Out of curiosity for a project I would like to one day do.... I have a small jacket of WWII photos that I inherited. Mostly out of the bomb bay doors of bombers with bombs visible in the air over Europe.

I'd like to one day make these digital. Can you simply scan these type of photos? Will that destroy the hard copies? They lived in a footlocker for ~70 years in a manilla folder and aren't in great shape now. I currently have them in a photo album that is supposed to be acid free etc etc.

Eventually I'll see if a museum wants them, but for now I'd at least like to digitize them to protect from fire and time and am looking for simple and cost effective ways to do this.

Buy a scanner. Not a cheap three in one jobbie either.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362752,00.asp

Thanks. So bright lights and such shouldn't mess them up or increase their degradation?

Don't leave them out in direct sunlight for weeks on end.





Scan them in, that won't hurt them.





 

thanks. Looks like I'll be getting a scanner later this year.

There are many commercial shops that will do a high resolution scan for a reasonable price. How many photos are you processing? Do you have use for the scanner after you're done?