Scanning family docs for posterity

misterjingles

I wish to scan lots of very old family photos & other docs such as marriage certificates etc for posterity and as a backup in case the originals get lost / damaged.

Is their an optimum scanning resolution, beyond which there is nothing to be gained . I won't ever be blowing images up to poster size but wondered what resolution would be a happy medium.

thanks in advance

Hermann

Not sure about your resolution question but just wanted to say don't make the mistake of thinking that digital copies will last longer than the originals.

Cds and DVDs don't last forever, some don't last very long at all. Similarly hard drives certainly can't be relied on to last long term.

Properly stored (ie dry and cool) your original documents will last longer than the digital copies.

However digital copies tend to be more accessible and easier to pass round family etc. so are worth doing, just continue to look after the originals as the originals.

ormus

good idea to upload the digital photos onto a hosting site too. then you would have 3 storage systems. you cant have too many backups.

bob_a_builder

for documents
200 dpi is the general standard in the document managment world for black and white, may be as low as 150 for colour


as for pics refer to
http://www.scantips.com/basics08.html