Digital BW, The Print

An Inexpensive Canon Flatbed scanner will do just fine for these
pictures. About $200.  Adobe's Photo Elements software will do all you'd
ever need for this type of work. About $99. An Epson 1280 printer ($379
or so) or even a less expensive PHOTO quality epson printer will also do
just fine. If you want to keep ink costs down, get a continuous inking
system, and the VM variable tone inkset from inksupply.com

I would recommend the nomorecarts.com CIS ink delivery system. Dave at:
dave@... could tell you the name of a dealer that sells it.

Jerry

PickPinkFlowers wrote:

> 
> Recently I moved my mother into my home and became her full-time caregiver.  I closed and sold the house she lived in for fifty years.  I found boxes of photos dating back to the late 1800's.
> There are hundreds of them, and they vary in type and condition, but they are all black and white.  I want to copy/repair/enhance them.  I began by trying to find someone with a darkroom.
> 
> Now.......In shopping for software and a scanner best suited to my needs, I have found that most stores are totally DIY .  I am not particularly computer literate.  I am sure there will be a steep learning curve. Therefore, I would appreciate advice about scanners and software best suited to my purpose and easiest to learn.
> 
> Jodie
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 
> Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint
> 
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> 
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> 
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To this I would add that you should probalby scan at 300dpi if 
you intend only to reprint the pictures without doing a lot of 
editing/repair. Scan at a higher resolution (say, 600dpi) if 
you want to make more extensive adjustments to the images or 
to print them larger than the original size.

Also, a useful, free program for working on old photos is the 
Polaroid Dust and Scratch remover tool, free from the Polaroid 
site.

http://www.polaroid.com/service/software/poladsr/poladsr.html

It allows you to quite quickly remove black, white, or both specs 
and scratches from scanned images without affecting the sharpness 
of the image, an it has a fairly short learning curve.

- David

= = = Original message = = =

An Inexpensive Canon Flatbed scanner will do just fine for these
pictures. About $200.  Adobe's Photo Elements software will do 
all you'd
ever need for this type of work. About $99. An Epson 1280 printer 
($379
or so) or even a less expensive PHOTO quality epson printer will 
also do
just fine. If you want to keep ink costs down, get a continuous 
inking
system, and the VM variable tone inkset from inksupply.com

I would recommend the nomorecarts.com CIS ink delivery system. 
Dave at:
dave@... could tell you the name of a dealer that 
sells it.

Jerry

PickPinkFlowers wrote:
> 
> Recently I moved my mother into my home and became her full-time 
caregiver.  I closed and sold the house she lived in for fifty 
years.  I found boxes of photos dating back to the late 1800's.
> There are hundreds of them, and they vary in type and condition, 
but they are all black and white.  I want to copy/repair/enhance 
them.  I began by trying to find someone with a darkroom.
> 
> Now.......In shopping for software and a scanner best suited 
to my needs, I have found that most stores are totally DIY . 
 I am not particularly computer literate.  I am sure there will 
be a steep learning curve. Therefore, I would appreciate advice 
about scanners and software best suited to my purpose and easiest 
to learn.
> 
> Jodie
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 
> Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, 
Polls and other resources as they are often being updated. The 
page is at:
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint
> 
> If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or 
you wish to unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences 
by visiting this same page.
> 
> Please follow these basic guidelines:
> - Include your full name with your message.
> - Include the address of your website, if you have one.
> - As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages 
to keep them short.
> - As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject 
header.
> - Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks 
or "flames."
> - Complete your Yahoo profile.
> - Before posting a question, search the message archives and 
the various resources on the homepage.
> 
> 
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, 
Polls and other resources as they are often being updated. The 
page is at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint

If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you 
wish to unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences 
by visiting this same page.

Please follow these basic guidelines:
- Include your full name with your message.
- Include the address of your website, if you have one.
- As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages 
to keep them short.
- As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject 
header.
- Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks 
or "flames."
- Complete your Yahoo profile.
- Before posting a question, search the message archives and 
the various resources on the homepage. 


