Digitizing old magazines

smartz69 · November 18th, 2015, 09:47 PM

Hello all. I have several hundred old mags that I want to digitize and transfer to a hard drive. The thought of scanning the several thousands of images in theses magazines is about as appealing as root canal surgery.
Quick note: at this time I do not own a scanner.
Any thoughts, ideas, things that have worked for you, etc.
Thanks!

pigulici · November 19th, 2015, 02:22 PM

Pay someone to scan for you...

**seany65** · November 19th, 2015, 11:47 PM

I'd say there are only two ways you can do this.

1) Buy a scanner and experiment with 'dots per inch' resolution and image size (as well as auto 'descreen' and auto 'sharpen'). Not forgetting to adjust the scanned pics in a good photo editor program.

2) find someone who has a scanner and doesn't mind scanning mucky magazines. This will have to be either a friend or somone you pay.

Something to consider is :

Do you really want to scan all of each magazine, or just scan the good bits of each magazine?

**deepsepia** · November 20th, 2015, 04:55 AM

So, the least painful way to do this is to unstaple the magazines and run them through a scanner with both an automatic document feeder and duplexed (means scans both sides of the paper).

These tend to be more expensive.

A lot depends on the paper weight and condition. If its thin fragile paper, its going to need a lot of care and adjustment to get the scans right. If you have access to a high end machine like the Canon DR-6010C, that's ideal.

Some office machine companies will rent you a high end scanner, or you can find some at service bureaus (though be careful there-- despite the name, Kinkos isn't always porn friendly).

But for scanning a lot of pages, you'll find a cheap consumer scanner painful to use. . . the quality of the $100 scanners is just fine, more than good enough for scanning old magazines, but if you've got several hundred magazines . . . too tedious to contemplate, if you're sentenced to house arrest, then I suppose it could be a project.

**burpman** · November 20th, 2015, 06:39 AM

Before proceeding, I would first find out if the content is already scanned and out there in the wild. While there is no all encompassing master magazine DB, this site and others can provide a good start. You should peruse your collection first to determine what has not been scanned. Don't reinvent the wheel.

smartz69 · November 20th, 2015, 09:53 PM

Thank you one and all for your cogent and helpful answers! Not feeling particularly keen advertising on craigslist for someone to scan all my smut, it's looking like I'll need to roll up the sleeves and wade through this myself.
I'm hesitant to disassemble the mags as I intend to sell and/or gift them when this project is finished.
If anyone has a particular scanner that you're fond of, please let me know.
Btw,

November 18th, 2015, 09:47 PM	#1
smartz69 Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Great Pacific Northwest Posts: 47 Thanks: 705 Thanked 408 Times in 46 Posts	Digitizing old magazines Hello all. I have several hundred old mags that I want to digitize and transfer to a hard drive. The thought of scanning the several thousands of images in theses magazines is about as appealing as root canal surgery. Quick note: at this time I do not own a scanner. Any thoughts, ideas, things that have worked for you, etc. Thanks!

November 19th, 2015, 11:47 PM	#3
seany65 Vintage Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 3,663 Thanks: 80,576 Thanked 32,815 Times in 3,540 Posts	I'd say there are only two ways you can do this. 1) Buy a scanner and experiment with 'dots per inch' resolution and image size (as well as auto 'descreen' and auto 'sharpen'). Not forgetting to adjust the scanned pics in a good photo editor program. 2) find someone who has a scanner and doesn't mind scanning mucky magazines. This will have to be either a friend or somone you pay. Something to consider is : Do you really want to scan all of each magazine, or just scan the good bits of each magazine? __________________ <-- That's Emer Kenny and I want to be stuck in her front bottom. Quote from electrofreak : I'd rather have questions that can't be answered, than answers that can't be questioned.

November 20th, 2015, 06:39 AM	#5
burpman Former Staff Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: The Burren, Eireann Posts: 4,364 Thanks: 23,645 Thanked 59,851 Times in 4,188 Posts	Is it already scanned? Before proceeding, I would first find out if the content is already scanned and out there in the wild. While there is no all encompassing master magazine DB, this site and others can provide a good start. You should peruse your collection first to determine what has not been scanned. Don't reinvent the wheel.

November 19th, 2015, 02:22 PM	#2
pigulici Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 131 Thanks: 4,362 Thanked 787 Times in 125 Posts	Pay someone to scan for you...

November 20th, 2015, 04:55 AM	#4
deepsepia Moderator Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Upper left corner Posts: 7,214 Thanks: 48,029 Thanked 83,544 Times in 7,208 Posts	So, the least painful way to do this is to unstaple the magazines and run them through a scanner with both an automatic document feeder and duplexed (means scans both sides of the paper). These tend to be more expensive. A lot depends on the paper weight and condition. If its thin fragile paper, its going to need a lot of care and adjustment to get the scans right. If you have access to a high end machine like the Canon DR-6010C, that's ideal. Some office machine companies will rent you a high end scanner, or you can find some at service bureaus (though be careful there-- despite the name, Kinkos isn't always porn friendly). But for scanning a lot of pages, you'll find a cheap consumer scanner painful to use. . . the quality of the $100 scanners is just fine, more than good enough for scanning old magazines, but if you've got several hundred magazines . . . too tedious to contemplate, if you're sentenced to house arrest, then I suppose it could be a project.

November 20th, 2015, 09:53 PM	#6
smartz69 Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Great Pacific Northwest Posts: 47 Thanks: 705 Thanked 408 Times in 46 Posts	Thank you one and all for your cogent and helpful answers! Not feeling particularly keen advertising on craigslist for someone to scan all my smut, it's looking like I'll need to roll up the sleeves and wade through this myself. I'm hesitant to disassemble the mags as I intend to sell and/or gift them when this project is finished. If anyone has a particular scanner that you're fond of, please let me know. Btw,