Today I will talk about digitizing analog photos. I will talk about two methods.

I have scanners from different manufacturers, flat bed scanner and dedicated film scanner. Each scanner is delivered with software. Each software is generally good. But it is a problem to manage several software. Secondly, none of them works for Linux operating system. I wanted to simplify my software learning, so I wanted one software for all my existing and any future scanner. Secondly I intended to migrate to a Linux operating system, which I now have done.

Those two requirements lead me to switch over to VueScan software. I had tested VueScan before and also gotten recommendations from photographic friends. VueScan is a proprietary software made by a small family run company. It’s available for Linux, Windows and macOS. VueScan supports very many hardware scanners. I do not know about any better software for Linux and is maybe also the best choice for any operating system. I do not regret my switch to VueScan.

A second method to digitize photos is reproduction with a camera. That is to use a camera to shoot a photo of the photo.

Some say it is the superior technology. I don’t know. But as I am coming from the scanning technology and starting to explore the repro technology, I will give my early thoughts from that perspective.

My initial plan has been to use repro photography for prints that are glued into albums and therefore difficult to manage in the scanner. It is also an excellent method to digitize other papers in book format. But I have not really started to do that.

However, a while ago I started to look into 6x9 cm negatives. My scanner can just manage 6x9. But I do not have a fixture for 6x9. So it is both somewhat tricky to position the negative as well as to keep it flat. A thin plexiglass plate might be possible to use to keep it flat. Even without plexiglass, I have tested I can get well acceptable result with the scanner.

I started to try out the repro method. I have not come so far in my trials that I can decide which is the best method for me.

My camera is a modest camera compared to state of the art. My flat bed scanner should give better or comparable resolution than my modest digital camera. The fixture I have for repro do not keep the negative fully flat, because 6x9 is a rather big size. So I plan to explore if I can improve quality with a plexiglass plate above the negative.

An issue with the repro method is to keep all angles in control, to mount the camera in exactly correct angle in relation to the object. Focus can also be another issue. I consider it is better to use manual focus rather than auto focus. When I take the repro photos, I have the camera connected to a laptop and I use the Entangle software to control the camera settings. I can use the camera live view to position the object as well as to focus.

I use RawTherapee software to convert the negative photo to a normal photo. RawTherapee comes with pre-installed profiles for this process. The default profile values can be adjusted and also stored as new personal profiles.

A major advantage of the repro method compared to the scanner method is the speed. Once all is configured, it takes one hundred of a second or so to do the digitize itself, while it can take minutes with the scanner.

I use digiKam as my photo catalog software.

All software I currently use with the exception of VueScan are free and open source. I use all on Linux operating system, some of them are available on other platforms. I include links to their websites in the show notes.

If you have any opinion or experience on digitizing analog photos, I will be happy to read your comments or listen to your show.

Software

VueScan: https://www.hamrick.com/

Entangle: https://entangle-photo.org/

RawTherapee: https://rawtherapee.com/

digiKam: https://www.digikam.org/