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I've a mate who does this for a living. Camera on tripod, two light sources on the subject at 45 degrees to the subject, one either side. Camera should be far enough away from subject to prevent distortion due to the small lens. You will have to find a way of dealing with the different sizes of photographs, some big, some very small.
Of equal importance is that they all show the correct size on the slideshow - some messing about with pixels will be necessary, and that they are all recognised by the software reading them. Please be consistent with file naming, and, if possible, check with the place where the slideshow will be held, to confirm. I once had to sit through a friends cremation where half the photos were "File not recognised", and the others were blocky, pixelated parts of photos.
All the scanners you can buy at any price point will be sufficient, but again, some correction for size and pixels will be necessary. The camera option is quicker, but slightly more hassle. If you can borrow a camera with a zoom lens it will make it easier.
Good luck. It's a faff, but appreciated by everyone afterwards.
stevep-
The only thing I would add to the 'camera on a tripod' method is a darkroom easel - this will hold physical prints flat and in the same place, allowing a quicker turnover if you sort the prints into batches of the same size / orientation in advance.
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Thanks for all this (and to other responses).
Think I'll give it a test at the weekend and then hop on a train next week.
MrE
CYOA
A friend died recently and his daughter has asked if I can put together some kind of photo slideshow thing for a service. I'd assumed they were digitised when I said of course but naturally they're not.
She's asked if I can come up for a day and work on it instead of sending them out, as his wife is anxious about the whole thing.
What's a fast, decent quality, repeatable/consistent way to digitise a lot of prints of varying sizes and qualities?
I presume my obvious options are:
Photograph using a phone with a scanner app though this seems a bit fiddly and inconsistent.
Photograph with a camera on a tripod/arm facing down (I have lots of video equipment but am limited on stills to a Fuji X100V (so a fixed 35mm)
Buy a scanner. I'd rather not but I'd probably need to buy a small tripod rather than lug one of my big cine ones up so some expense is fine if there's something under 150 that would do a much better job than photos.
Anything else?