Copyng old photographs - scan or use D30??

[Jon38160]

I am about to embark on copying all my old genealogy pictures I have gathered over the years. My question is: which would produce a better end result or image.....to scan the photograph on my Epson 1640SU scanner or put the photograph on a magnetic copyboard, arrange two 45 degree tungsten copy lights and shoot them with my D30 off a tripod? Any advice would be appreciated. I have over 200 photographs to copy.

 

[Charles Chien]

I prefer using digital camera to copy old photos, especially when you have a lot to copy and if they are all the same size. The main reason is that you don't have the problem of having to clean the glass on the scanner, which you often are going to touch with your fingers and shows up on the resulting images. Once you get your focus, framing and white balance right, you are at the speed of a fraction of a second per photo - not 30+ seconds as my old scanner would take depending on the size of the photo.

Although I have only duplicated a few photos with my D30 since I got it, I would prefer using D30 for my future duplicate work.

I am about to embark on copying all my old genealogy pictures I
have gathered over the years. My question is: which would produce
a better end result or image.....to scan the photograph on my Epson
1640SU scanner or put the photograph on a magnetic copyboard,
arrange two 45 degree tungsten copy lights and shoot them with my
D30 off a tripod? Any advice would be appreciated. I have over
200 photographs to copy.

 

[Jonathan]

Dave,

I don't know the stats for the 1640SU, but I would recommend a good scanner. You can get good resolution, have better opportunities for optimizing the colour of each photo (which will likely have each faded differently), and will allow you to scan each in at different sizes and resolutions, which will be better for reprinting since you won't have to use software interpolation to upsample.

If the 1640 Isn't up to the challenge, you may want to get a really nice scanner for the job. I think you'll get much better results than taking a picture of a picture.

I am about to embark on copying all my old genealogy pictures I
have gathered over the years. My question is: which would produce
a better end result or image.....to scan the photograph on my Epson
1640SU scanner or put the photograph on a magnetic copyboard,
arrange two 45 degree tungsten copy lights and shoot them with my
D30 off a tripod? Any advice would be appreciated. I have over
200 photographs to copy.

 

[LittleJim]

You can buy slide holders to alowyou to copy 35mm slides, using a 35mm camera. Does anyone have an opinion as to if the D30 will also be able to make good slide copies, or will the 1.6 size factor make the existing slide holders useless?

Thx.

Although I have only duplicated a few photos with my D30 since I
got it, I would prefer using D30 for my future duplicate work.

I am about to embark on copying all my old genealogy pictures I
have gathered over the years. My question is: which would produce
a better end result or image.....to scan the photograph on my Epson
1640SU scanner or put the photograph on a magnetic copyboard,
arrange two 45 degree tungsten copy lights and shoot them with my
D30 off a tripod? Any advice would be appreciated. I have over
200 photographs to copy.

 

[Ahmedmsafadi]

better to use Canon D30 to do your work in future

Thx.

Although I have only duplicated a few photos with my D30 since I
got it, I would prefer using D30 for my future duplicate work.

I am about to embark on copying all my old genealogy pictures I
have gathered over the years. My question is: which would produce
a better end result or image.....to scan the photograph on my Epson
1640SU scanner or put the photograph on a magnetic copyboard,
arrange two 45 degree tungsten copy lights and shoot them with my
D30 off a tripod? Any advice would be appreciated. I have over
200 photographs to copy.

 

[Jon38160]

I tried both methods with an old black and white sepia tone print and under as controlled conditions as I could come up with the Epson 1640SU was the clear winner in terms of sharpness and detail. I used two powerlight 1500's, modeling light only set at 45 degree angles to the copywork, 1/60 f8 ISO 100 white balance tungsten lighting manual setting. I then sharpened at 150% using Photoshop. I did not sharpen the scanned image. It was scanned in at 240 dpi and I did not sharpen it and it was still sharper than the D30 image.

What does this tell me? Just that the scanner works better for copying old images, noise and all. But I wouldn't trade my D30 for anything other than maybe a new professional version of the D30 ....maybe D60 or something. I've enjoyed creating beautiful images with it since early February, have already started making money with it, saved money from not buying film and proofs, used it as a polaroid to proof setups and have a great camera for future vacations and trips.

Thx.

Although I have only duplicated a few photos with my D30 since I
got it, I would prefer using D30 for my future duplicate work.

I am about to embark on copying all my old genealogy pictures I
have gathered over the years. My question is: which would produce
a better end result or image.....to scan the photograph on my Epson
1640SU scanner or put the photograph on a magnetic copyboard,
arrange two 45 degree tungsten copy lights and shoot them with my
D30 off a tripod? Any advice would be appreciated. I have over
200 photographs to copy.

 

[LittleJim]

no, sometimes it's not better, 35mm still has uses (look at the other threads on wide-angle lenses for example). Even if it didn't, I have hundreds of slides I need to digitise. What I do with the future shots doesnt' help here.

David.

Thx.

Although I have only duplicated a few photos with my D30 since I
got it, I would prefer using D30 for my future duplicate work.

I am about to embark on copying all my old genealogy pictures I
have gathered over the years. My question is: which would produce
a better end result or image.....to scan the photograph on my Epson
1640SU scanner or put the photograph on a magnetic copyboard,
arrange two 45 degree tungsten copy lights and shoot them with my
D30 off a tripod? Any advice would be appreciated. I have over
200 photographs to copy.

 

[LittleJim]

That's what I figured, I'll probably end up seeing if I can rent a coolscan for a week and bulk copy the slides.

Thx.
David.

What does this tell me? Just that the scanner works better for
copying old images, noise and all. But I wouldn't trade my D30 for
anything other than maybe a new professional version of the D30
....maybe D60 or something. I've enjoyed creating beautiful images
with it since early February, have already started making money
with it, saved money from not buying film and proofs, used it as a
polaroid to proof setups and have a great camera for future
vacations and trips.

Thx.

Although I have only duplicated a few photos with my D30 since I
got it, I would prefer using D30 for my future duplicate work.

I am about to embark on copying all my old genealogy pictures I
have gathered over the years. My question is: which would produce
a better end result or image.....to scan the photograph on my Epson
1640SU scanner or put the photograph on a magnetic copyboard,
arrange two 45 degree tungsten copy lights and shoot them with my
D30 off a tripod? Any advice would be appreciated. I have over
200 photographs to copy.