Turn your Old Photo Paper Prints Into Modern Digital Format Albums

<h1>Turn your Old Photo Paper Prints Into Modern Digital Format Albums</h1>Author: <a title="Ziv Haparnas" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/ziv-haparnas/8189.htm">Ziv Haparnas</a> Although digital cameras have been around for a few years and are becoming more and more popular many of us still have a large number of older film camera paper prints, slides and negatives. Most people keep their paper prints and negatives at their homes and only use digital formats for new photos they shoot with their new digital cameras. In this article we will discuss converting your old paper prints into digital format.
Photos are usually kept at home in one of three formats:
<li>Paper prints: the most common format, usually at sizes like 4X6 and 5X7. Over time paper prints tend to lose their quality. Depending on how well they are kept the paper might turn yellow and bend and the colors might fade. </li> 
<li>Negatives: also known simply as film. This is the processed film usually 35mm from which the prints where made. Although negatives can get damaged over time they are more likely to maintain their high quality. Negatives are hardly used unless new paper prints are needed. </li> 
<li>Slides: very similar to negatives used for projecting photos on a large screen. </li>
There are many advantages to digital photography. Having your photo album in digital format allows you to easily print paper copies either at home or using a printing service, to view your photos on your computer, to share photos with friends and family and maybe most importantly to practically archive your photos for eternity. So if digital format is that good why not convert all those old photos from traditional paper and negatives to digital? Here is how:
There are different considerations when converting from paper to digital. Professional photographers spend a lot of time and money on this process. For most amateurs and consumers very simple methods can be used which are both cheap and easy. Scanning paper prints and negatives requires different equipment and considerations. For most home users scanning the negatives is not necessary.
Scanning paper photos prints
Photo paper prints are easy to scan. You can choose to scan them yourself at home (purchasing a scanner that can do the job is usually cheap and costs less than a $100). You can also choose to mail them (or hand them) to a professional scanning service that will scan them for you and mail you back the originals and a DVD with the digital scans (such services include <a href="http://www.digmypics.com," target="_blank">www.digmypics.com,</a> <a href="http://www.digitalpickle.com," target="_blank">www.digitalpickle.com,</a> <a href="http://www.britepix.com" target="_blank">www.britepix.com</a> and many more)
There are pros and cons to scanning at home or using a professional service. If you have a small number of photos scanning at home is easier. If you have plenty of photos using a service might be easier but you can end up spending more money. In addition mailing your one and only hardcopy of your photos is a risk since they might get lost.
If you are going to scan at home consider the following:
<li>Resolution: the resolution of a scan is measured by the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Most scanners can scan at 1200 DPI or more. Usually the scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and the bigger the photo file size will be. For most paper prints scanning at 300 to 600 DPI is enough but you can experiment scanning at higher resolutions if you feel it provides better results.</li> 
<li>Speed: If you have a small number of photos speed is not an issue. If you have hundreds or more of photos scanning speed becomes important. To get fast scans you would have to scan at the lowest resolution possible that results in good enough scans - for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough.. Also if you're going to buy a scanner check the scanning speed (usually measured in the number of scans per minute make sure that you check the speed at the DPI you're going to use).</li> 
<li>Photo feeding: if you only have a small number of photos this is not an issue. If you have many photos make sure that the scanner you buy allows fast and easy loading of photos. Some higher-end scanners will let you load a stack of photos and will automatically feed and scan them for you. These scanners are the right choice if you are planning on scanning hundreds or more photos. </li>
Scanning negatives and slides
Scanning negatives and slides is harder than scanning paper prints. In most cases it is easier and maybe cheaper to use a professional scanning service (such services include <a href="http://www.slidescanning.com," target="_blank">www.slidescanning.com,</a> <a href="http://www.myspecialphotos.com," target="_blank">www.myspecialphotos.com,</a> <a href="http://www.pixmonix.com" target="_blank">www.pixmonix.com</a> and many more). If you want to scan at home your standard flat scanner will not be good enough. In most cases you will need to spend money on purchasing a film/slides scanner. Those scanners are more expensive than the flat paper scanners. Negatives and slides are small high resolution sources and thus require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400DPI or higher should be used. 
The considerations for scanning negatives and slides are similar to scanning paper prints. If you need to scan just a few negatives or slides speed and ease are not important but if you're going to scan hundreds or more you should spend more money on scanners that can feed the negatives or slides automatically or can just load a roll of film and scan it.
The good news is that in most cases scanning negatives is not needed at all. For most amateurs and consumers scanning home photo paper prints is more than enough and scanning the source negatives is a not needed. It is recommended of course to keep the negatives in a safe place. You can use the digital scans for future prints or just for viewing on your computer screen and sharing with your friends and family.
In conclusion scanning your photo paper prints is easy. You can do it yourself at home or you can use a professional scanning service. You can convert all your memories into digital format with a small investment and make sure that you can enjoy those photos and also keep them in their original quality for eternity.

