(Archived) What's the ideal type of scanner to use on old family photos?

[ApplianceJunk 23]

I have a good size box full of loose family photos along with a few old photo albums that have been handed down to me.

 

Before my grandma passed away and before I knew who would end up with the old family photo albums I got the chance to scan the pages with a flatbed scanner. That has been probably over 10 years ago now. I remember it being a long and tedious process, but so glad I did it once it was done.

 

A few years after my grandma passed away I ended up getting the photo albums.

 

Just a few years ago I purchased a new flatbed scanner that was supposed to be so great for scanning photos. Even though it was much faster then my old scanner I found it to still be a slow and tedious process and ended up only scanning all my kids sports and school photos.

 

A few days ago I purchased my first document scanner, ScanSnap S1300i and I'm amazed and the speed of it.

 

So the other day I got to thinking about that box of photos I have yet to go through and scan. I'm wondering if this would be a good job for my S1300i or if there are other options I should look at such at the ScanSnap SV600?

 

http://scanners.fcpa.fujitsu.com/scansnap11/sv600.html

 

Besides the price of the SV600 I'm kind of wondering what I would do with the thing after I get through my box of photos.

 

This may not be so much of a EN question ( it's not at all ), but from the little bit I have been hanging around the EN forums I know there are a lot of scanner experts out there. 

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiance on the subject.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[gazumped 11,656]

Hi AJ - I'm in more or less the same position with boxes of family photos to scan,  a ScanSnap S1500 plus an Epson XP-605 (flatbed) scanner / copier / printer and an Epson Perfection V700 photo scanner.  To add some extra excitement to the mix,  some of the photos are very old and faded,  some are damaged,  and some are mounted in frames and may not survive being removed from them.  I also have lots of colour slides spanning 40 years or so.

 

Now the V700 is a 'professional' photo scanner that delivers HD results but with huge files - maybe 20-30MB per scan.  It can scan several photos (or slides) at once,  and it has the software to remove dust,  scratches and some damage.  But while the scans are pretty quick,  the editing afterwards is not.

 

The XP-605 is quicker and still pretty effective in removing small imperfections.  File sizes are smaller,  but still large.  And you can get several small pictures in one hit,  but editing them into individual files adds to processing time.

 

The S1500 is ideal for bulk copying.  It has a 'best quality' option but that's a big step down from the quality of the others.

 

What I'd suggest you consider is as follows...

1. Run your photos through the fastest scanning option you can find,  purely to get 'thumbnails' - reference copies - of all the pictures.
2. Pick out any that are particularly important to you and scan them (or get them scanned) in the best quality you can find - these are the ones you want to give as presents or hang on your wall.
3. Once you've done your scanning,  pack your photos away carefully in a warm, dry location packed in non-reactive tissue paper (the Smithsonian has lots of tips on conservation of photos).  Use your thumbnails to keep tabs on where (as in which box) the photos are stored in.
4. If you need to scan more photos you can find them easily,  and your reference copies should be good enough for any sharing you need to do online.

Be warned that if you start to edit HD scans to remove imperfections you can easily get carried away.  It's possible to do amazing restorations,  but it will take up similarly amazing amounts of your time....

[Rgrenader 35]

You'll want a high definition flat bed like an Epson or HP.  Something that will scan with more resolution than text only scanners.

[ApplianceJunk 23]

You'll want a high definition flat bed like an Epson or HP.  Something that will scan with more resolution than text only scanners.

 

There are settings on the S1300i that I can change for scanning photos.

[sgarcata 49]

Hi AJ - I'm in more or less the same position with boxes of family photos to scan,  a ScanSnap S1500 plus an Epson XP-605 (flatbed) scanner / copier / printer and an Epson Perfection V700 photo scanner.  To add some extra excitement to the mix,  some of the photos are very old and faded,  some are damaged,  and some are mounted in frames and may not survive being removed from them.  I also have lots of colour slides spanning 40 years or so.

Thanks for your extensive and specific suggestions.  How are you planning to scan your slides?  I bought an older used slide scanner, but can't find a driver for it.

[jbenson2 2,147]

I used a professional service called ScanCafe to scan several hundred of my ancient 35mm color slides. Not only did they scan them, but they also repaired them individually (removed scratches and dust, color corrected, and fixed the red eyes) at a very modest price - $0.22 to $0.29 per slide

http://www.scancafe.com/services/slide-scanning
 

[sgarcata 49]

thanks... I'll check it out

[gazumped 11,656]

 

Hi AJ - I'm in more or less the same position with boxes of family photos to scan,  a ScanSnap S1500 plus an Epson XP-605 (flatbed) scanner / copier / printer and an Epson Perfection V700 photo scanner.  To add some extra excitement to the mix,  some of the photos are very old and faded,  some are damaged,  and some are mounted in frames and may not survive being removed from them.  I also have lots of colour slides spanning 40 years or so.

Thanks for your extensive and specific suggestions.  How are you planning to scan your slides?  I bought an older used slide scanner, but can't find a driver for it.

 

 

The V700 comes with a slide carrier and a separate slide scanner sensor.  I have a lot of slides,  so full-scale commercial scanning would be horrendously expensive.  I might give that a go if there's a specific shot that I really want to get in the best quality,  but at the moment I'm keen to get my reference copies of all slides so I can curate my way through the content to see what I've actually got...