This is the method that I devised on 2 August 2017 for scanning my old photos. It's liable to change.

• Scan the photos as “48 bit color” at 2400 bpi in the Epson “Perfection” 4990 PHOTO scanner, with the options set 0660 (on, on, off, on, on, off)

   

  Image title: Scan parameters Complete exposure details Dimensions: 369 x 358, 10 kB Dimensions of original: 369 x 358, 10 kB Display this image: thumbnail    hidden   alone on page Display all images on this page as: thumbnails    this size Show for Sunday, 23 July 2017: thumbnails    small images    diary entry

  Reset the counter to 1 at the beginning of every film, so that the image numbers match the frame number on the film.
• Move the images to a directory in ~/Photos/Films/. If the film has been numbered, use that number. Otherwise use ~/Photos/Films/<date>, where <date> is the date on which I developed the film, or when I removed it from the camera, such as 19640826.
• Add a comments file README in that directory, at least specifying the film.
• For each day on which I think I took photos, create a directory and link the photos to the subdirectory orig:
  === grog@eureka (/dev/pts/38) ~/Photos/19640816 77 -> ln ../Films/19640826/I03*.tif ../19640816/orig

• Process the images with DxO PhotoLab. So far it seems that “DxO Standard” gets the best results.
• Run through my contact print method, as with modern photos.
• Modify the resultant Makejpeg file to include information that nowadays would be in the EXIF data, as far as I can reconstruct them:
  I022_DxO Greg 0 d F 8 a Beverley_Lehey FL 45

  These codes are understood by createexif:

  • d Set image date to date implied by directory name.
  • F 8 Film 8 (Kodak Plus-X Pan).
  • a Beverley_Lehey Author name.
  • FL 45 Lens focal length 45 mm.

  Run createexif.php -h for a list of codes.

• Run createexif. It outputs the commands to stdout:
=== grog@eureka (/dev/pts/38) ~/Photos/19640812 78 -> createexif.php -c
exiftool -overwrite_original_in_place -TagsFromFile Greg.jpeg '-all>all' -title=Greg -DateTimeOriginal='1964:08:12 00:00:00' -author='Beverley Lehey' -usercomment='.Film: Kodak Plus-X Pan' -focallength=45 -iso=125  Greg.jpeg
=== grog@eureka (/dev/pts/38) ~/Photos/19640812 79 -> createexif.php -c | sh
• Convert and optimize the images as usual.