About the Author: Ziv Haparnas is a technology veteran and writes about practical technology and science issues. This article can be reprinted and used as long as the resource box including the backlink is included. You can find more information digital photo printing printing and photography in general on printrates.com – a site dedicated to <a href="http://www.printrates.com">photo printing</a>

Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/digital-photography-articles/turn-your-old-photo-paper-prints-into-modern-digital-format-albums-48560.html" title="Turn your Old Photo Paper Prints Into Modern Digital Format Albums">Turn your Old Photo Paper Prints Into Modern Digital Format Albums</a>

Although digital cameras have been around for a few years and are becoming more and more popular many of us still have a large number of older film camera paper prints, slides and negatives. Most people keep their paper prints and negatives at their homes and only use digital formats for new photos they shoot with their new digital cameras. In this article we will discuss converting your old paper prints into digital format.

Photos are usually kept at home in one of three formats:

Paper prints: the most common format, usually at sizes like 4X6 and 5X7. Over time paper prints tend to lose their quality. Depending on how well they are kept the paper might turn yellow and bend and the colors might fade.

Negatives: also known simply as film. This is the processed film usually 35mm from which the prints where made. Although negatives can get damaged over time they are more likely to maintain their high quality. Negatives are hardly used unless new paper prints are needed.

Slides: very similar to negatives used for projecting photos on a large screen.

There are many advantages to digital photography. Having your photo album in digital format allows you to easily print paper copies either at home or using a printing service, to view your photos on your computer, to share photos with friends and family and maybe most importantly to practically archive your photos for eternity. So if digital format is that good why not convert all those old photos from traditional paper and negatives to digital? Here is how:

There are different considerations when converting from paper to digital. Professional photographers spend a lot of time and money on this process. For most amateurs and consumers very simple methods can be used which are both cheap and easy. Scanning paper prints and negatives requires different equipment and considerations. For most home users scanning the negatives is not necessary.

Scanning paper photos prints

Photo paper prints are easy to scan. You can choose to scan them yourself at home (purchasing a scanner that can do the job is usually cheap and costs less than a $100). You can also choose to mail them (or hand them) to a professional scanning service that will scan them for you and mail you back the originals and a DVD with the digital scans (such services include www.digmypics.com, www.digitalpickle.com, www.britepix.com and many more)

There are pros and cons to scanning at home or using a professional service. If you have a small number of photos scanning at home is easier. If you have plenty of photos using a service might be easier but you can end up spending more money. In addition mailing your one and only hardcopy of your photos is a risk since they might get lost.

If you are going to scan at home consider the following:

Resolution: the resolution of a scan is measured by the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Most scanners can scan at 1200 DPI or more. Usually the scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and the bigger the photo file size will be. For most paper prints scanning at 300 to 600 DPI is enough but you can experiment scanning at higher resolutions if you feel it provides better results.

