How to Scan Photos quickly using fast affordable Scanners?

We all like memories, as and when we grow older and older. There will not be a single day that goes without us remembering our childhood and youthful days. The olden days are the happiest when the old memories and moments are relived.

This is when our memories play an important role. The main part of our memory is the collection of photos that we possess. The photos of our past, picture perfects, functions we attended, gatherings where our presence mattered most, holidays we spent out, etc. carry a great weightage.

Our memories will not just be with us. It will be a part of so many important people that will be a part of our happier moments. They will have a collection of similar photos that we will be a part of, how we have theirs with us.

This way, the stack of photos increases both in terms of quantity and importance. They will be priceless and it will be crucially important to protect them. It is at this juncture that our need of getting them digitized arises.

It is quite natural to be skeptical about the digitization service providers out there as our memories will be priceless for the fact that we don’t yet have a duplicate of them. Losing even one of them means a big loss to us.

We neither want them to be digitized by a service provider nor do we have an idea of scanning them all by ourselves because they are in such large numbers. Then, how do we scan the photos fast, faster, and fastest?

Scanners come in different types, please read this article to know more about photos scanners. There are a few scanners that can scan really fast and are mostly safe. We can use such scanners that don’t compromise on the quality. They can scan in good resolutions, capturing the perfect colors, sometimes even improving them.

For photo scans using the best methods that we follow at ScanJunction, please have a look at this article. The same topic is discussed in detail here in this article.

So, let us find out in detail about these scanners one by one learning how to scan the photos, in the process, our priceless collection.

The below-mentioned scanners are the list of scanners that can help us fasten the process. Through our limited knowledge, we think that flatbed scanners are the fastest. In reality, the fastest machines are the ones that have the least manual intervention. This can be achieved with great perfection using ADF (Automated Document Feeders, read more about them here) photo scanners.

The first scanner that comes to our mind is the Epson FastFoto FF-680W High-Speed Photo Scanning System. There are other equally capable ones that are more affordable. But this one is the best of all those.

FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-speed Photo Scanner

This is one of the world’s fastest scanners that can be easily used for personal use. It can scan thousands of photos at a high speed. The speed can be as fast as one photo every second at 300 dpi and we have tested it here. 300 dpi is enough if you want your photos to be viewed on small screens.

This scanner is an ADF Scanner, read more about ADF scanners here. ADF scanners take in the materials from the top, also called feeders, and places them in the output area after scanning the materials. There will be a light that scans the photos, in this case, as they move from the feeder to the output area.

There is no need to manually crop the photos as it not only safely scans the photos but also crops them irrespective of the sizes the photos are in.

The software that the scanner comes with also helps the process move smoother. There are convenient ways that the photos can be edited with the built-in tools that come along with the scanner. The smart file organization tools make it easier to organize the scanned photo.

The following are the most important features that practically help the individual’s life while making scanning photos easier.

Features

• Scans at a speed of 1 photo per second
• Safe-touch, that enables worry-free scanning up to 8.5″ wide, postcards, Polaroid photos, and panoramas
• Offers intelligent file organization tools to organize the scanned photos or documents
• Enables sharing of 300 dpi scans, archival of 600 dpi scans
• Supports enlarged scans at 1200 dpi
• Handles multiple sizes in one batch
• Connects from both USB and wireless connectivity making the scanner portable
• Brings new life to an old picture with built-in auto enhancement, color restoration, red-eye reduction, de-skew, crop and rotate

Plustek ePhoto Photo Scanner

Not everybody wants a high resolution like 1200 dpi. From our experience, 1200 dpi is for those people that want their scans to be viewed on screens wider than 32 inches. Within this screen size, it does not matter if the resolution is 600 dpi or 1200 dpi. However, 300 dpi is not recommended by us at any point in time. 300 dpi is only recommended for documents where the text is more important than the color pictures.

