So, I've been hired to digitize about 60 years worth of photos.

Very interesting to see how the techniques changed over time, and in some cases how they didn't.

The "sloppy" dodging and burning that was probably all the rage back then and the various © notices and such on the photos.

FWIW, this is an archiving process, so I don't have any issues with scanning © photos for the client. Now, if they were taken more recently, then maybe.

wow, that sounds like a huge job. how are you fitting that in with your photography business? Is it just a routine kind of deal, or are you actually restoring the photos too? What's the out put when done, are you making prints or is this just for digital archiving . . . ?

What do you charge for that kind of work?

I usually get two or three restoration jobs a year and I charge $50 per hour (which is too low to make real money and people I have found wont pay much more) for restoration and my normal rates for re prints . . .

Tony

Right now, it is fitting pretty well since I can't get around much and don't have a lot of work until next month.

I'm only doing a couple restorations right now as a "look what I can do" in hopes that the client will want more.

Output is 300 DPI JPGs to external HD's and backed up on Gold DVDs.

This is a friend, but she's supplying all the discs and drives.

For document "feedable" images I'm charging $.30
For manually done images (most of the older ones) $.50 each.
Photo Albums are $2.00 per page photos left in the book (some are too fragile to remove).
To take an album apart and reassemble afterward is something I price on an individual basis.

I've seen the room these photos come from. It is 10x12 stacked floor to ceiling with photos in boxes so I'm tackling a few thousand at a time with two scanners (Epson Expression 10000XL) and two computers going full blast.

I'm considering an additional, less expensive scanner to make it three. If I can find one that will feed 4x6 photos I'm sold. Most of them don't do well under 5x7 though.

wowzers, that is a huge job! keep us updated if you manage to run across a first edition of batman or a old baseball card in that heap!

Now that would be cool!

We're getting together with them for dinner tonight and I'll swap this batch for the next.

Hey Jim,

I have been meaning to reply to this for a few days. What a COOOOOOOL job!! Please let us know how this turns out. My initial impression was that you are charging a bargain for the amount of time spent. Am I wrong on this?

James

I'm charging a bit more than the "mail-away" services charge, but since we're passing images by hand, there is less risk of loss through mail problems and such. There is also no shipping, etc.

Definitely a cool job though. Lots of great conversation about the photos when we get together. We've been to a lot of the same places around the world.

sounds interesting... but time consuming,,, Not sure if it would help, but the scanner I have will take as many images as you can put on it and seperate them in photoshop. It even straightens them. I did a disc for a bride and groom that wanted a slide show for their wedding reception of them when they were kids, They had a lot of snap shots that we put there,, worked out great, no making sure the pix were absolutely straight etc. The scanner I have is an Epson 3170 photo.

Thanks Dave,

My Epson does the same thing with separate images placed on the glass. A feeder is more efficient in that I can plop down a bunch and go about other things while they scan.

I've managed to rig the feeding path to accommodate 4x6 photos, but only about about 4 per minute. I've been looking at a Kodak model that will do about 18 per minute and has a track built to handle the 4x6s already.

If my friend wants to pay enough in advance to get the scanner, I may spring for it and drop her price a bit. We'll see. There are certainly enough photos for me to do it that way and still make quite a bit before the whole thing is done.

How has this project been coming? Also, are you satisfied with the scans you are getting from it?

James