What DPI should I scan old photos at for AI restoration?

Scan at a minimum of 600 DPI. For small photos like wallet prints or passport photos, scan at 1200 DPI. Higher DPI gives the AI more pixel data to work with. A 3x2 inch photo at 600 DPI produces an 1800x1200 pixel image. AI upscaling can then enlarge this further, but it works best when the original scan already contains fine detail like paper texture and grain.

Should I use the scanner's auto-correct or enhancement features?

No. Turn off all automatic enhancements. This includes auto-color correction, auto-sharpen, dust removal, and contrast enhancement. These features apply irreversible changes that often remove the very details AI restoration needs. Scan flat and raw, then apply all corrections afterward.

What file format is best for scanning old photos?

Save scans as TIFF or PNG. Avoid JPEG for archival scans because the compression discards image data that cannot be recovered. If your scanner only outputs JPEG, set quality to maximum. For photos you plan to restore and reprint, the uncompressed TIFF format preserves every pixel exactly as scanned.

How to Scan Old Family Photos So AI Restoration Actually Works

I scanned my grandmother's entire photo collection at 300 DPI with auto-enhance turned on. About 400 photos. Took me two weekends. Then I tried to run AI restoration on them and the results were terrible. Faces came out waxy. Details were missing. The AI was trying to restore details that the scanner had already smoothed away.

I had to rescan everything. Four hundred photos. Another two weekends. Here is what I learned so you do not have to learn it the hard way.

The resolution mistake almost everyone makes

300 DPI is the default on most scanners because it is the standard for printing documents. For photo restoration, 300 DPI is not enough. A typical 3x2 inch snapshot scanned at 300 DPI gives you a 900x600 pixel image. That is smaller than a modern smartphone screen. The AI has barely any data to work with.

At 600 DPI, that same photo becomes 1800x1200 pixels. At 1200 DPI, it becomes 3600x2400. The difference in restoration quality is dramatic. The AI can see paper texture, film grain, and fine facial details that are invisible at 300 DPI. It can distinguish between image noise and actual detail. The results look natural instead of over-processed.

My rule now is 600 DPI minimum for standard snapshots, 1200 DPI for anything smaller than about 3x2 inches. The file sizes are larger but storage is cheap. You cannot go back and add detail that was never scanned.

Turn off every automatic setting

Scanners come with a bunch of auto-correct features. Auto-sharpen. Auto-color correction. Dust and scratch removal. Descreening for magazine prints. They all sound helpful. They all make AI restoration worse.

Here is why. Auto-sharpen adds artificial edge contrast that the AI interprets as real detail. When the AI then tries to enhance those fake edges, you get halos and weird textures. Auto-color correction shifts the original colors of the aged photo, removing the yellowing and fading that actually provide information about the photo's age. The AI can correct color more intelligently than the scanner if you give it the unaltered original.

The dust removal feature is the worst offender. It works by detecting small bright spots and blurring them out. But on old photos, those bright spots might be a person's eye catchlight, a button on a shirt, or a small but important detail in the background. The scanner cannot tell the difference between dust on the photo and a small feature of the photo itself. Turn it off.

The file format that actually matters

Save your scans as TIFF. JPEG compression works by discarding information that the compression algorithm thinks you will not notice. On a modern digital photo, you usually do not notice. On a scan meant for AI restoration, that discarded information might be exactly what the AI needs. TIFF stores every pixel exactly as scanned. The files are larger. A 1200 DPI TIFF of a 3x2 photo is about 25 megabytes. Worth it.

If your scanner software does not support TIFF, use PNG at maximum quality. If neither is available, use JPEG at 100% quality. Anything less than 100% quality on JPEG will visibly degrade restoration results.

Flatbed vs. photo scanner vs. phone camera

A flatbed scanner is best. It holds the photo flat, provides consistent lighting, and captures every detail. If you do not own one, many libraries and copy shops have flatbed scanners available for public use.

Those dedicated photo scanners that feed prints through a slot are faster but worse. They can scratch old photos. They sometimes feed unevenly, stretching or skewing the image. Use a flatbed.

Phone camera scanning apps work in a pinch. The quality is lower than a flatbed scanner. You will get glare, uneven lighting, and some distortion. But a well-lit phone photo of a print at high resolution is better than no scan at all. Use natural light from a window, hold the phone parallel to the photo, and take multiple shots to pick the best one.

I rescanned all 400 photos at 600 DPI with every auto setting turned off and saved them as TIFF. The ClarifyPix AI restoration results were night and day compared to my first attempt. If you are going to invest the time in scanning your family photos, do it right the first time. You do not want to spend four weekends doing it twice.