Scanners for Digitising Photographs: I have just discovered several boxes of photographs taken with a film camera, I have a Pandigital Photo Scanner, but it is painfully slow and it...

johneccles Loc: Leyland UK

I have just discovered several boxes of photographs taken with a film camera, I have a Pandigital Photo Scanner, but it is painfully slow and it could take several week to scan all these photographs. Can any UHH member recommend a scanner which will produce good quality scans a decent resolution and at a sensible price, most of these photos are 4" X 6".
Thanks in advance.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

johneccles wrote:

I have just discovered several boxes of photographs taken with a film camera, I have a Pandigital Photo Scanner, but it is painfully slow and it could take several week to scan all these photographs. Can any UHH member recommend a scanner which will produce good quality scans a decent resolution and at a sensible price, most of these photos are 4" X 6".
Thanks in advance.

Epson Perfection V600, scanning at 4000 dpi.

GreyOwl40 Loc: Quebec City

The Epson V550 is somewhat cheaper, but doesn't incorporate digital ICE for photos, only for film, and so the V600 is probably the preferable model for you, as was suggested. They both get very good reviews.

Mundj Loc: Richmond TX

I have the V600 and am quite pleased with its performance. But you should check the specs as it takes some time to scan. You will be able scan multiple images at once.

tinplater Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

Just a tangent note, I solved this problem by purchasing an artists light pad on Ebay for around $40, then took macro photographs of the slides and negatives, and processed them in lightroom. Resulted in excellent digital images.

AZNikon Loc: Mesa, AZ

Welcome to my world. With my mother-in-law's passing, I have 96 years worth of memories to scan for the family to share. It's a journey...

TonyP Loc: New Zealand

bobbennett wrote:

Welcome to my world. With my mother-in-law's passing, I have 96 years worth of memories to scan for the family to share. It's a journey...

Your office floor looks like mine having just emptied a suitcase containing about 30 years of prints into stacks.
I bought a Canon canoscan lide 220 for the job and while only used it for an hour or two so far, it seems pretty good.
Takes 15-20 secs a scan.
Very good quality once set up out of auto, tho even auto was pretty good.
Bought out of an Australian store for just NZ$200 inc freight, about US$150?
Have a look via google at the reviews.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Looks like a good rainy day project. Oh, wait. We don't have rainy days. Hell, I'd settle for a day with some good clouds.
--Bob

bobbennett wrote:

Welcome to my world. With my mother-in-law's passing, I have 96 years worth of memories to scan for the family to share. It's a journey...

whwiden

tinplater wrote:

Just a tangent note, I solved this problem by purchasing an artists light pad on Ebay for around $40, then took macro photographs of the slides and negatives, and processed them in lightroom. Resulted in excellent digital images.

I use a similar method and it works well.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

rmalarz wrote:

Looks like a good rainy day project. Oh, wait. We don't have rainy days. Hell, I'd settle for a day with some good clouds.
--Bob

hals41 Loc: North Carolina

This is not a scanner recommendation, but something you might want to consider. There is a scanning service that offers 300dpi and 600dpi scans of 4X6 photos at very reasonable cost. I have not used them, because most of our old prints are 3.5 X 5 or 4 X 4 (from my medium format days of yore). Could be just the ticket for you. Check out www.scanmyphotos.com, in Irvine CA.

Kuzano

Biggest issue with Flatbed scanners, pretty much regardless of price. How many scans do you have to do, At what age have most of your relatives passed, and how much time do you have left. Do you have any chronic degenerative illnesses.

I use my camera, Macro lens, and a light table. Ran the gamut of flatbed scanners epson/Canon and dedicated Nikon scanners ED5000, ED8000 and ED9000.

Nevermore Quoth the Raven!!!

adamsg Loc: Chubbuck, ID

jerryc41 wrote:

Epson Perfection V600, scanning at 4000 dpi.

I completely agree! I have been scanning a lot of photographs with and Epson V600 Photo and sty the dpi suggested, the results are thoroughly satisfactory. And, it is very quick, as well as offering some corrective help for photographs that have certain problems. Great machine and I got mine for $195.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

If you want a scanner, Epson V600 through V850 are worth a look.

Personally, I built a rig to macro photograph my slides and negs. Next, I'll build a copy stand. I use a 30mm macro lens on a Lumix GH4.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

adamsg wrote:

I completely agree! I have been scanning a lot of photographs with and Epson V600 Photo and sty the dpi suggested, the results are thoroughly satisfactory. And, it is very quick, as well as offering some corrective help for photographs that have certain problems. Great machine and I got mine for $195.

I find the Epson scanner incredibly quick for what it does that would take decades to clean up in PS especially colors and dust removal.
Love my V750 and have done literally thousands of slides.
PS while scanning is being done sort through the slides to be scanned etc. And I do other things as well. easy to do hundreds in a day.