Scanning 101

So you all know that I can't scan and post. There I said it. So I need help. I have all the necessary things at work, but can't really pring my proofs there and scan all day! So I am thinking of taking scanning home with me. I figure when the baby comes I am going to want this home feature!

OK - I have a digital camera. From what I gather, you can take pics and then some card is involved and your computer reads it. Need more info on this. Do I have to buy a card reader? I work on a PowerBook at home - Mac. Whe it 'reads' it, do the pics come up on the desktop? Are they automatically in jpeg format?

If I buy a scanner - what should I buy. Something smallish and cheap.

Where does a scanner plug into. I just put things in there and scan and then they are on my desktop and I can post?

Please help. I am such a tart.

I'm no expert but here's what I do:
With the equipment I got from my digital camera, there was a cord to attach to the computer's USB connection. That's where any other equipment would be connected to (i.e., scanner, etc) Then, I turn on the camera and it waits a sec, then prompts me to choose between my photo editing programs (one I got with my camera). Then it uploads all the pics from your memory card in the camera, and you click on each pic to upload it to your program. Once it's upload, I edit and crop them, then saved them to jpeg files.

If you already have a digi cam you may not even need a scanner. That's more time consuming and the clarity won't be as good with the digi cam.

Hope this helps!

I have a scanner, but no digi cam, and I agree that the digi is better to have and better quality than a scanner, HOWEVER, if you have specific pictures in mind to post that are not digi, then an inexpensive scanner might be in order.

My scanner was cheaper than cheap and it serves it's purpose.

To post photos I put them in the scanner, press scan, wait for it to appear on the desktop, move it to my picture folder, then (and this step is optional) upload to a photo site (I use hpphoto.com), and post.

It's a lot of steps, but it takes about 2 minutes total to get a picture scanned and posted.

I just read back my post, and I hope it's not too wordy and confusing. I know what I'm doing, but I obviously need a lesson in explaining it!

yes, there are definitely pros to having a scanner too - like with old childhood photos, newspaper clippings, etc. I have both for these reasons

My scanner is a Canon - it was probably around $80 or so and is pretty easy to operate.

actually, I have done that at times too. I think it should come out ok, but sometimes it's hard not to get a flashback in photos, or any other shadow when taking the pic. My camera is great but the one drawback is focusing on things really close up. I'd need to move back a bit and then the quality might be lost a little.

But then again, if you don't plan to do it that often, it probably would be easier than going on and buying a scanner, learning how to operate it, just for a few pics

Thanks... my scanner is on it's last legs, and I am planning on buying a digi for baby pictures ( ), and I was wondering if I should replace the scanner too. Maybe I'll just wait for it to die completely and then decide.

Here's an example of the difference:

This is something I scanned in of an actual print (The clarity is decent - the colors are a bit off since this pic is from the late '70s!)


Here's a decent example of taking a pic with the digi cam (I didn't have an actual photo example) - you can see the shadow of my head when taking the picture! Granted, this was behind glass and that's what caused the reflection, but this is a good example


This is from my digital camera directly:


All in all the clarity is good either way - but probably best from the digital camera directly

Thanks for the examples, and I love the choices of pictures, especially the 70's picture! SO CUTE!