Best way to digitalize my old paper photo collection?
-
So, here's my summer challenge. * I can NOT take the photos out of the albums ("scan them stackwise" is not an option) * I bought a camera tripod and thought about camera-copying them Can you recommend me a good app that is capable of correcting those photos? I will use my Galaxy S10e, and the camera is more than good enough, but I heard of apps the can "document copy" things, so they correct rotation and bending. When you make a photo of a sheet of paper, it looks like a scanned document and not like a photo of a document. I tried to search a bit but couldn't find "the one". It's a summer project for me, I have to digitalize about 2000 photos, my daughter will help me, and I have no fear to do some manual correcting or resizing on 2k files. I have time over the entire August (YES I have a loooooooong vacation this year! You are allowed to be envious :-D ) How would you approach that project?
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
-
So, here's my summer challenge. * I can NOT take the photos out of the albums ("scan them stackwise" is not an option) * I bought a camera tripod and thought about camera-copying them Can you recommend me a good app that is capable of correcting those photos? I will use my Galaxy S10e, and the camera is more than good enough, but I heard of apps the can "document copy" things, so they correct rotation and bending. When you make a photo of a sheet of paper, it looks like a scanned document and not like a photo of a document. I tried to search a bit but couldn't find "the one". It's a summer project for me, I have to digitalize about 2000 photos, my daughter will help me, and I have no fear to do some manual correcting or resizing on 2k files. I have time over the entire August (YES I have a loooooooong vacation this year! You are allowed to be envious :-D ) How would you approach that project?
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
Mike Barthold wrote:
I will use my Galaxy S10e, and the camera is more than good enough
imho, this will not result in usable quality pictures. Assuming you can take album pages out and lay them "flat," I second the motion to use a flatbed scanner.
«Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?» T. S. Elliot
-
So, here's my summer challenge. * I can NOT take the photos out of the albums ("scan them stackwise" is not an option) * I bought a camera tripod and thought about camera-copying them Can you recommend me a good app that is capable of correcting those photos? I will use my Galaxy S10e, and the camera is more than good enough, but I heard of apps the can "document copy" things, so they correct rotation and bending. When you make a photo of a sheet of paper, it looks like a scanned document and not like a photo of a document. I tried to search a bit but couldn't find "the one". It's a summer project for me, I have to digitalize about 2000 photos, my daughter will help me, and I have no fear to do some manual correcting or resizing on 2k files. I have time over the entire August (YES I have a loooooooong vacation this year! You are allowed to be envious :-D ) How would you approach that project?
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
-
Paint.net has all you need. If it doesn't then one of the multitude of add-ins does. ...and it's free!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
Yes I use paint.net for years --- this is my program to edit them after photographing.
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
-
So, here's my summer challenge. * I can NOT take the photos out of the albums ("scan them stackwise" is not an option) * I bought a camera tripod and thought about camera-copying them Can you recommend me a good app that is capable of correcting those photos? I will use my Galaxy S10e, and the camera is more than good enough, but I heard of apps the can "document copy" things, so they correct rotation and bending. When you make a photo of a sheet of paper, it looks like a scanned document and not like a photo of a document. I tried to search a bit but couldn't find "the one". It's a summer project for me, I have to digitalize about 2000 photos, my daughter will help me, and I have no fear to do some manual correcting or resizing on 2k files. I have time over the entire August (YES I have a loooooooong vacation this year! You are allowed to be envious :-D ) How would you approach that project?
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
Maybe a handheld scanner would be an option ? taotronics-handheld-portable-scanner[^]
-
Yes I use paint.net for years --- this is my program to edit them after photographing.
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
Ok. I use a flatbed scanner (it can do slides as well using an adapter). Just don't look at the scanning light when the lid is open, as it will need to be when scanning photos still in albums. I just hold the album in place, look away from it and click the button. This would probably be a lot quicker than setting up for each photo from a camera - although the scanning takes longer you will get a better result in my opinion with no fear of reflections or light interference corrupting the image. I have done hundreds like this myself - it's still on-going, my wife is a shutterbug!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
-
So, here's my summer challenge. * I can NOT take the photos out of the albums ("scan them stackwise" is not an option) * I bought a camera tripod and thought about camera-copying them Can you recommend me a good app that is capable of correcting those photos? I will use my Galaxy S10e, and the camera is more than good enough, but I heard of apps the can "document copy" things, so they correct rotation and bending. When you make a photo of a sheet of paper, it looks like a scanned document and not like a photo of a document. I tried to search a bit but couldn't find "the one". It's a summer project for me, I have to digitalize about 2000 photos, my daughter will help me, and I have no fear to do some manual correcting or resizing on 2k files. I have time over the entire August (YES I have a loooooooong vacation this year! You are allowed to be envious :-D ) How would you approach that project?
