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From the Darkroom to the Desktop -- How to Digitize Your Photos
Joan owns a flower shop, and she'd like to show her flower arrangements over the Web. She also has bigger plans -- to produce a printed catalog or even a catalog on CD-ROM. She's accumulated many photographs of her arrangements, but they reside in the analog world, and she wants to work in the digital domain. So how does she get those photos into the computer? Joan has a variety of solutions open to her.
Four Ways to Import Photos -- Pros and Cons
The four most common ways to get photos into your computer are:
1. Scan them using a flatbed scanner. Scanning allows high resolution and good detail. However, you'll need to have your film developed before you can scan the prints, and this takes time. Also, depending on the resolution at which you scan your photos, you may end up with very large files (the higher the resolution, the more megabytes (MB) the file will be). If you're used to transporting files on floppy disks, you may need to switch to a removable storage solution like a Zip disk or CD-ROM that can handle larger files.
2. Have a photo processor put them on floppy disk or CD-ROM. Almost any photo processing store can offer you this service, and it's very inexpensive. Many will put your photos onto a floppy at the same time they develop traditional prints. Or they can send your film out to a plant that scans your photos onto a Kodak Photo CD. The difference is the Photo CD comes with 5 files per photo, each at a different resolution. The smallest files are suitable for display on a computer monitor, while the largest will print out at high resolution suitable for printing. The Photo CD can hold 100 images (and are multi-session, so you can have 20 images scanned in one week, and 20 more the next, until the CD is full). A floppy can only hold a few images at very low resolutions and a zip disc can hold several at higher resolution.
3. Use a digital camera. The fastest, though not the cheapest method is to shoot your pictures on a digital camera and download them directly to your computer. The standard resolution using a low end digital camera is 1 megapixel (1152 x 872 pixels), 24 bit color, which is not only great for on-screen (e-mail or website) display but fine for inkjet or handout printing. The high end digitals will produce magazine/catalog quality prints.
4. Input them via videotape using a video capture board. If your computer has a "video-in" feature, you can connect a TV cable, VCR, or camcorder directly to your computer to capture video. If your computer didn't come with this capability, you can buy a video capture vboard for a few hundred dollars. However, the quality of still images captured with this method is usually poor at best.
There are also other methods. For example, you can pay for a high quality, high-resolution scan, such as a drum scan. This may be appropriate for certain applications -- such as for your key marketing photo on the cover of your brochure or catalog, but it's very expensive, up to $15 - $30 for one scan of one image!
For more on using photos in your print materials, sample these tasty morsels from the Fridge:
Digital Cameras -- Time to Buy?
Photo CD -- An Inexpensive Way to Scan and Store Promo Photos
Purchase top brand name computer products at Micro Warehouse
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