Speed: If you have a small number of photos speed is not an issue. If you have hundreds or more of photos scanning speed becomes important. To get fast scans you would have to scan at the lowest resolution possible that results in good enough scans - for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough.. Also if you're going to buy a scanner check the scanning speed (usually measured in the number of scans per minute make sure that you check the speed at the DPI you're going to use).

Photo feeding: if you only have a small number of photos this is not an issue. If you have many photos make sure that the scanner you buy allows fast and easy loading of photos. Some higher-end scanners will let you load a stack of photos and will automatically feed and scan them for you. These scanners are the right choice if you are planning on scanning hundreds or more photos.

Scanning negatives and slides

Scanning negatives and slides is harder than scanning paper prints. In most cases it is easier and maybe cheaper to use a professional scanning service (such services include www.slidescanning.com, www.myspecialphotos.com, www.pixmonix.com and many more). If you want to scan at home your standard flat scanner will not be good enough. In most cases you will need to spend money on purchasing a film/slides scanner. Those scanners are more expensive than the flat paper scanners. Negatives and slides are small high resolution sources and thus require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400DPI or higher should be used.

The considerations for scanning negatives and slides are similar to scanning paper prints. If you need to scan just a few negatives or slides speed and ease are not important but if you're going to scan hundreds or more you should spend more money on scanners that can feed the negatives or slides automatically or can just load a roll of film and scan it.

The good news is that in most cases scanning negatives is not needed at all. For most amateurs and consumers scanning home photo paper prints is more than enough and scanning the source negatives is a not needed. It is recommended of course to keep the negatives in a safe place. You can use the digital scans for future prints or just for viewing on your computer screen and sharing with your friends and family.

In conclusion scanning your photo paper prints is easy. You can do it yourself at home or you can use a professional scanning service. You can convert all your memories into digital format with a small investment and make sure that you can enjoy those photos and also keep them in their original quality for eternity.

Ziv Haparnas is a technology veteran and writes about practical technology and science issues. This article can be reprinted and used as long as the resource box including the backlink is included. You can find more information digital photo printing printing and photography in general on printrates.com – a site dedicated to photo printing

Rate this Article:

0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s)

Re-Publish

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/digital-photography-articles/turn-your-old-photo-paper-prints-into-modern-digital-format-albums-48560.html

Article Tags: Photo Printing, Scanning, Digital Photo Printing, Photo Scanning, Paper Prints, Scans, Scan Photos, Convert To Digital

Related Videos
Related Articles
Ask / Related Q&A

Play

How to Make Big Prints in Photoshop

Play

What do I need to make digital prints at home?

Play

How To Save Paper in the Office

Play

Printing - PSCS4 Sneak Peek

Play

How to Buy a Photo Printer

Latest Digital Photography Articles
More from Ziv Haparnas

Paper Anniversary Gifts

By: Mark Cijo Jn | 11/11/2009
Anniversaries are a great opportunity to show a married couple how much they mean to you. Unfortunately, most anniversaries slip by unnoticed. It is usually the 25th or 50th anniversary that people make a fuss about. While these are big milestones, for many young couples that first anniversary is also a big event. This is a perfect opportunity to give some unique paper anniversary gifts.

The Digital Photography Guide To Starting Your Own Photography Business From Scratch

By: Dan Feildman | 10/11/2009
...You will soon get access to the Learn Digital Photography Now Blog, which is regularly posted with great photography tips and tricks with detailed digital camera reviews...

The Digital Photography Guide To Professionals Tricks

By: Dan Feildman | 10/11/2009
Amazing Guide To Digital Photography complete with a FREE REPORT, PLUS A FREE CD will be sent to your own very home... The Complete Digital Photography Guide Offer will soon expire...

Digital Photography Guide To Wide Angle Digital Cameras Just Perfect For Nature Lovers

By: Dan Feildman | 10/11/2009
Amazing Guide To Digital Photography complete with a FREE REPORT, PLUS A FREE CD will be sent to your own very home... Don't Miss Out On This Temporary Offer!!!

