If you are looking for the best photo albums for preserving photos, this article will help you a lot. You want to organize photos, have easy access but also safely store your valuable old pictures.
When you think about an old family photo, you want to quickly find it and show it to your house guests. Storage boxes are not the solution when you want to find them in an instant.
In a previous article of ours, we feature information on the best archival boxes for photos. They can be an alternative to your familys photo albums, allowing you to keep your photos in different storage spaces, even rougher ones.
No | Photo album | Type of photo | Capacity | Photo Inserts |
1 | No.96 Rustic Handmade 4×6 | 4×6 inches | 96 at 4×6 | Yes, it has special archival photo sleeves. |
2 | Leather Photo Album with Gift Box | 4×6 inches
5×7 inches |
400 at 4×6
200 at 5×7 |
No, requires special scrapbook mounts. |
3 | Pioneer Sewn Bonded Leather BookBound | 4×6 inches | 300 at 4×6 | Yes, it has special archival photo inserts. |
4 | DesignOvation Traditional Photo Albums | 4×6 inches | 300 at 4×6 3up
440 at 4×6 4up |
Yes, it has special archival photo sleeves or inserts. |
5 | ZOVIEW Magnetic Self-Stick Page Photo Album | 3×5 inches
4×6 inches 5×7 inches 6×8 inches 8×10 inches |
Depensds on the size of the photos and how you arrange them. | Special transparent overlay that self adheres to paper that holds photos (self sticky album). |
Table of contents
Why use photo albums?
- First of all, they allow you to keep track and organize your photos. Entire family collections can be safely stored, but also easy to show to others.
- Besides keeping up with large batches of photos, a photo album also provides a decent level of safety. On the one side, it will be more difficult to lose them. On another, a photo album will keep your photos safe from different hazards.
- If you have lots of photos it means they are important to you. This, in turn, means that you like to go through them from time to time. A photo memory album is a great tool to help you with this.
- Showing photos to friends and family will be much easier when you have them stored in albums. Not to mention that you can immediately find the photos from the event you want.
What photo albums to choose?
When choosing a photo album you must think about the aspects that are important to you. Aspects such as the size of photos, shape or even how many photos you can store inside of it.
For example, scrapbooks give you the freedom to create full on photo pages with a bit of DIY work. Some of them even offer archival quality materials, such as acidfree, ligninfree and PVC free interiors. Yes, archival storage boxes will better protect your photos and original prints, but access to them will be more difficult.
It’s very important to choose one that will bee suited for your creative memories. How you arrange photos, the order and other details will help you look back over the years with a big smile.
Small handmade photo album
Rustic Handmade Small Photo Album – Check the price on Amazon Now
- This small handmade photo album is 5 inches by 7 inches in size. This is big enough to hold photos but also allows you to carry it quite easily.
- The storage capacity is around 96 pieces 4×6 photos. This is quite a decent amount, considering you could store photos of your holidays quite easily.
- It features a protective vinyl as photo inserts. They are permanently bound to the spine.
- The leather cover is built out of sturdy material, making it quite resistant in time. The strap allows you to keep it closed and sealed.
- The vinyl inserts allow you to easily load and unload pictures. Also, they allow you to switch photos between them very easily.
What do we like?
- It looks different than most albums you find out there. So yes, it is special from an aesthetic point of view. Somehow, it does give the impression of preserving family history.
- The leather cover is great aesthetically, but it also makes for a sturdy build quality.
- Personally, I also like the vinyl inserts. When you just want to take the photos and put them in an album, the inserts work like magic. You don’t need further materials to bind them to the album pages.
What can be improved?
- Although you can fit almost 100 pictures in the album, sometimes this is not enough.
- The price is a bit high, but I guess it’s ok considering the quality of the leather.
Large photo album
Genuine Leather Large Photo Album – Check the price on Amazon Now
- This is a large photo album, made from real leather and a wrap tie to close the album.
- The album features acid-free cardstock paper. This is known to have archival properties and protect the photos over time.
- Each cardstock page has a semi-transparent sheet in between. It has 50 sheets of cardstock for photo storage.
- Storage capacity is quite impressive. You will be able to hold 400 photos 4×6 inches or 200 photos 5×7 inches. This means you have freedom to choose from different photo sizes and it’s easier to organize photos inside.
- It requires photo mounts so it will require a bit of work. But it is a very stylish solution to hold photos and it allows you to use mixed photo sizes.
What do we like?
- It really looks apart. It also comes with a gift box. Therefore it makes for a nice gift, or you can use the box to just store the album.
- High-quality leather, acid-free paper, and cardstock, all make for a very high-quality product.
- With a storage capacity of up to 400 photos, you can fit just about all your photos inside of 1 album.
What can be improved?
- The fact that you need photo mounting items is a minus. Yes, it does offer real archival features, but you can’t help it think you would like vinyl inserts.
- The price could be a bit smaller, but considering how many photos you can store, it’s not very expensive either.
Photo mounts for albums and scrapbook pages
3L Repositionable Permanent Mounting Squares – Check the price on Amazon Now
- These photo mounts have a 5-minute interval when they can be repositioned on the scrapbook page. So don’t worry if you make a mistake.
- They feature a double-sided adhesive and a square shape. Size of the square is around 0.5 inches.
- The material is acid-free so it is an archival grade product.
- It leaves no residue or strain on your family photograph when you remove it. This way you can reuse the same spot in the album. Or you can move that photograph to another album or store it in photo boxes.
- The photo mounts come in a volume of 1000 mounting squares.
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