taking photos of old photos?

[krodista]

I used the search a couple of times and couldnt seem to come up with anything, though I am sure its come up before.

I am looking to take some pictures of old photos. I remember back in some college classes that we had a table with lights set at 45 on either side to take photos of pictures or magazines. Is something like this the way to go, or is a nice scanner going to give better results. What is the optimum way to get the best results? I have a digital SLR and the generic lense it came with. It is a Canon EOS Xti. I appreciate any guidance.

 

[tsaraleksi]

I would say that if you have a lot of photos to work with, you'd be much happier with a scanner than any kind of camera copy stand setup.

 

[JerryPH]

Scanners are cheap and easy and will give better results.
I picked up a Canon USB scanner with software for $10 at a garage sale... works great!

 

[krodista]

so a scanner would always give better results. I was under the impression that a scanner would blow out the photo because of the reflection of a picture against the scanner light. Maybe I am incorrect in thinking this. So are all scanner created equal, or are there particular ones to stay away from or head towards?

In an optimum setting...which would make the most ideal photos. I dont mind taking the time if the camera copy stand setup would give better results. I just want to do whatever would give the best return.

 

[tsaraleksi]

No, scanners are usually made with the intention of scanning photographs, I would be shocked to hear of one that does as you describe. A high resolution flatbed scanner will give you the best results, bar none.

 

[krodista]

any particular make or model that would work best or are they all created equal?

 

[JerryPH]

What is your budget? Any low end modern scanner will give you more than enough resolution unless you are doing it for professional reasons.

 

[krodista]

My mother has a lot of old family photos and she would like me to make copies of them and put them into a wall hanging which has many slots for photos. The wall hanging is easily 6 foot by 4 foot, with slots for possibly 60 photos. I am hoping to be able to get high quality scans of the photos as the hope is that then the photos will be passed down as well to the next generation. Do high end simply provide better DPI recognition or something? I am not all too familiar with scanner to be honest, so dont know what I would be looking for in a scanner to get better output. I have a scanner at work and another at home, but they are both inexpensive scanners.

 

[JerryPH]

Try your scanner that you have at home!

Can it do 300 DPI? I bet it can do a lot more... but 300 DPI is more than enough to do what you want to do... on top of that, once it is scanned, you can photoshop the picture to do minor adjustments, changes and enhancements, if you want.

60 pics is not a lot, that's an easy afternoon, after which you can do what you want to do with the newly scanned pics.

 

[krodista]

thank you for your help, Ill give it a try and let you know how it goes.

 

[Synnove]

I have a Canon Pixma all in one and it did a great job of scanning old photos. I like it because it's easy to use and has a lot of function for one machine. I do have problems with mac compatibility though.