# Scan multiple photos at once!?!



## dynasty06

Hey,

I have decided to tackle a project which I have been meaning to do forever. I want to scan hundreds of photos and get rid of all my photo albums. 

After searching the web I am surprised about the lack of products to do this! The only scanner that has an automatic photo feed I have found with decent reviews is the Epson Perfection 2480 and the Auto Feeder attachment.

That product was made in 2004 and is now discontinued.

I do not want to send my pictures to one of those services. Personally I do not want my pictures in the hands of some strangers who will edit and see each one. I would love to just do it myself at home over several nights.

Some of you people MUST have done this. Has anyone figured out how to reliably and efficiently scan hundreds of old photos?

Thanks


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## JerryPH

I just went out and bought a flatbed scanner. Yes I did several at a time and scanned/saved to a TIFF format.  I was in the $250 range.

It was completely manual and lots of time/work involved. I do not know if there are better/faster way (there likely are), but I did not know any better.

I understand about you not wanting others to have posession of your irreplaceables.

Perhaps some research on scanners is your next step?


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## dynasty06

I looked... however i probably have like a thousand or more.

With a flatbed scanner... and 3 pictures per scan... that is 333 scans! plus then editing to cut them apart.

That will take literally hours.

I want one that can feed pictures automatically like 25 at a time.

I know there are a couple options out there... but has anyone used any of the succesfully?


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## usayit

If you have thousands of photos, do yourself a favor and take it to a lab and pay them to do it for you. 

No way, I would have the patience to scan that many.


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## dynasty06

How do i find a photolab.

My problem is i dont really want some kid working for minimum wage to sit there and look through all the pictures.  

is there any place that can just automate the process nice and simple.


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## gendarmee

I am in a similar situation. 
Problem is that pro scan would cost me 1$ a scan.
I have around 1500 B&W photos in the line, and quality is deteriorating every year, could probably scan 2-3 at a time at 600dpi.
But the sheer number of pictures makes me procrastinate, for years now.


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## dynasty06

So what do we do!!! It really is a terrible situation! Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Ive read that SOME people have had success with those printers with the auto photo feeder. Like the epson perfection.

I dont mind if it takes like a few weeks... as long as i can scan like 25pictures at once and dont need to reedit them on the computer after.


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## JIP

The first question I would have is why in the worl would you want to get rid of your photo albums?.  Also, do you have negatives if you do that might be a better avenue the res. might be higher and it might also go faster.


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## molsen

just get a flatbed and do some every day.  you don't have to do them all in one sitting.

plus, as mentioned above, you can scan negatives...which would be faster


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## dynasty06

i want to get my pictures into digital form so that if there is ever a fire or a flood or anything of that sort... i will not lose them.

I have an elaborate offsite backup procedures setup with my firm so my data management is great. 

Last spring we had an electrical fire in my new house... and thank god we caught it in time. if we had come home 30 minutes later... generations of family pictures would have vanished. Priceless memories and links to my family that i want my children and my children's children to see one day. I only have 1 picture of my great grand parents and nothing else from that long ago and its sad. I wish i could see my family that far back. I dont want to deprive future generations of that pleasure.

So in my opinion... the only reliable way to insure that all my pictures will survive the ages is to transform them into digital form and just keep redundant copies offiste in a secure data vault.

And i cannot imagine transforming the piles of pictures i have 3 at a time on a flatbed and then cropping them into individual files. that would take years. I would rather pay $500 for a machine that will speed the process. Time is money.

There HAS to be an inexpensive printer out ther that has a high success rate. My question is has anyone ever purchased one of those automatic photo feeder printers... and if so... which one... and have u had success with it?


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## Happy Hour

I have been pondering this question for a couple of years now. Finally I broke down and did it manually. I've been scanning pics for 4-5 months now a few hundred a week when I get time. I can't believe nobody has caught up with the times and gone all digital with auto feed scanners.I have a all in one with a auto feed on the top and it was great for about a hundred pictures then I noticed that every one had a line across it. It also ate 1 pic, after that I gave up on the auto feed. I would love to find a easier way to scan!


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## Overkill-F1

The Canon MP970  printer\scanner can scan many photos at the same time and can be setup to save them as individual files.
...Terry


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## dynasty06

i looked at the specs and dont see anything about automatic feeding of photographs.

Do u have this one?

Do have u scanned photographs with it by automatic feeding?

If so how many can you feed into it at once?

Do you like it? Have you had any issues?


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## Overkill-F1

The Canon MP970 doesn't have automatic feed. You can scan mutiple photos on the glass at the same time and it can automatically detect the edges of each photo and save the images as individual files. Sorry for any confusion.
...Terry


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## dynasty06

does it straighten them? so say u dont put them in perfectly straight.. does it make them straight automatically?


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## Happy Hour

Overkill-F1 said:


> The Canon MP970 doesn't have automatic feed. You can scan mutiple photos on the glass at the same time and it can automatically detect the edges of each photo and save the images as individual files. Sorry for any confusion.
> ...Terry


Alot of scanners do that I have 2 that do that it is still a pain in the ass and doesn't seem to speed up the process of multiple pics. I've been scanning 4 pics at a time for months and still can't put a dent in my pile !


