I want to arcive a photograph collection. The images will be used to make reprints, enlargements, and a slide show. Some of the photos are black & white.

What's a good resolution to scan them at?

How big will the files be?

Is there a program that will let you scan multiple photos at once, making them into individual files?

Have a nice day! :)

(I have an Epson Perfection 2480)

1. "What's a good resolution to scan them at?"
It depends mainly on the physical dimensions of the original.
The smaller the photo, the greater the resolution is what I use.
a. With really tiny photos I use about 1200 [cells per inch?].
b. Larger photos I use 300.
I always use the greatest precision/resolution I can get.
If I go to 2400 the software will tell me it cannot be done, the image or file size is too great, so I reduce the figure until it scans.
Having generated the image I use "Microsoft Photo Editor" to "Image->Autobalance", then "Image->Balance" to brighten up the image.
This process normally reduces the size of the file quite dramatically.
Perhaps from 3,000 kB down to 300 kB.

Your scanning resolution should also depend on the physical(!) capabilities of your scanner. It doesn't matter if it can scan in 2400x1200 dpi with interpolation but has only like 600x300 in real. Most of the time using only the physical amount as a max results in better images.

There is no software i know of that scans you many images in different files. You can scan more images at the same time into one file and later cut them off into many. With my 2 scanners i used until know i found out that they scan best in the middle of the scanner (horizontal) and less good at the edges. That's why i only scan one image per time.

If the images shall be reprinted or enlarged, scan them in a higher resolution: You can always smaller them :)

And, if you are editing the photos, save them in an uncompressed format from the scanner. (I use uncompressed tiff.) then, when you have done any editing required, and the copy is as you want it, then you can save a compressed file format. otherwise, the picture gets compressed, and uncompressed each time you save and reload it, causing artefacts, which can be annoying, and degrade the quality considerably. An uncompressed tiff file can be very large, I have one that goes 270Mb, but usually, a scanned photograph comes out at about 5-6Mb.