I recently bought it and i am amazed at the quality of the photos:

Just take a look at these:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dezekiel/3316593292/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dezekiel/3316590346/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dezekiel/3316582418/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dezekiel/3316584978/

More in my blog http://mluotio.wordpress.com

I expect to have everything digitized and uploaded to my web site during 2010. I’d estimate that the work that remains to be done includes about 5,000 negatives (many that need retouching) and about 2,000 slides (also in need of enhancement) plus I have to build a relational database to merge these with all available genealogical data that I’ve already researched.

I like the camera better than scanners because it is much faster to produce similar results. Scanners ‘talk’ a good game but in the end you just get more detailed scans of the grain structures!

My D200 has more than adequate resolution so get all of the image details but still keeps the image size manageable.

I primarily use the RAW file format with Nikon’s CaptureNX software because it keeps both the original data AND any enhanced jpeg versions of the image wrapped into the same file.

This way, in the future, it will be easy for anyone to access the original RAW data and use the rapidly evolving software tools to draw out even more from these digital photographic copies.

I still plan to preserve the negatives and slides but they were not originally produced in archival manor and they are deteriorating and will soon be gone.

I use a Mac and run ‘Reunion 8′ genealogical software.

The problem I see with this approach is the numbers of files I have associated with each ancestor and I don’t like the way they display it on the web.

Filemaker would allow me to build relationships and bring in historical data for context beyond the biographical data for my ancestors.

They lived during some amazing historical events and these must have had strong influence on their lives.

I’ve ferreted out some wonderful family stories, sagas really, and also found some interesting anomalies in the historical records.

My goal is to produce all of this with the plan of passing on more than I can do now, to the future.

A web server based database will let me accumulate things that may not fit into our currently narrow idea of what to collect for a genealogy.

I also have movies, video and audio that I want to weave into this project.

Kind of the modern digital equivalent of painting my hand on the cave wall!

I will also include some of the more interesting of each of these kinds of files into this blog as I have time.

Best regards,

Marty

Excellent post. What a massive undertaking! What is your projected time line for completion?

What are your thoughts on using a camera instead of a film scanner?

What genealogy software has you thinking of going to FileMaker Pro?

I have a zillion more questions, but I’ll refrain on this first acquaintance. LOL

Peace,
“Guided by the Ancestors”