Best apps to convert old photos and negatives to digital
Forget scrolling through your phone’s endless photo gallery to find something. Here’s a pro trick to locate any photo you want in 30 seconds or less.
If your photos aren’t backed up, this is your reminder to do it now. You’d be heartbroken should you lose all those memories. Tap or click for the foolproof steps to make the job easier.
When it comes to the old photos you have lying around, you don’t need to pay for an expensive digitizing service or buy a scanner. You can use an app to get the job done. Here are three great options.
PhotoScan by Google Photos
Google’s PhotoScan is a free app for iOS and Android that scans your photos multiple times, then stitches all the images together to remove glare and improve the quality of the final image. The app works on matte and gloss prints and photos inside or outside albums.
Tech how-to: Colorize old black-and-white family photos
Here’s how it works: Snap one image, then take four additional shots according to the app’s instructions. PhotoScan uses an algorithm to detect and crop the photo, automatically detect the edge, correct the rotation, and correct the perspective to show a frontal view.
- Open the PhotoScan app and hold your phone above a photo.
- Tap the capture button to take pictures, which will save to your device.
- Move your phone around to get the circle over each of the four dots.
- After the photo is processed, tap the photo thumbnail.
- Select a photo to rotate, adjust the corners or delete.
You can then use Google Photos to store and organize your scans. From there, you can edit your images and share them with others.
Tap or click here to download for iPhone.
Tap or click here to download for Android.
Microsoft Lens
Tech tip: Convert your old film negatives into digital photos
Preserving old photos, films and videos is an art form in and of its own. If you stumble upon a cache of old film negatives, you may start to research the best preservation methods. If so, prepare to be blown away by what you find.