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Recommendation for a Good Photo Scanner? (1 Viewer)

Mike Frezon

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I know some might think this question should be in the computer forum...but the emphasis here is on photo scanning.

My wife and I think it'd be a good idea to scan all our photos from over the years (several dozen photo albums worth) and then relocating the original prints into photo boxes (to save space).

Does anyone have any recommendations of scanners for such a purpose? I like the idea of feed-through scanners for something like this, rather than flatbed scanners...but I know very little about the specs and what I should be looking for. We have always had a flatbed scanner over the years and I just find them clunky to use and dread doing such a large-scale project with one. I'm not even sure they make high-quality feed-through scanners and if they make them with their own internal memory or if they need to be connected to a PC.

So I am looking for any and all input on this particular project...and most specifically the hardware needed.

Thanks in advance!
 

Scott Merryfield

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Mike,

I only scan photos occasionally, so I just use my Canon flatbed scanner. You will also want some software to clean up the images, adjust the color balance, etc. I use Photoshop Elements for this task. A few of the photos I scanned were in such bad shape color-wise that I ended up converting them to black and white. The cleanup work is what takes the most time.
 

Citizen87645

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If you don't want to do the work yourself, which will indeed be tedium, you might consider sending it out to a service. I know there's a measure of anxiety about doing that since things can get lost, but depending on where you live, there could be a place that does it on site instead of shipping it off somewhere.

I think commercial copiers scan much better than they used to, so that's another possibility that is more DIY, but would allow you to scan them more quickly and perhaps in larger batches. Is there a FedEx (formerly Kinko's) near you where you could try this out?
 

Mike Frezon

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This device is sitting out there on Amazon. Cheap but pretty decent reviews. LOVE the fact that you don't need it hooked up to a PC to scan at 600dpi. It'll dump the images right onto an SD card. I could fix up the ones I need to use on an "as needed" basis in Photoshop. And I'm keeping the prints, so I can always re-scan as needed.

72% of Amazon reviews are above four stars...
 

JohnRice

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I'm not a fan of doing images quick and dirty. To me, if you want the images, you want them to be at least decent. I'd rather pace myself and get acceptable results than quick garbage. I suggest at least looking into a better flatbed scanner. I think some have software that allow you to fill the glass with pics, scan them, and it separates the pics into individual images. Canon makes some nice photo scanners that are reasonably priced. Using a scanner for photos that's not designed for photos is like using a crappy data projector in your HT. Sure, you'll get an image, but not an acceptable one.
 

Mike Frezon

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I understand what you're saying John...but the one I linked-to IS a photo scanner (at least that's what it says). Are you saying that flatbed is just a better technology than a pass-through type scanner?

And of course I want them to be decent. I also just want the easiest way to do the scanning.

The software you describe...which automatically separates multiple-scanned images--sounds interesting. That's one of the biggest PITA of scanning multiple images on a flatbed (separating them out individually).
 

Scott Merryfield

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I just scan the photos one at a time on the Canon flatbed scanner. It takes a little longer, but as I said above the majority of my time is spent cleaning up the image afterwards anyway, so it's not that big a deal for me. I scan right into Photoshop Elements, crop the image, perform the cleanup, then save as a jpeg.

If I wanted to scan a large batch of photos at once, the above method would be tedious. However, if I had a large batch that needed to be done I would probably send the photos to a service anyway. So far, I've done no more than a couple dozen photos at any time.
 

JohnRice

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Mike, at $60, I seriously doubt the quality of that scanner. Decent, and I mean only decent, photo flatbed scanners probably start around $150. You will probably have to connect them to a computer, but most if not all of them have configurable buttons on them. You configure the "Photo" button to work how you want. Then you just put a print in it and hit the button. You should be able to configure the button to scan the image at the resolution you want, name it the way you want, crop it and save it where you want. It's very streamlined. The touch-up is what takes time, but you can do that anytime.

Canon is probably the way to go. I have a 9000F MKII, but it might be on the high end of what you need. It'll definitely do the job.
 

ManW_TheUncool

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I gave up the idea of scanning photo prints looooong ago. Just not worth the effort given the lack of quality results.

You have to realize that none of your photo prints will likely provide you more than 200-300ppi of quality... and likely on the low end (or maybe even less) if they're old and faded and typical consumer prints.

IF you want quality and still have the negatives, I'd go that route instead and probably just narrow down to a batch of old favorites to send off to some good pro lab service to do them for you. For the rest (where you don't have the negs), I suspect almost any half-way decent flatbed will do along w/ some software touchup -- if it were me, I'd probably just try my OKI all-in-one and call it a day unless it's for some particularly high quality large prints where I can actually extract enough data to be worthwhile.

Just remember that you can't expect much from old, faded, 4x6 consumer prints. Might be fine for small web-sized JPEGs and low quality reprints, but probably not much more.

_Man_
 
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Patrick Sun

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Years ago I bought a small Canon flatbed scanner, and after realizing how long it'd take to clean up each photo to my satisfaction, I gave up. I simply didn't have the time, energy or enthusiasm to go through that activity at that point in time (or even now). That Canon scanner has been collecting dust ever since. :(
 

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