What You Need To Know About Photo Scanners

Before memory cards were invented for easy camera-to-computer transfer, photo enthusiasts had to go through the process of having their films developed. While I do believe the traditional way is more exciting and personal, soft copies make it easier to share photos with friends and loved ones.



Like most people, I enjoy going through stacks of photos, reminisce a bit then put it in albums for keeps. The thing is, after a while you forget that you even had those photos, risking losing them.



That's when I realized the importance of having my memorabilia kept safe and backed up. I started scanning photos after flood seeped through our house and damaged almost all the photo albums we've kept. It was back in '98 when scanners still looked like enlarged versions of a shoe box. There were no feeders, no trays.



Today, there are a lot of different photo scanners available in the market. Most scanners that are being sold are either low-end consumer scanners or business-class document scanners. Consumer scanners typically have the advantage of being lower-cost and convenient, but lacking in features and functionality. However, scanning photos with document scanners often provide some special challenges such as:



1. The U-shaped paper path on a scanner may bend the photo



2. High-end flatbed document scanners are pricey



3. Certain scanners won't do well with the glossy photos which may reflect the light source of the scanner, although this is less of an issue today with new technology as it used to be.



What You Need to Know:



Low-end consumer flatbed scanners typically focus more on the needs of photo scanning, but they can be painfully slow. If you have hundreds of photos to scan you are going to be at this for many days and weeks to come. They confuse the market by having ridi culous resolutions like 4800 x 9600 dpi. The average consumer assumes that bigger is better, but they may not understand all the implications. First off, unless you plan on printing poster size images from your scanned photos, there are very few reasons to scan at anything higher than 300 dpi. Also, keep in mind that the higher the resolution, the larger the file size.



For business-minded individuals who want good quality images without spending hours scanning photos here are some photo scanners you might want to consider:



1. The Kodak s1220 Photo Scanning System scans up to 1200 dpi (many document scanners only go to 600 dpi). It is very fast, scanning up to 30 photos per minute at 300 dpi (that is 5x as fast as many consumer, flat-bed scanners will scan). It also comes bundled with fantastic software to get you the results you want. It also has the versatility to scan documents very well.



2. But if you want som ething less expensive, you may want to try the Canon DR-3010C. It has a 50 page document feeder, and scans 30 letter-sized pages per minute at 200 dpi. It may be unlikely for some people to scan more than 50 photos in the feed tray at a time, and you may not notice the speed difference that much. At half the cost of the Kodak s1220, it may be a good compromise.



3. Lastly, the CanonScan 8800F is a solid photo scanner. This is not a business scanner, instead it is built specifically for scanning photos, slides, or film. It won't compare to the speed of the Kodak s1220, but it has the added benefit of scanning slides and negatives.



For the occasional scanning of photos, mixed with the more common document scanning many document scanners will do just fine. It is also important that you buy from a trusted dealer like www.ScannerSolutions.com. Most of the scanners mentioned above are available on the online store. In addition, ScannerSolut ions.com provides extended warranty plans. These plans can help protect your investment as most scanners only come with a one year manufacturer's warranty.



And if you buy from a trusted dealer like ScannerSolutions you also get the benefit of gaining access to the scanner technical support. ScannerSolutions.com's certified technicians offer the industry's best support for a wide variety of scanners including, Kodak, Canon, Fujitsu, Visioneer,and Xerox.



If you wish to keep memories and make it last a lifetime, scanning your photos will be the way to go. You can make multiple back-ups and also share them with everyone close to you.