I agree with Mary Ellen's and Marriane's recommendations.. I was in a similar dilemea a few months ago, & posted to the various lists... the response was tremendous...almost all the recommendations from those with expertise were the same especially if you want to guarantee archival quality photo copies (something that will be around for a while). I will summarize the advice I was given and imput some of my own experience . ..............................PHOTOGRAPH the original photos................... Most of the experts do not recommend scanning old photos due to the chance of heat damage, especially to metal (tin type). I could not believe how well the tins photographed...better and clearer than the original....Another factor to consider is that scanned photo's lose some of their resolution and photo's saved to floppy disk can "fail" (a fact I can attest to). Scanned photo's printed on photo paper have a life expectancy of only about 2 years before they begin to fade. They recommend photographing on BW film. (BW has a life span of 50-100 + years; color photos only up to about 25 before deteriation beginsdepending on the film and paper used ). I suggest going to to a photo supply shop for the film. There are several types and brands and they can direct you to the one that will be right for what you want to accomplish. The new BW films that can be auto processed (C41) give a reddish to brown tint to the BW photo (can be processed at Eckerd's 1Hour Photo for example). For true BW you would need to buy professional BW film and take to a full service photo lab.(no Eckerd 1Hour service). I photograph all of our photo's on BW. Then if they need to be retouched, I scan the "new" photo, make the corrections and repairs, print on the computer photo paper, then REPHOTO with my 35mm camera. (there will be some loss of resolution, but for severely damaged photo's it the only way to do it at home.) I use our 35mm camera. I purchased magnifying lenses (cost $42.00 for a set of 3 - 1X, 2X, & 4X ) that screw onto the regular 50mm lense and can be stacked. (this is much less than the macro lense - $350 +). I also purchased a shutter cable ($7.50) to reduce the risk of jarring the camera. One can use a tripod (so the camera is steady) and the glass technique, which is the most economical avenue and also easist for large photo's. I do recommend adding the shutter cable if your camera allows for attaching one. Because of the number of family photo's I am copying, I purchased a copy stand (economy version $120.00). This gives me the ability to move the camera up and down over the photo and mine has lights to give equal lighting to the original photo. The best insurance for preserving you family photo's is to make a lot of copies and SHARE.... and for the original old photos, store away from heat, cold, moisture and esecially LIGHT, in acid free archival sleeves, albums or paper. (there are many choices). I place the negatives in labeled archival safe sleeves (available by at most proffessional photo supply shops or by mail order (about 20-25 cents each) and then store in a fireproof safe. "A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS"... seeing the delight and suprise on a relatives face when they see photo's of ancestors or long passed relatives is priceless.... Hope this will be of help... Deborah > > If you have a good regular camers, get a set of extension lenses (sometimes > called closeup lenses) a tripod and a piece of clear glass. Should cost > under $75 for the whole kit. You then photograph each one onsite and you'll > have the added bonus of negatives. Sending it to a place that uses Kodak's > processing will give you another usefull item -- a thumnail of each photo. > You can take that and copy it to distribute to relatives and ask if they > want copies, or if they can identify some of the folks. > > Good luck! > > Mary Ellen > > e-mail: mewexler@buffnet.net > Co-host Okaloosa County FLGenWeb page: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~flokaloo/Okaloosa.htm > Edge mailing list: EDGE-L@rootsweb.com > Harvey mailing list: HARVEY-L@rootsweb.com > EDGE/HARVEY family page: http://www.buffnet.net/~mewexler/ > Genealogy Help page: http://www.buffnet.net/~mewexler/help_pg.htm > >