Has anyone had old family photos copied? What's the best way to copy a huge quantity?

[Thedogandfox]

We have loads. We really need to have them on CD so we can share them with other family members. Many are in albums, and everything falls apart if touched too roughly. I wonder if it would be best to take them to a specialist firm? Any ideas, please?

When my Mum looked into doing this for our family a few years back she got some quotes and ended up using the money to buy a high quality scanner instead, and did it herself.
Depends if you have the time and inclination, obviously, but it also meant no worries about the photos getting lost in the post. And she put titles to the ones she recognised as she went, which obviously a company couldn't have done for her.

Gosh your second para makes some VERY good points. Lost in post! Horror!

You have probably solved this by now. I have a decentish digital camera but no scanner. I have taken photos of photos and uploaded them. It has worked well and no post to threaten the archive!

I also actually just photocopied all my old photos on my printer/scanner - I bought some photo paper (it's shiny on one side and matt on the other) from the 99p store - you get about 20 sheets and it was a cheap and easy way for me.