If we don’t want a 1200 dpi scan, then this is the most affordable and reliable choice. This has most of the features that the Epson FastFoto Scanner comes with. The main difference is that this scanner is not capable of scanning at a resolution higher than 600 dpi. In fact, this looks sleeker than the Epson Scanner and comes with a great design, with a mere 3.3 lb (1.5 kg).

Below are the features that the Plustek ePhoto Photo Scanner comes up with.

Features

• Automatic detection of photo size
• Perfect Images – a state of the art imaging technology that ensures your scanner images look better than the originals
• Quick fixes give you the option of manually editing, exposure, white balance, etc.
• Intuitive interface that is easily understandable by even a common man
• Continuous scanning and processing of photos at 2 different resolution
• Drag and drop interface makes it easily accessible even by a tech-challenged person
• File and folder management is very helpful and intuitive
• Sharing via different social media, on the go
• A total of 500 photos can be done each day above which can damage the scanner

Fujitsu PA03656-B005 Image Scanner

Well, the above two scanners are photo scanners. Those scanners are manufactured keeping in mind photos. But the ones below are all Image scanners. They might be good scanners and fast counterparts to the previously mentioned scanners. But these are manufactured keeping in mind documents.

So, it does not matter what type of material goes inside the scanner. They will all be scanned in the same way. Let us look at the features and later conclude about the difference.

Features

• Access Documents anywhere and anytime using the range of popular cloud services or wireless connections
• Scan everyday documents starting from business cards to A3 papers
• Send data in the form of text to Word, Excel, email, etc
• Convert scanned images to searchable PDF to edit PDF files and convert them to a Word document
• Generate password for the PDF documents making them secure
• Digitize larger documents (A3/B4), as well as magazine and newspaper clippings and photographs
• Set up a quick menu as a shortcut and keep accessing it for routine jobs

These features are enough to make out that the scanner is made for official purposes, that is for scanning documents. However, it has a mention of newspaper clippings and photographs, which clearly says that it can scan photos. The photos scanned might not have the same privilege as that of the previously mentioned two scanners, lacking auto-correction features.

Doxie Go SE Portable Photo Scanner

Do you want to take your scanner to different places? Do you have a lot of relatives and friends where you have some of your photos? Then this is the scanner for you. This has got rechargeable batteries that make it easier to set up. Just turn it on and you are ready to scan. Please find some of the features that might help you decide if this can help you or not.

Features

• Take anywhere and sync anywhere
• Scan documents, photos easily using the wireless features
• Color photos are scanned in 8 seconds at 600 dpi
• 400 pages can be scanned in one single charge
• 4000 pages can be stored in the scanner memory
• Sync via both USB and Wifi
• ABBYY OCR comes along with the scanner
• Directly save to cloud services

With all the above features it is clear that this scanner is easily portable and helps people how to have their photos scanned from different locations. Instead of getting the photos, the individual can go along with this scanner, get the photos scanned and come back. Unfortunately, people who want to scan at more than 600 dpi resolution have to look out for another scanner, which can, fortunately, be achieved from the next scanner that we are introducing you to.

Brother DS-620 Mobile Photo Scanner

The issue that the previous scanner had, can be resolved by this scanner. While the features mostly resemble that of the previous scanner, the most advantageous thing when it comes to photos is the capability of scanning at 1200 dpi.

Features

• Comes with a size under 11.5 inches long, weighing under 1 pound
• Scans up to 1200 dpi resolution (interpolated)
• Scanning speed of up to 8 pages per minute
• No rechargeable batteries, but works on USB power

What you should be watchful about the scanner is the 1200 dpi is not the optical resolution, but interpolated, also called digital resolution. Read more here.

If the scanners miss out on cropping the images, you can find this article that talks about how to crop bulk images here.

So, essentially to speed up the process of scanning, the best choice is ADF (Automated Document Feeder). Though it is unsafe, the new models that have come up with have safe modes. The photos will not get stuck in the feeder, or even if they, they can be removed easily.