ccook2004 Loc: Rockledge FL

What is the best way to scan photos quickly?

13 Loc: I am only responsible to what I say..not what

Flat-bed scanner.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

It depends on the scanner driver, the photo sizes, and the way the pictures look....

With MY LiDE-210 <flatbed> scanner, I group all the same size pictures in piles, do an initial <pre>scan of one, select the area to scan, then just scan the remainder in the group. If an image quality is different, it will require a pre-scan to get things looking better. Pre-scanning every image doubles the time involved. But sometimes it's required. Many images may require tweaking of the various adjustment sliders.

Yes, it's time consuming......
Then there is the file renaming, addition of comments to the metadata, if any,
and moving the completed images to the appropriate folder. (The scanner driver saves them to one folder (I use "_From Scanner"), unless you want to change that each time also...)

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Photos?

Do you mean prints? Or slides? Or negatives? Color? Black & white? If slides or negs, color or B&W, what format? 35mm? 120? Something else.

Prints... a flat bed is the best way. But high quality scans take time. The Epson V850 Pro is a top of the line flat bed scanner, but also is pricey at $1300. Epson V600 isn't as capable, but is a lot less expensive at around $350.

Epson V850: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1083201-REG/epson_b11b224201_perfection_v850_pro_scanner.html
Epson V600: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/647187-REG/Epson_B11B198011_Perfection_V600_Photo_Scanner.html

Those flat beds also can be good to scan medium format transparencies and negatives. I am pretty sure the V850 also can scan large format (4x5, 5x7), but the V600 cannot.

There is a third Epson flatbed especially designed for rapidly scanning large batches of negatives and unmounted strips of slide film... the 12000XL. However, in order to speed up scanning it is lower resolution (2400 dip) and it is quite expensive ($4000). I suspect it's not what you're looking for!

35mm slides and negs are best digitized with a dedicated film scanner. These combine a high resolution scanner with a high quality macro lens. Some are rather slow to work with, one image at a time. Some can handle film strips or be loaded with 3 or 4 mounted slides. Other more expensive models can handle up to fifty mounted slides and automatically scan them.

Pacific Imaging and Plustek are the two big names in this type of scanner. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/products/Film-Scanners/ci/1151/cp/9581%2B18318%2B13380%2B1151?filters=fct_brand_name%3Apacific-image%7Cplustek

With film scanning you look for resolution, dynamic range and bit depth. All these are 48 bit, I believe. Resolution varies a bit from 6400 to 10,000. D-Max is how dynamic range is expressed and 4.0 or better is ideal, but this info isn't provided for all scanners.

The software provided with the scanner is very important. The best is Silverfast and is bundled with some of the above. Vuescan is another that's pretty good and might be included with others. Usually the more affordable scanners come with a proprietary software produced by the manufacturer, which might be okay initially, but in the long run you may find you want to upgrade to Vuescan (around $100) or Silverfast (ranges from $50 to $400, depending upon version and scanner). It is usually more cost-effective to get the best software bundled with the scanner, rather than having to upgrade to it later. For example, a version of Silverfast is bundled with the Epson V850 and12000XL flatbeds, as well as the Plustek 8100, 8100 SE and 8100 AI film scanners.

There are many lower cost film scanners that produce low quality digital files, possibly good enough for a low quality 4x6" print but not much more. There are also lower priced flatbeds, but most are lower resolution and only the Epsons listed above are designed to handle film.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I live in a retirement community with a computer 'lab'. We just bought a Epson "FastFoto FF-680W Photo Scanner". You put in a stack of prints, make some selections and press the button.

Choices include "as scanned", color corrected or both. If there are notes on the back of the print, it will see that and include a scan.

It is not cheap, but it will blow your socks off.

PaulBrit Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon

This week I had 21 colour photos scanned. They had been printed out and were scanned at our local Staples who then emailed them to the person who is working on my autobiography. 300 dpi and scanned full size.

PaulBrit Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon

And I should have added that the cost was $85.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

There are lots of scanners out there. A flatbed scanner is probably the most versatile. You can take the lid off and put something on the scanner that wouldn't fit under the lid (like a book or an album with the photos pasted in) or something too large for the scanner (like a newspaper).

Remember that once you have a tool you will find all sorts of things to do with it, many of which it was never designed for.

dbrugger25 Loc: Raleigh, NC

I have a Plustek ePhoto Z300 photo scanner. It cost about $200 and is a feed-through device. I scanned several hundred old photos in an evening and the results were excellent. It comes with software that can be used to make some repairs to cracked or damaged photos.

You should lightly dust the photos before feeding them through so that the rollers and sensing system don't get damaged. For its intended purpose of preserving or digitizing photos it is very good. I have done similar projects with flatbed scanners and there is no comparison in convenience and speed.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

No definitive single answer, eh?

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

A flatbed scanner works great. At higher resolutions, say above 600, the more expensive scanners are faster. I do all of mine in batches at a resolution of 600 and for any that I want a higher resolution for various reason I will rescan individually.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I scan at a setting of 300 dpi, and that's generally fine, depending on what I'm scanning. For B&W photos or documents, I scan in B&W. You might know that you can also scan to a PDF, which is perfect for most documents. If I am scanning a booklet, I can combine all the scans into a single file - the booklet. I scan most receipts and throw most of them away.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

For wallet size I scan at 300%. Nice for printing larger than wallet.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yes, the V850 can scan 4×5", 5×6", up to 8×10" film. I own a V850 and even have a few 8×10" negatives.