Best way to safe film photo into digital form

[arphaxad12]

Hi CSer's,
I have many family photos taken by film camera which I want to keep for long term. One way is to take pictures of these film photos in digital format. Don't think these is the best way. Scanning these film photos is another way but I do not have a good scanner. Does anyone know of a better way to reproduce these photos in digital form? Thanks

 

[Rashkae]

Either pay $$$ for a professional company to do it, or simply spend about $100 for a good scanner.

 

[giantcanopy]

Hi CSer's,
I have many family photos taken by film camera which I want to keep for long term. One way is to take pictures of these film photos in digital format. Don't think these is the best way. Scanning these film photos is another way but I do not have a good scanner. Does anyone know of a better way to reproduce these photos in digital form? Thanks

If you have a large number of photos ( and you do not need top IQ for each scan ), you can purchase a scanner for DIY scanning. Some of the consumer film scanners such as epson's v series, and CanoScan scanners are pretty competent. I have an Epson V700 and am in the process of archiving my decade of old family film stuffs as well. Though tedious, I take my time, and more economical in a way.

Ryan

 

[pinholecam]

Are you referring to negatives or prints?

If you have no/low budget just 'copy' with your DSLR

For prints, you can use your DSLR or a cheap scanner.

For negatives, again you can use your DSLR or a scanner that does negative scans ($300$400 for a decent one (ie. Epson V600; Canon 9000F)
Using a scanner can take some time, so be prepared.

Otherwise, send it out to a shop that does negative scanning, but these are not cheap if you have a lot to scan.

 

[Prismatic]

Archiving photos from film is actually quite a tedious process if you have a lot of films to scan. Depending on the particular film you use and the actual exposure on film, you may have to adjust the scanner settings for each frame (Doing a good scan is always better than PP later on). The easiest available option is a flatbed scanner with film scanning capabilities from either Canon or Epson (Entry level one from Canon should be around $200+). I am using a Canon 9000F; it's pretty quick but sometimes scanning slides gives really strange results on the first scan through. Done with 37 rolls, another 300 rolls of film to scan.:sweat:

If you don't need to scan every frame, you can actually just store your negatives carefully, since negs are actually plastic sheets that can actually last quite long. Do a quick and small 'contact' print scan of the negs, then take out the particular photo to do a scan when you actually need it.

 

[arphaxad12]

Thanks guys for all your input. Yes I will probably pickup a good scanner in the $200+ range.