Change Print Photos to Digital Files (JPG)

Hi All,
Off topic from the D300.

I have lots of print photo from time I was use 35mm. What is best way to change them into digital files?
Do I have to scan each file and import into LightRoom?
Is there a professional company to do this for me? At a cost?

There is also a date code on back of my printed photos, can these also be added to the JPG file? If I were to use LightRoom and if the professional company can also do it.
Thanks,
Walter

Are you intending to scan the film or scan the prints? What I did was to take a low res scan of the prints, and then only scan the film for the images that I wanted to make a new (better hopefully) photo. Film scanning is best but it takes a lot of time, so for most people scanning all of their film images is not practical. Lots of places offer this service.
--
-Mark

If you have a flat-field lens like the older Nikon 60mm or 105mm micro (I don't know if the 105mm VR is flat-field), you could digitally "reimage" the photos using a copy stand or a home-made rig. You need a good, diffused light source that doesn't create a glare on the original images.

I did this for a co-worker, somewhere like 150 photos. Shot them with my D200. As an added bonus, I was able to restore most of the reimaged digital images via software - boosted colors, adjusted color shifts, removed cracks that that formed in the old photos, etc.

It was a fun project.

There are film negative scanners and print flatbed scanners as well. These you can purchase and do the scanning yourself.

There are also commercial services that will scan and digitize your prints.

I have no idea how the printed dates on the photos would be captured via scanning, without creating a second file.

With an EXIF editor, once digitized, you could include the date information.