How to backup photos from a photo album

[GIZBUG]

I have about 50 physical photo albums with pictures. I would like to find the best solution for getting these pictures in digital format, and stored either on my iMac and online somewhere (for family to access/view). I tried a service called Photomyne and they offer to hold all my pictures for a reoccurring fee which I am not really interested in.

Thoughts/suggestions?

 

[akash.nu]

It really depends on how many pictures in total you’re talking about. The main pain point is the initial scanning bit really.

 

[jparker402]

I know there are services that will digitize them for you. I don't remember what the cost is. My wife and I are now in an assisted living home; had to sell our house and downsize a lot. First question is do you really think you and/or your descendants are going to want those 50 photo albums? Second, and related question is who do you want to make responsible for going through them all and throwing them out? I am now going through our albums for a "last look", and using my printer to scan and digitize what I really want to keep. Good luck!

 

[ChrisA]

I have about 50 physical photo albums with pictures. I would like to find the best solution for getting these pictures in digital format, and stored either on my iMac and online somewhere (for family to access/view). I tried a service called Photomyne and they offer to hold all my pictures for a reoccurring fee which I am not really interested in.

Thoughts/suggestions?

Scanning the photos is a big job. You can buy a scanner and do it yourself or hire the job out. You will likely get better results in hiring the job out. I've had good results with Scan Cafe but they are not fast. It can take a couple weeks. They will charge you 25 cents per photo and the results will be on-line where you can download or for a small fee they send you physical media.

Then with the JPG files in-hand there are a ba-zillion web hosting services both free and paid.

If you want to outsource the entire operation, that is dealing with the scanning company and setting up the web sit and then setting up automatic billing for the site you need to find a local web designer. But if you are able to do the mailing yourself (You need to pack and ship the photos) and move files to the web you can set a bunch.

Assume 100 photos per album and 50 albums, that it 5000 photos at 25 cents each so $1250 for the scanning service. But I'm guessing at the number of photos. Some people think they can do this themselves but it does require some equipment and some skill. EACH photo needs to be placed in the scanner, scanned and then some hand correction applied for color balance and minimal scratch and dust fixing. It then must be saved to a folder named after the album. All this, especially the hand correction might tale 4 to 5 minutes per photo. That is a little over 300 hours of work for 5,000 photos. Best to send this to Scan Cafe where they employ people who are happy to work for $4 per hour.

 

[Fishrrman]

My opinion only, but...

If you want more people to be able to see these photos after you're gone, it might be better just to leave them "in the albums" as physical photos printed out on paper. This way, ANYONE can pick up an album and look through it.

I wonder what will happen to millions (billions) of digital pics when the people who took them pass on, but their survivors can't figure out how to ACCESS them...?