Hopeful this is the correct subreddit or someone would be willing to point me in the right direction:) I have 1,000’s of old photos, slides and negatives that need to be scanned for prosperity. The task will be incredible daunting so I’d like advice on a scanner. My goals are firstly quality images as well as ease of use and workload. The images range mostly from the 1930’s-early 2000’s. I want to do the job “right” the first time and willing to pay up to $3,000ish. Please help:)
r/analogcommunity is a good place to start
They might talk about DSLR scanning but unless you have such a camera and are interested in trying it you are best just sticking to a photo scanner plus software that will scan multiple slides at once.
They will probably recommend an Epson scanner but Canon make them also.
The software usually is supplied with the scanner and usually will scan several slides or negatives at once.
Because you have so many to scan you dont need to scan at too great a detail. The resolution of scanners are usually hyped up on the packaging, if you scan at a lower resolution to speed up scanning.
Prints can be scanned at 600 or 1200dpi as they are already quite large. Negatives and slides can be scanned at 2400 or 4800dpi, which will give decent speed plus a finer detail to allow them to be enlarged.
Over 4800dpi is not usually worth it as the hardware resolution of the scanner usually tops out at 4800 or 9600dpi.