s Fastest Personal Photo Scanner (1) — scan thousands of photos as fast as 1 photo per second at 300 dpi (2); batch-scan up to 36 photos at a time
• Preserve Your Priceless Photos — restore, organize, protect and share photos; scan Polaroid photos, panoramas, postcards and photos up to 8" x 10"
• Share Stories for Future Generations — use the Epson FastFoto app (3) to add voice and text over your photos or create slideshows, right from your smartphone
• Perfect Picture Imaging System — bring new life to old photos with auto enhancement, color restoration, red-eye reduction, de-skew, crop and rotate
• Single-step Technology — capture both the image and any handwritten notes on the back of a photo in a single scan