Digitizing photos
We will show you how to do it.
A properly selected tablet is a great digitizing tool. Some rear cameras are 5 megapixel or more. Not only do you get great resolution and detailed images, but digitizing is quick with a tablet too.
A height-adjustable tablet stand is a must. It holds your tablet steady and allows you to position it to minimize glare. Lower the stand when copying a small photo. Raise the stand to copy a larger photo.
Older photos are often smaller in size. This photo is 45 years old. Glare can be problematic when digitizing your photos using a tablet. Ideally, you want to use indirect lighting. Slightly bending photos can also help, but be careful not to damage them. Use a white piece of construction paper as a base. Often, lifting a corner of the construction paper base will also reduce glare.
For a three-inch wide picture, the tablet should be raised about six inches above the base.
Position the tablet stand on the work table, so any shadow from the camera doesn't fall on the photograph. This will give you an image with good contrast.
Pinch and zoom by spreading your fingers apart or pinching them together on the tablet screen to properly fill the screen. Touch once where you want to focus, then click the shutter button to digitize your photo.
Digital images display best in a wide-aspect view. Use your tablet to crop images, so they look their best. In this example, the photo was in "portrait" mode, whereas the tablet is capturing the image in "landscape" mode. Landscape mode looks best on most flat panel monitors, like that new TV you recently got. It will be so exciting to gather family and friends together, plug your tablet into your large TV and share your PhotoMemories with them.
More modern photos are often larger in size.
The tablet stand needs to be raised higher, in order to properly digitize the photo.
This panoramic photo from the 1950's is fairly large.
You don't need to really measure the distance, but just look on the tablet screen, making sure you are zoomed in all the way, when you adjust the tablet stand height.
If a photo is curled, you might have to hold the edges down while digitizing. Sometimes, it is a two person job, with one person holding the photo and angling the construction paper base, and the other using the tablet camera controls.
Older pictures are often smaller, because of the cost involved in photo processing. This photo is about 70 years old.
Our tablet camera is specially designed so the tablet camera can be adjusted close to a small photo. This allows for less optical zooming, and makes the digitized image less grainy.
Sometimes the photo needs to be angled up to 20 degrees, to reduce glare.
Using our system, in an afternoon you will be able to digitize a couple hundred photos.