Do you have any thoughts on software that would help organize /manage a small photo archive of a professional photographer that recently passed away? We would like to safely scan and catalog the largely B+W collection and negatives as well as some Kodachrome slides. As well, any thoughts on safe scanners for the photos (some vintage mid-20th century), negs and slides would be appreciated.
— Lipa Roth
I'm not a preservationist, but I can say that if I were faced with this challenge (which I sort of am, as a working photographer), I'd turn unhesitatingly to Adobe Lightroom as the archiving software and not blink an eye at scanning the exigent materials with my Epson V700 scanner.
Having said that, however, I would not dare to propose these as "the best" for the simple reason that in order to make such judgments, I would need to have experience with their alternatives and competitors. This is one of the problems we face in today's world filled with so many choices. When faced with our own decisions, we shop, we compare, we select, we use — and if we are happy with the results we are getting we don't go any further until we need to.
For example, I've not used Apple's Aperture software, but I know lots of people like it. I cannot, therefore, offer any valuable opinions about the relative merits of Aperture versus Lightroom, or vice versa. All I can say with any integrity is that I'd be happy to embark on a project like yours with the equipment I own. This isn't an ultimate answer, but hopefully the testimonial helps a bit.