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
I have to think you'll hate the results if you "take a picture of a picture". If the source material is bad, there's nothing you'll ever be able to do to correct that and you'll never be satisfied with it no matter how much work you put in it. My (beginning of a) solution was to give my nephew a few bucks to scan my parents' photo albums. Granted, we're not talking about 2000 photos, but it was still enough work that I had been putting it off myself for years. That's step 1. The next problem to tackle (as you've pointed out) after scanning album pages is to split those multi-image pages into the individual photos, which don't necessarily line up between one page and the next. This is also very much a manual process--one that's probably as tedious as the original scanning one. At least that part is automatable. I know there's software out there that claim to do that, but I've been underwhelmed with the results provided by the few I tried. It's a 2-step process: Split the individual photos, and then straighten them out individually. Not something you want to do manually, no matter how much cheap labor you have at your disposal. Unless you have access to resources I don't. :-) I haven't looked very hard, admittedly, so those scanned files are still sitting in limbo, so if you do come across something that can do a decent job...I'm keeping an eye on this thread... (I remember I had come across Photoshop scripts, but I don't have Photoshop, nor can I justify the money for it for this one-time job, without knowing how well it's supposed to work...)
-
So, here's my summer challenge. * I can NOT take the photos out of the albums ("scan them stackwise" is not an option) * I bought a camera tripod and thought about camera-copying them Can you recommend me a good app that is capable of correcting those photos? I will use my Galaxy S10e, and the camera is more than good enough, but I heard of apps the can "document copy" things, so they correct rotation and bending. When you make a photo of a sheet of paper, it looks like a scanned document and not like a photo of a document. I tried to search a bit but couldn't find "the one". It's a summer project for me, I have to digitalize about 2000 photos, my daughter will help me, and I have no fear to do some manual correcting or resizing on 2k files. I have time over the entire August (YES I have a loooooooong vacation this year! You are allowed to be envious :-D ) How would you approach that project?
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
get a scanner ...dont take the photo out but just scan page by page... any cannon scanner would do..or any other brand ..flat bed...it comes with the software and you can do some editing with it .... [Canon U.S.A., Inc. | Product List](https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/list/scanners/)
Caveat Emptor. "Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
-
So, here's my summer challenge. * I can NOT take the photos out of the albums ("scan them stackwise" is not an option) * I bought a camera tripod and thought about camera-copying them Can you recommend me a good app that is capable of correcting those photos? I will use my Galaxy S10e, and the camera is more than good enough, but I heard of apps the can "document copy" things, so they correct rotation and bending. When you make a photo of a sheet of paper, it looks like a scanned document and not like a photo of a document. I tried to search a bit but couldn't find "the one". It's a summer project for me, I have to digitalize about 2000 photos, my daughter will help me, and I have no fear to do some manual correcting or resizing on 2k files. I have time over the entire August (YES I have a loooooooong vacation this year! You are allowed to be envious :-D ) How would you approach that project?
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
I would make a kind of booth out of white board and make a mount for camera so it would sit directly above album. The lighting will be tricky part, might have to make a couple of soft boxes. This way you can slide album under camera and it will be consistent quality. Tripod would not be as easy.
Technician 1. A person that fixes stuff you can't. 2. One who does precision guesswork based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge. JaxCoder.com
-
I would make a kind of booth out of white board and make a mount for camera so it would sit directly above album. The lighting will be tricky part, might have to make a couple of soft boxes. This way you can slide album under camera and it will be consistent quality. Tripod would not be as easy.
Technician 1. A person that fixes stuff you can't. 2. One who does precision guesswork based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge. JaxCoder.com
My tripod has flexible legs and can be attached almost... everywhere, like a spider. I thought about exactly that... Fix the camera with the tripod so it points 90° down and I just move the album below the camera, centering image after image. That's what I will try in the first step. As app I will use Google PhotoScan and the normal camera app for the first 10-20 photos. Then I will compare the results (I can't judge anything before I tried both in the current light here in my living room) - then I will decide. Thanks for all comments so far!
|| You know nothing, Jon Snow. || My Android Label (mbar Software) || My Android Apps in Play Store