 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/


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Hello, Jodie.  I wish you the best with your mother.  She is very fortunate to have that kind of care.  Back to the photos:  You can indeed restore old photos in a darkroom, but it is very difficult and time-consuming.  Kodak has an excellent book on this.  I _think_ I still have it and will mail it to you if you want to give this a try.  As you have gathered, the digital route is far better.  I suggest that the first thing is to be sure the originals are safely stored and future deterioration will be at a minimum.  You can call the people at Light Impressions (www.lightimpressionsonline.com) for advice on albums and boxes that are safe for photo storage.  Regarding software, I have no experience with "light" versions of Photoshop.  Photoshop 6 or 7 is best for restoring.  It has a feature called the "history brush" and a "dust and scratches" filter.  Using the dust and scratches filter alone won't work, because the whole picture is degraded (fuzzy).  But with Photoshop, you can apply that filter, save a "snapshot" of it, and then use the history brush to selectively (and quickly) take out the defects.  Otherwise, you have to use a "rubber stamp" or "clone" tool, which takes forever and doesn't always work that well.  If you happen to have a student I.D., you can get Photoshop 7 at a greatly reduced price.  You are correct about the steep learning curve, no matter which way you go.  You're also correct about the computer stores.  You might as well be asking how to build a time machine.   Just a few thoughts.

  --Ken

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: PickPinkFlowers 
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 10:50 AM
  Subject: [Digital BW] Stupid Annoying Newbie


  Recently I moved my mother into my home and became her full-time caregiver.  I closed and sold the house she lived in for fifty years.  I found boxes of photos dating back to the late 1800's.  
  There are hundreds of them, and they vary in type and condition, but they are all black and white.  I want to copy/repair/enhance them.  I began by trying to find someone with a darkroom. 

  Now.......In shopping for software and a scanner best suited to my needs, I have found that most stores are totally DIY .  I am not particularly computer literate.  I am sure there will be a steep learning curve. Therefore, I would appreciate advice about scanners and software best suited to my purpose and easiest to learn.  

  Jodie


  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


  Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, Bookmarks, Polls and other resources as they are often being updated. The page is at:

  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint

  If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you wish to unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences by visiting this same page.

  Please follow these basic guidelines:
  - Include your full name with your message.
  - Include the address of your website, if you have one.
  - As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to keep them short.
  - As the topic of a thread changes remember to change the subject header.
  - Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or "flames."
  - Complete your Yahoo profile.
  - Before posting a question, search the message archives and the various resources on the homepage. 




  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>To this I would add that you should probalby scan at 300dpi if
>you intend only to reprint the pictures without doing a lot of
>editing/repair. Scan at a higher resolution (say, 600dpi) if
>you want to make more extensive adjustments to the images or
>to print them larger than the original size.

What I want to do I find hard to tell ahead of time. Plus I sometimes 
change my mind. Or get awkwardly late a request at odds with my own 
intuition about what's best. So I scan at my flatbed's optical 
resolution, which is 800 samples per inch. And nevertheless often 
have to print, after cropping, at less than 360 scanned samples in 
each printed (at 1440 dpi) inch. Many of these prints are old family 
photos with some documentation added in a caption below them. And 
with text I like to have more scanner samples per inch (spi), 
preferably 480.


>Also, a useful, free program for working on old photos is the
>Polaroid Dust and Scratch remover tool, free from the Polaroid
>site.
>
>http://www.polaroid.com/service/software/poladsr/poladsr.html
>
>It allows you to quite quickly remove black, white, or both specs
>and scratches from scanned images without affecting the sharpness
>of the image, an it has a fairly short learning curve.

Polaroid seems not to have a Mac version of this software. Does 
anyone know whether there is one in the works?

Sam

Sam McCandless              samcc@...