Scanner to digitise family photos

[ecb]

My family has photographs (some are colour and some monochrome) and some projector slides that we would like to digitise. I don't see reviews about scanners these days, have they reached a peak and not many new features have been added?

Can anyone recommend a goodish scanner at say not less than a £100. Can such a scanner be bought locally? I believe resolution is important, what resolution would be good enough to capture an average photograph? Is anything other than resolution important?

Is there software that allows digitalised pictures to be labelled with a few words saying who was in the picture, when it was taken etc (I realise that some information like this could be incorporated into the file name, but that would give a rather inconveniently long file name)?

[domino]

I think you need a special scanner to copy slides and they tend to be pricey. For your other photos you could always try to photograph them with a digital camera . there is plenty good photo manipulation programs available that you could try.
that is the best I can offer
Frank

[Bobinovich]

You don't need anything special for family photos - even professional printers only want images at 300dpi, so unless you're trying to magnify a small section up that would be fine. I rarely go above 1200dpi even when magnifying a small area.

The projector slides I've never really had much luck with - you can get really good (expensive) slide scanners but they're only really justifiable if you do a lot.

[embow]

Might be worth looking at the following


http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=48N2&tduid=f917583afc55a4eae21f57ef13c07eea#specificati ons

[t]

I have used something along the lines of this on my DSLR

http://www.microglobe.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?pName=nikon-ese28-slide-copier-adapter-for-nikon-coolpix-digital-camera

[Bobinovich]

What a great wee attachment t - it's amazing what the manufacturers come up with to make life easier.

[avalon]

Do you live in Caithness if you have only a few pictures its not worth buying a scanner . I have a minolta which scans slides so if you live local to Wick iI can scan them for you
Brian

[sprint95m]

I believe resolution is important, what resolution would be good enough to capture an average photograph?
This depends on what you wish to do with the digital files, if you only view these on a computer then a low resolution is fine. For printing, a higher resolution is essential.



Is there software that allows digitalised pictures to be labelled with a few words saying who was in the picture, when it was taken etc (I realise that some information like this could be incorporated into the file name, but that would give a rather inconveniently long file name)?
Adobe Photoshop has this facility. However it is very expensive and not particularly nice to use. Sometimes with new scanners, Photoshop LE is supplied. Sorry, I don't know if LE has the type tool facility.
(LE is a version of Photoshop with a few tools only.)