Proper photo scanning equipment isn’t cheap, so it’s best to be as prepared as possible before you make your purchasing decision. Below is an excerpt from about.com which details some of the top photo scanners on the market today.

1. Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner

This Epson photo scanner gives great value for under $200. It comes with great bundled software (including Adobe Photoshop Elements) and holders for slides and negatives. The holders feel a bit flimsy and the automatic document feeder is extra, but otherwise this did a great job of digitizing some old negatives and photographs, and helping me get them looking new again. With a little more paper documentation, this Epson photo scanner would be even better, but it’s still a great deal.

2. Pandigital PhotoLink One-Touch Photo Scanner

The Pandigital Photolink One-Touch Photo Scanner is small, affordable, and did a decent job in scanning photos (and did it quickly too). It may not be the choice of professional photographers, and it doesn’t scan negatives or slides, but for the home user looking to get that box of photos organized, this is a good deal.

3. Epson Perfection V700 Photo Scanner

This pricey Epson photo scanner uses a Dual Lens System, where the scanner automatically chooses from two lenses to give the best scan resolution. It also features easy ways to digitally remove dust and scratches from film to make retouching simpler (and comes with additional image-editing software). With 48-bit color depth, there’s no question that you’ll get rich images. The unit can hold 12 35-mm slides or 24 35-mm film strips. Epson’s suggested retail price is $549.99, and for that price it’s not surprising that it makes an effort to provide some all-purpose scanning capability, with features like optical character recognition. Epson photo scanners typically get great reviews, so it may be worth the investment.

Click here to read the full article…

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Document Scanners

Document scanners are great for what they are designed for, which is documents. Lots of people get the idea to purchase one of these document scanners to help automate and make their lives easier when it comes to scanning their photos. Like with any job involving priceless items such as scanning photos, you typically want the job done right the first time around. When you try to add photos to scan on your document scanner, you will end up with some problems! The way the document scanner works is that you load a stack of documents into the feeder, and then the machine will feed each document through the scanner like a fax machine would. The end result is a scan that takes a fraction of the time that a flatbed scanner would. The problems arise in the method the machine feeds the paper through. If you scan photos in this manner, because of the fact that the media is in motion as it’s being scanned, the quality suffers from streaking, poor colorization, blurriness and other ailments. There are stories of people having to redo their entire scanning job because of these quality problems. So, for the best results for any type of image scanning, you’d ideally want to get your hands on a high end dedicated photo scanner, or flatbed.

DPI

DPI or dots per inch is often not fully understood. With images, a higher DPI does not necessarily mean a higher quality image. It simply means that there is a higher resolution, or more dots on one of the images. A good example of this is if one of your images was shot with a dirty or blurry lens, scanned at 600dpi, and another picture from a clean camera scanned at 300dpi. The 300dpi image will be of much higher quality to the naked eye. Also, simple setting the DPI to a higher settings will not always solve your quality issues. There are a multitude of other factors that can play into creating the best image possible such as contrast levels, built in filters and dust and scratch removal. The best bet is to take problematic or poor quality photos to a professional image scanninng or restoration service. These imaging professionals have the experience and tools to extract the best possible quality from your images.

Prints vs Negatives

When deciding on whether to scan your images from a print or negative, going with negative scanning is generally the better choice. First, realize that a photograph is merely a copy of the original processed film. Photographs, are usually printed around 260-300dpi at the standard photo labs. This is why photos are typically scanned at 300 dpi, which makes the higher resolutions much better post scanning work such as photo restoration or enlarging the original prints. The negatives contain much more information in the frame than a photo could posssibly contain. This is why negatives are capable of being scanned at resolutions of up to 4000dpi. This type of resolution can display these details much more easily and clearly, especially when a larger print is be made. Another reason you’d want to stick to the original film is that the originals contain much more contrast and color detail than the prints. The colors and detail of printed photos tend to fade over the years from exposure to sunlight, etc.

Quick and Easy

Scanning large amounts of photos is actually quite a laborious process. If quality is your main concern, scanning your photo collection could take an enormous amount of time. In order to efficiently scan your photos, you’d need multiple scanners, computers, and hands! If you have a large collection, and limited time to spare, it’s highly recommended to outsource the work to a company who deals with high quality photo scanning. This will allow you the free time you need, while getting your photos professionally scanned in a timely manner. Most photo scanning companies will charge based on the number of images submitted, so it will be very easy to budget your project this way.

Expensive Equipment

When dealing with a photo scanning order, you will obviously need to purchase some equipment in order to get the project going. There are tons of different brands of scanners to buy, each with their own pros and cons. In order to get the job done correctly and efficiently, the equipment you’re going to need is not cheap. You will need a computer that is capable of handling higher end equipment and won’t freeze up or slow you down. You’d also need to purchase a high-end flatbed scanner which will greatly enhance the quality of the images versus a low quality cheap-o scanner.

We try to inform everyone of these misconceptions about when they come to us for a photo scanning order in Los Angeles or photo scanning in Irvine. The more information you have, the better your outcome will be and happier about the end results!