FREE Photoshop 6 Video Tutorials Help Dominate Any Adobe Photoshop Version

By: David Peters | 09/11/2009
Simple Adobe Photoshop 6 Tutorials that will help you conquer Photoshop in 2 hours. You can view free sample Adobe Photoshop 6 Video Tutorials for beginners

Adjust Tonal Range and Correct Color with Photoshop Elements

By: Photographytips | 09/11/2009
The vast majority of problems from which digital photographs suffer fall into two categories: tonal range and color. Such interrelated problems include not having enough contrast, having too little detail in either the shadow areas or the highlight areas, dull colors, or colors that are simply not correct. Whether the problems result from bad lighting, incorrect camera settings, or poor exposure, you can often improve your images with Photoshop Elements.

Distant Terrestrial Future

By: Daniel Kreimer | 08/11/2009
We often talk about letting nature back into the modern metropolis, but what happens if we look at this process over a far larger timescale-say,over the course of l00 million years?

Lifestyle Stock and Minutes You'll Never Get Back

By: John M. Lund | 08/11/2009
Even at, say 49, life looked different to me. Increasingly, every minute is important. More and more I look at my stock photo career and ask myself how I can use it to not just make money, but to enjoy my life.

The Advantages of Digital Photos and Digital Cameras

By: Ziv Haparnas | 13/09/2006 | Digital Photography
There is no debate that digital cameras are going to take over the photography market and with time we will see less and less film cameras sold and used. It is beneficial to take a moment and try to list the advantages of digital cameras and digital photos and put some order in why everybody likes them so much. In this article you will find that list.

Facts About Flash Units and Taking Photos Using a Flash

By: Ziv Haparnas | 12/09/2006 | Digital Photography
For most of us firing the flash is something that happens in the background and that does not require our attention.. Flash photography was not always so easy to use. Flash is useful in many situations for example when taking photos in dark scenes or when getting rid of shades in fill in mode. It is beneficial to know some facts about flash usage and how it works.

Selling Products Online With the Help of Digital Photos

By: Ziv Haparnas | 08/09/2006 | Digital Photography
The old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" was never more true. In the digital photography era photos can be used in more types of media than they could have before. Not limited to paper prints they can be used on web sites, in emails, in cellular phones, projected in presentations and more. When selling products online photos are a powerful tool that you must use. Here is how.

Digital Photo Printing Paper Sizes - 4xd 5xd and Others

By: Ziv Haparnas | 06/09/2006 | Digital Photography
When you print digital photos on traditional paper sizes photos are either cropped or areas of the paper are left blank. The reason is that tradition paper sizes were designed for film and have different aspect ratio than digital photos. Digital paper sizes solve this problem and are offered by many - here is how.

Exposure Value (ev) and Exposure Compensation

By: Ziv Haparnas | 04/09/2006 | Digital Photography
Exposure is defined as how much light hits the camera's sensor. It depends on the camera settings mainly aperture and shutter speed. Exposure value (known as EV) is a number that represents the exposure setting of the camera. We will explain what the number means and how it is used for exposure compensation.

Photo Printing Made Easier With Dpof

By: Ziv Haparnas | 03/09/2006 | Digital Photography
There are many ways to print photos. For example you could download the photos to your computer choose the ones you like burn them on a CD and take them to a printing service. DPOF makes such photo printing easier - here is how.

Digital Camera Modes - Shutter Aperture Priority and More

By: Ziv Haparnas | 01/09/2006 | Digital Photography
Digital cameras can be put in different photo shooting modes. The most used mode is automatic - the only thing you need to do is point and shoot. However understanding and using the other options will allow you to get better photos in certain scenarios. Here is how.

Tips for Saving Money On your Online Photo Prints

By: Ziv Haparnas | 20/08/2006 | Digital Photography
Taking photos with your digital camera and viewing them on your computer screen is fun. Sometimes you'd like to make hardcopies of your photos. One of the easiest ways to print your photos is by using an online photo printing service. In this article we will give you some tips for saving money when using such services.