My dad recently decided to start scanning all of our baby and baby photos with his HP Flatbed Scanner at home and quickly realized that it would take years to scan all the photos into a computer if he did it one at a time. Then he decided to buy more expensive equipment that could scan more photos at a time and faster.
There are quite a few options for such projects that will not bankrupt the bank. However, you still need to be prepared to spend between $ 200 and $ 1,000 if you really want to scan a large amount of photos or documents at home.
You can use an online photo scanning service, which usually requires you to submit your photos to a company based in the United States or abroad. WireCutter already has a detailed article on which photo scanning service is best to use, so check it out if you want to go that route. These online services are also useful if you need to perform any kind of photo recovery.
Best high-speed photo scanners
The list below is not in any particular order, so go through each one before deciding. Again, the emphasis here is on speed and quality. You can always get something like the Doxie Q for under $ 200, but it’s a lot slower compared to any of the scanners below.
You will only need this power below if you need to scan thousands of photos or thousands of documents. For a small batch, this doesn’t make much sense. After I scanned all my photographs, I continued to scan with an expensive scanner all the papers my children bring home from school.
Fujitsu FI-7160 Color Duplex Scanner
Fujitsu FI-7160 Dichroic Scanner
The Fujitsu FI-7160 is a premium duplex color scanner that instantly populates your photo collection. It is currently around $ 880, which is a pretty high price tag for a scanner.
Its daily duty cycle is 4000 pages and an 80-sheet automatic document feeder. It can scan at resolutions up to 600dpi, which is far from the resolution of the photo-oriented scanners mentioned below, but still sufficient for most people. In my experience, the best part about this scanner is that you can load photos of different sizes into it at the same time.
You don’t have to worry about taking things apart first or anything like that. Just load documents into the scanner and scan. It also does a great job with documents and photos that aren’t perfectly straight and straight. It does a great job with bends and wrinkled paper, which is really handy.
Epson FastFoto FF-640
Epson FastFoto FF-640
Another great scanner is the Epson FastFoto FF-640 This scanner claims to be the fastest photo scanner in the world (1 photo per second). True or not, it doesn’t really matter. It is very fast and can scan at high resolution (600dpi).
Another big plus for this scanner is that it only costs $ 650, which is a little cheaper than Fujitsu. If you scan at least 1,500 photos, Epson is well worth the money as it will cost about the same as submitting photos to an online service.
The software that comes with it is also intuitive and easy to customize. Epson can only handle about 30 5 × 7 prints in the ADF, but it can handle different sizes of images at the same time. However, if you want to scan 8×10, you will have to do it one at a time. Fujitsu can simultaneously process prints 8 × 11 and smaller.
Color accuracy isn’t as good as a photo scanner, but it’s a worthy compromise if you need to scan a lot of photos quickly. Also, the software is simple, but for experienced users it will seem too limiting. If you want to customize your photos, you need another app.
Plustek Photo Scanner
Plustek Photo Scanner
If you don’t want to spend that kind of money, the cheaper option is Plustek Photo Scanner, which costs $ 200. It can scan 4 × 6 photos in about 2 seconds and 8 × 10 photos in 5 seconds.
You need to insert photos one at a time, but scanning continues non-stop after each photo. The maximum resolution is 600 dpi, which is similar to other scanners. The overall quality and color accuracy are not as good as the scanners listed below, but for the price and convenience it is not a bad option.
Best Image-Oriented Scanners
The scanners listed below are geared more towards amateur photographers who require absolute color accuracy when scanning photos, slides or films. For these scanners, quality is more important than speed.
Epson Perfection V800 / V85o Pro Photo Scanner
Epson Perfection V800 / V85o Pro Photo Scanner
For those looking for absolute color accuracy, incredible quality and resolution, the best choices are the Epson V800 and Epson V850 Pro, which cost $ 733 and $ 999 respectively. In addition, they are intended for those who need to scan slides and films.
They achieve an incredible 6400 dpi and many other advanced features to ensure minimal distortion when scanning an image. These scanners will also automatically tweak your photos to remove dust and scratches.
While they won’t be as fast as the ADF scanners described above, they are still pretty fast because there is no warm-up time due to the LEDs.
The cheaper option is also the Epson v600, which costs around $ 210.
Canon CanoScan 9000F MKII
Canon CanoScan 9000F MKII
The Canon CanoScan 9000F only costs $ 170 but comes packed with features. For film, the maximum resolution is 9600 dpi. For everything else, the resolution can go up to 4800 dpi. This scanner also uses LED indicators to indicate no warm-up time. You can continue scanning without stopping.
It is the cheapest yet highest quality scanner under $ 200. It has a tariff 3 function that can remove scratches and dust, as well as other enhancements such as color restoration.
Hopefully this will give you a good idea of ??the range and quality you can get from the various scanners on the market. If you want to improve the quality of your photos, you have to sacrifice speed. However, if you are more concerned with speed, you have some cheap options that will also give you good quality results. Enjoy!
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