Photo's AND Slides

[LIFER]

I have been getting both, along with other items. There are some really great ones! with all types of subjects. Those of you who collect them, I would like to ask how do you display them, so others can see them and they don't have to touch them. Some (photo's) are in the original albums, but to have people flip through them will put more wear on them. As for the slides, it's not always going to work out having a projector, where ever. I will look forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas, comments or suggestions. Thanks

[Rakkasan187]

I would suggest that you scan your photos and slides and put them in an album for others to view. This way you are preserving the original photo/slide and you can still view the pictures with the scans.

 

There are digital conversion companies/businesses that will take your slides and convert them to digitized files for preservation and conservation. The company will put the images on discs for you and return your originals.

 

Leigh

[LIFER]

Hi Leigh,

Thanks for the advice. I will need to upgrade on a scanner. I know this would be pretty cut and dry but if you have any pointers, I would like to hear them. It will (hopefully) be a fun project and not too time consuming. As for preserving the originals, would you know of any type of storage to put them in.

LIFER

[Rakkasan187]

There are several decent scanners on the market to choose from and it will be well worth the investment to preserve in many cases one of a kind photos and slides. I use the EPSON 50000 digital scanner. It is rather large but again you can find smaller scanners to fit your needs. After scanning the pictures you may store the originals in archival safe photo sleeves. These can be found at Hobby Lobby, Office Max, Staples and some photography stores. If you really want to get serious about archival preservation and conservation, you can also go through 2 companies that specialize in archival protection, GAYLORD industries and UNIVERSAL Products. These 2 companies cater mostly to museums and I will tell you, they are not cheap, but you can rest assured that the products you get from them will protect your artifacts..

 

After scanning your photos, store the originals flat and in a cool, dry place. A safe, or something that will not be exposed to light. If you place them in a cabinet, place some silica packs to absorb some of the moisture if you have heavy humidity. The intent is not to take all the moisture away because the emulsion on the film will dry and this will eventually lead to cracking and curling, but to keep the photos in an environment that is not too humid and not too dry.

 

The project may be time consuming if you have captions on the backs of the pictures, but again it is well worth the time and investment to have high resolution scans of the pictures. When scanning the photos I use cotton gloves to keep the oils and dirt off the pictures. You would be surprised at how easily fingerprints can show up on photos.

 

Once you have everything scanned you can save the scans to a disc and once again you are preserving the photos. Unfortunately a lot of folks after a disaster such as a flood or fire think about the losses of their heirlooms and now that we have the capability of doing the scanning ourselves, I recommend it..

 

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.. There are so many folks on here with expertise and professional training with the topics discussed, we can help each other out with our shared knowledge and expertise..

 

Leigh

[R Michael]

Hello,

 

Sounds like you have a fun project ahead of you! I have a Epson V500. After going thru 3 or so scanners I put my money on this one. It scans B&W negatives very well. My HP scanner always got the tonal quality wrong and di not bring up the darker areas with good resolution.

 

Mike