DVD Your Memories never outsources any work submitted to us. All work is done in-house at the location you dropped it off at. Some other companies will actually ship your order to another state of even over seas to another country! We want to provide the safest, and most convenient method of transferring your old video tapes, photos, and film to DVD right from your own city.

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10. Ease
With the advancement of technology at the consumer-level, it’s now cheaper and easier than ever to get your old video tapes converted to DVD, photos scanned, and film digitized. Nearly all work is now captured directly into a computer’s hard drive, which allows for relatively easy manipulation of your video, images and audio with no quality loss from the original. You can now think about adding chapter markers and interactive menu screens for your kid’s birthday parties instead of sifting through 2 hours of raw footage.

9. Production and Editing
With advancements in technology propelling us to the ‘digital era’, producing quality media from the comfort of your own home or office is now a reality. Once your media is digitized, nearly anything is possible from putting together a new scrapbook, creating a graduation slideshow for your children, or even a new commercial for your business. People no longer have to pay outrageous production fees in order to create a viable video for them.

8. Celebrating a Special Event
Do you have a special event planned in the near future? Would you like to create a San Diego custom slideshow or video montage to incorporate into an event? For the next party or get-together, instead of dusting off the old slide projector, you can show off your fully-edited custom slideshow movie for everyone to enjoy. This is a great way to show off you latest product or idea, while getting everyone in attendance involved.

7. Portability
The newer they are, the smaller they get. This can apply to most media throughout history. Just think about how much easier it would be to do a little bit of 35mm slide scanning, and condense your 35 carousels of slides into a single disc. With video, for instance, VHS tapes were the standard for several years until laser discs and DVDs hit the market. As many people know, the more VHS tapes you owned, the more storage space you needed to allocate to them. When digitized however, you can save a remarkable amount of space. Instead of holding onto hundreds of old VHS tapes, you transfer them to some easy to maintain DVDs or even to hard drive to save more space.

6. Entertainment
Reflecting on past events can be entertaining as well! It’s always a treat to catch a glimpse of your vacation from years ago, and re-live the time you spent there. This is also great for family get-togethers or parties especially if multiple people attending are featured on the video! If you decide to go with a video transfer to hard drive, you can do some simple or advanced editing to create a new video for everyone to enjoy.

5. Reconnecting With Lost Friends
15 Years ago, you and your friend may have taken a video camera on that awesome trip to Europe. As time goes on, people change locations, and connections are missed or often lost. Without watching that video today, you may never ask yourself, what happened to this person? Where can I find them? Not only is it much easier these days to transfer your media, it’s also become much easier to find and locate people! Sometimes a little reminder is all you need.

4. Family Time
Everyone has busy schedules with school, work, football practice, church, etc. and often, time spent with your own family is overlooked. Once your media is digitized, it provides a great opportunity to spend and share time with family or close friends. People can relate to what they’re watching and can spark up some interesting discussions of the past, and connect with new friends.

3. Technology Changing
Technology is constantly evolving into “smaller” and better things. A closet full of old videos can now be placed onto a plastic drive the size of your thumb and your desk drawer full of photos can now be replaced with archival-grade DVDs. Now that most of the older formats are obsolete and often difficult to see or watch, it’s best to get them digitized sooner than later. As time drags on, it will only start to get more difficult to obtain the equipment needed to perform the video transfer, or image scanning that is right for you.

2. Degradation and Deterioration
During the 80′s and 90′s, most of us were under the assumption that our precious memories stored onto magnetic tape would be safe forever. Recently, however, more and more people are realizing that this is simply not the case. Magnetic tape is great for short term play back of our fondest memories, or to relive a historic event. Video tapes deteriorate every year even if you don’t view them. Your precious memories painstakingly caught on tape WILL someday be unplayable. Most VHS tapes, with proper care, can last up to 20 years with only minor degradation issues. However, since VHS tapes have been obsolete for nearly 10 years now, the timeline is running thin! If you want these images to last, it’s best to get the VHS transfer to DVD done now, before it’s too late. DVDs can last you hundreds of years with absolutely no degradation, as the laser never makes direct contact with the disc itself. I’ve seen where people have, unfortunately, waited a bit too long to get their tapes transferred, and as a result they’re left with a fraction of what they once had.

1. Archiving/Preservation
Archiving your family’s media should always be in the back of your mind. Older media types, such as slides and video tapes, were never designed or meant to last forever. It has now become much easier to archive your tapes and images by simply capturing them to a hard drive or DVD. While most consumer DVDs typically last anywhere from 5-10 years, there are a few high-grade brands that will last you 100 or more years with proper care. Virtually all recordings from the last 40 years are in jeopardy, whether it be unique mastered audio recordings or news broadcasts. No tape is safe from the multiple threats that range from physical loss due to disaster, accidental erasure, or the increasing disappearance of equipment needed to play them back. Realistically, most of the inventory of tapes are duplicates of other materials, but many others are originals, masters, or unique content that cannot be easily duplicated. The amount of tapes needed to be restored is so huge, that it would take decades, even if facilities, techniques, and funding were readily available.

If you have any questions regarding the media transfer service, give us an email: info@dvdyourmemories.com

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