Much fine advice throughout the thread. Follow it as much as is possible but don’t be intimated by perfectionism. The first photo below is a quick copy job by phone, lit by the room’s overhead lighting fixture. It was made to illustrate a question in a phone conversation, just a family matter, not for any aesthetic purposes, and yet it looks great. All PP was done in the phone. Original is a small print, about 5x7”.

The second image below is also a copy by phone, of a large print on a hallway wall in a public place, done with dim ambient lighting. Copying can be far less scientific than some geeks will insist, but acoarst be as “scientific” as is practical (for you).
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First, please accept my condolences.


Next, if suspending the camera under a tripod, put it on a table and buy a 7-inch torpedo level.

Place it across the lens and level it.

Rotate it 90 degrees around the lens and level.

Repeat until it is dead level.

You are now square with the tabletop.

Place picture on table between tripod legs.

Stop lens down for greater depth of field and use flash placed to the side at 45 degrees to the tabletop.

Experiment with aperture and flash settings until you get what you want.

Once locked down, snap away!

You can actually use a variety of lights. I have used photofloods (these are old fashioned and super hot), electronic flashes and regular light bulbs (High CRI Led lights are fine), and LED light panels. If you are using copy stand it may have light fixtures built in. You will need two lights placed at a 45 degree angle from plane of the image. This will create even lighting and reflections will not come into the camera. I have light stands for works on a wall or easel. Using your camera light meter and a sheet of paper verify lighting is even. Flashes work just fine but are a little harder to get right. (remember you will need two with diffuses - Kleenex may be OK) You will of course need a tripod unless you use a copy stand.

After studying your lenses I think the 85 mm has the best shot to work. Longer focal lengths are less likely to give you distortion issues. If the lens is is too long the working distance becomes so long that the set up won't fit in the room. Zoom lenses are not a great choice as these likely have the greatest distortion. Don't forget you can rent a macro lens with an 80-100mm focal length . (assuming FX or DX format camera)

Adobe Acrobat is for document creation and is available by subscription. The Acrobat distiller component allows one to make a press ready pdf file. Using Microsoft Publisher may also be a good route also for setting up the pages you could also add a title page , forward, etc to the document. The output can a pdf file. Some printers can use your publisher file directly. Foxit Editor appears to be a full featured competitor to Acrobat ( https://www.foxit.com/shopping/) at a cheaper price. The Idea is to get an electronic copy that has formatted pages for book printing or electronic viewing.

You are welcome.

If all of the originals have already been scanned you can use those. Scan/photograph all the documents. You can make a beautiful book on Shutterfly with the images. My last one was an 11x14 with I think 112 pages. I used all black background for it. I could probably pm you a link if you want to view it.

Shutterfly has many options for a book and many different templates to use. You can even let them build your book for you. This is free and with no obligation to use their design.

Chuck