In all counties in this State containing a city having a population of more than seventy thousand according to the official United States census in which the governing body of the county by resolution shall so provide and in which such governing body shall procure and furnish the necessary equipment therefor, the register of deeds shall record all instruments lodged for record, except deeds and mortgages of real estate, and may record all deeds and mortgages of real estate, by making two copies of them by photostatic or other photographic method of copying, one copy to be bound in an appropriate loose-leaf record book complying with the requirements of § 30-1-170 and kept in a safe place in the office of the recording officer as a master copy and the other copy to be bound in a similar record book and made available for public use and inspection at all times. Such recording shall have all of the legal incidents and effect otherwise provided by the recording laws of this State.