SAN ANTONIO – This holiday season you may be taking loads of photos of family and friends. What about those old slides, prints, and home movies on VHS? Or film that you’ve kept in a box? It’s time to go digital.
Consumer Reports checked out several companies that can turn those family memories into digital files so they’re preserved forever, something that could make a holiday gift for the person who has everything.
Melanie Pinola, Consumer Reports Tech Editor at Consumer Reports, knew that after almost 20 years of keeping old videos and photos away, it was too difficult to preserve them.
As a research project, she decided to digitally digitize hundreds family photos and videos. She visited 14 companies and sent her personal photos to many of them.
“These services will take your physical media: your photos, your negatives, your slides. And then they’ll turn them into digital files so it’s easier for you to save, backup, and share them with family and friends,” she said.
You can also get VHS tapes, movie reels and audio tapes. Send them in a small box and you will receive a thumb drive, or a link to download the files. And don’t worry: You get your originals back.
In just eight days, Pinola’s digitized photos from Memories Renewed were complete.
“The quality of the photos matched the actual prints. They had the highest color fidelity. The company also provided great customer service from start to finish,” she said.
DigMyPics was her budget selection. The service even lets you preview your scanned photos and delete up to 20% of them from your order in case you decide you don’t want them.
Before starting a project like this, she suggests you pace yourself so you don’t get overwhelmed while sorting through your photos.
You can digitize your photos using an app like Adobe Scan, or an all-in one printer. These can provide higher-quality scans that can be cropped on your smartphone or computer.
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