Photo Scanner Experience?

[Bob White]

Re: Photo Scanner Experience?

Another very good app for smart phones is Scanner App by Photomyne. It is available for both iOS and Android phones. More information at https://photomyne.com.

[kevinkovalsky]

I want to update my very slow, 15+ year old flatbed scanner.

My feedstock consists of several thousand prints now in the "shoebox" that have been accumulating for a long time. They've lasted this long, but . . .

I want to scan to generate .tiff files, catalog them in LightRoom, and clean them up in LR or Photoshop. Reunion multimedia will be produced as .jpegs from the cleaned-up .tiffs. The .tiffs will be archived for my heirs and assigns.

The scanner will _not_ be used to scan slides or negatives. I've had excellent results digitizing over 2900 slides using a DSLR fitted with a macro lens and minimal additional hardware. That project is completed. Negatives are a low priority for me at this point.

Edit: I forgot to mention I'm also checking into setting up a copying stand to accomplish this project. If anyone has ideas on this approach, I'd certainly be interested in what you see as the pros and cons. Thanks.

Both cost and ease/speed of use are important. Every hour spent on this project will be one hour I'd rather have spent on research and production of results.

Thanks to any willing to share your experience and suggestions re: scanner hardware.

Terry

Hey friend, I work in restoration of old photos, just a small gig, nothing serious but I still need a good scanner to work with the photos, so I’ve been using an old scanner that did the job okay enough, but it took a lot of time per photo and I wasn’t making too much. Now, after I got a good budget photo scanner, I’m working a lot faster. My point is, if you need it, upgrade for sure, it is worth it.

[Bob White]

Re: Photo Scanner Experience?

Bob White thanks much for alerting me to the Qroma solution. Wow! Talk about a "no boundaries" solution. I think a more conventional solution (which will take the flatbed route) is a better bet for the file types and archiving I have in mind. Meanwhile, I'll be watching for an IPO when that nifty Qroma system "makes it big."

Terry

Qroma is very tiny. Actually, last I knew, it is just Tony Knight working at home with some spousal support for things like doing the bookkeeping, etc.. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for him to IPO. I see him operating much like Ed Hamrick with the VueScan scanner application or Thorsten Lemke with Graphic Converter. e.g. Doing a labor of love and making a living wage doing it. Beats the h^#* out of an 8 to 5 job with commuter traffic.

By the way, I am, as time permits, working my way through lots of slides. Got my first SLR camera in the mid 1960's and, by the time that I bought my first Canon Digital Rebel in 2003, I had accumulated several thousand slides. After less than satisfying experiences with other brands of slide scanners, I picked up a Kodak Scanza going on two years ago. I am getting really good results with this one. It is currently about $160 on Amazon.

[joeswann]

I have had good luck with Doxie scanners (https://www.getdoxie.com/). I wish they would improve their software interface a bit, but their hardware has been a good experience for me.

I bought a Doxie Flip years ago. This is a battery powered scanner that scans to an SD card. It is also a flatbed scanner that scans up to 4x6 photos. I have, however, used the image stitching feature in their software to put together blueprints from a house. It was a bit tedious to scan all that in pieces, but I felt it wasn't worth a trip to find a large format scanner for one paper. Point it, this can be done.

I recently lucked up on a used Doxie Q document scanner for cheap. It has also proven to be a good scanner. And I have discovered that if you have a box full of snapshots you can leave the document feeder lid closed and hand feed the prints through the scanner. Something to do with your hands while watching an Andy Griffith rerun.

Anyway, these scanners meet the majority of my needs.