[Murfy]

I have some old old family photos, very late 1800s and early 1900s. What would be the best way to digitize these without further degrading them? Would photographing them be better, rather than scanning? I want to get them before they fade any further.

[CarlJF]

Do you have the negatives ? If so, the best would be to scan the negatives. If not, I would not fear to use a flatbed scanner. Sure, it makes light, but the duration is relatively short and the intensity isn't that strong either.

B&W prints are quite robust to light exposure if they have been correctly fixed. And if they haven't fade too much in a century, they certainly are!

[RGlasel]

Do you have the negatives ?

Highly unlikely (unless the images are on glass plates), because the film base used isn't durable enough to last 50 years never mind 100.

I would suggest using a digital camera and some kind of copy stand. The reason I say that is because the effective DOF on a flatbed scanner is very short and flattening these old prints could damage them. Much easier to take a picture with a good macro lens (to get minimal field curvature) and do some cropping and minor white balance adjustments later, than to photoshop dozens of little cracks and flaking because you flattened the print.

The other thing I have found is that some print making techniques involve applying a relatively thick medium to the plate or paper and a scanner is only going to get a sharp image of the top of that medium. When you get up close and personal with the print you discover that is more like a relief sculpture than a two-dimensional image.

[Murfy]

Do you have the negatives ?

No! LOL, these are like old prints, I have no idea how they even took them. Most my mom said they were mostly of members of the church, this was in Appalachian West Virginia, Virginia area. So I have one that I will post and then I am going to remove it because I know this is a public forum and i don't want it "out there" on the internet and have someone use it. Maybe I am paranoid, but I will leave it up a day or two then take it down.

But this is like a typical photo, I scanned it in years ago, it has been since kept in boxes. I am guessing this would be 1910 or so. I have prints that are much older, I scanned this on a flatbed years ago, and I just don't think it did a very good job.

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Last edited by Murfy; 10-27-2015 at 03:22 PM.

[SD_Bob]

Murfy, I shot a photo of a 1940's BW picture for genealogy records using my K3 and DA* 35mm macro lens. I really liked the results, and I could repair a lot of flaws in the original using Lightroom. You could always try taking photos, then use a scanner if you don't like the results.

[6BQ5]

Properly photographing them with good lighting and a sharp macro lens can produce very nice images. You would have the advantage of using your current workflow for image processing without having to learn new software.