Scanning Family Photos
Seeing a posting of someone planning to buy a scanner and visit their cousins brought back fond memories.

10 years ago, to begin my retirement, I bought a used laptop and a new Canoscan scanner, and set off visiting relatives from coast to coast to scan their photos and documents. This combination served me well.

The scanner software can make a big difference. I was able to scan multiple photos at once, and then separate them when I got home. This was perfect for me, as my Canoscan was a slow parallel port model. Some scanners want to preview and then crop each photo as it is scanned, and I did not have the time for that. I also have a Lexmark scanner that scans at a low resolution by default, and I have to remember to reset the scanning resolution before EACH individual scan. There seems to be no way to change that setting permanently. What a pain!

My scanning software doesn't automatically fix defects in the original photos, but does give me tools I can use manually to fix many of the defects. e.g. Most newspaper photos respond well to a De-screen filter or a Median 3 filter.

Originally, I put my old family photos on a CD and made copies for interested relatives. Now I find it simpler to upload the photos to Picasa.

I really have fond memories of many visits and many scanning sessions. I hope that my relatives have been as satisfied by my visits as I have been.