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## Overkill-F1

dynasty06 said:


> does it straighten them? so say u dont put them in perfectly straight.. does it make them straight automatically?


Nope.
...Terry


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## Battou

Overkill-F1 said:


> The Canon MP970 doesn't have automatic feed. You can scan mutiple photos on the glass at the same time and it can automatically detect the edges of each photo and save the images as individual files. Sorry for any confusion.
> ...Terry



You want to be careful with that, especially where white edges come into play, Some scanners will loose the edge and guess, for lack of a better phrase.


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## RacePhoto

Plus you say you want to have them done, so you don't have to edit each one. Sorry, but you will still need to do color correction and fine tuning on just about every photo, if you want them to be good. So you might as well do three at a time and crop each one out and save them.

Even if you had some automated scanner that had a sheet feed, and every photo is identical, which they are not, you are going to want to make them the best you can, which means editing each individual photo.

By the time you get done scanning photos for hours and hours, you are going to have to edit each one. That means you buy the scanner, take at least six hours to just scan the photos, that's three at a time, then figure at least another six hours to crop and edit them all.

You might re-consider dropping them off at some shop and having it done on professional equipment, which whatever you or I can afford will not be as good as what the pro equipment will do.

If you have some photos that you are worried about other people seeing, take them in and scan them yourself, then have the rest done by some place that does this for a business. You'll be much happier with the results.

I think you are looking for an inexpensive, fast and easy answer, and there is none if you want to do it right.


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## dynasty06

Racephoto... that is really the best advice i have heard from anyone. and i have posted on several forums. thanks.

Now on another topic... thats really amazing that there is not a reliable scanner for the house to do this. what if we invent one. all we would need is couple a reliable feeder and a simple scanner. Then just create software that displays each picture for person to modify one by one. like a "Approve, edit, or delete" option for each picture. we need to find the reliable feeder. anyone have any ideas?


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## Jon, The Elder

My same exact opinion and experience as Racephoto.  I had to do about 300 print scans for my sister-in-law, it just takes time and patience (lots of both).


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## Alpha

The Nikon Super CoolScan series has batch attachments.


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## Luxowell

Do you own Photoshop CS1 or higher?
There is a break-apart and straighten tool in it. You can put as many photos as you can fit on the scanner, scan it, then have photoshop automatically break it into individual files and straighten them.


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## _SnapShot_

Batch scanners and batch feeds have problems with being complex, expensive and there is little demand. Pictures are all different sizes, unlike negatives or slides. That's why you can't find a sheet feed scanner for your old photos. Nikon CoolScan with a slide stacker is just fine for a few grand for slides. You are going to have to feed negative by hand.

I want a car that will do 200 mph and gets 40 miles per gallon and costs under $30,000

That is what you are asking for with your scanner. You either get speed or quality, or economy, but you aren't going to get all of them in one box, for one low price.

You are going to get the best quality for the price by sending them out to someone with very expensive pro equipment. If you want to do them at home you are going to pay for your own scanner and it's going to take a long time.


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## jet59or

I am thinking of purchasing the 
*[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F6NUX8/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top"]Epson Scanner Perfection 4490 Office Scanner[/ame]*

for home and small business photo scanning. It has pretty good reviews, especially about the ADF, which would suffice for stacks of same size photos. Not a huge investment either.


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## KD5NRH

jet59or said:


> I am thinking of purchasing the
> *Epson Scanner Perfection 4490 Office Scanner*
> 
> for home and small business photo scanning. It has pretty good reviews, especially about the ADF, which would suffice for stacks of same size photos. Not a huge investment either.



I can't speak for the ADF, since I have the 4490 Photo, (with the transparency adapter instead of the ADF) but the scan quality is great for the price.  Speaking of which, I can't find the ADF available separately on Epson's site, but they have the Photo model as a refurb for $109 shipped, and an instant rebate and free shipping on a new (non-refurb) Office model that puts it at $264.99 shipped.

EDIT: found the ADF, and it's $200, so you can't save by getting the refurb Photo and adding an ADF.

Don't forget your settings and try to scan an 8x10 at 4800dpi, though: the rest of your stack will rot in the time it takes to finish that one  :mrgreen:


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## Bifurcator

The flatbed scanner on my $250 printer allows me to place 4 or 6 photos on the bed and press one button for which it will scan, cut, and save the individual images at whatever resolution I had it set for. Not as good as a sheet feeder but I think all flat bed scanners have this functionality now.

Mine has a sheet feeder too but it seems mostly to be for facsimile scans. 

On my device the Pixma MX850, the ADF scanner is a different scanner than the flatbed. Two scanners.


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## chrisburke

taking them to a lab to have them scan them is VERY expensive... usually works out to like $1 per picture, which is crazy...


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## djacobox372

dynasty06 said:


> I looked... however i probably have like a thousand or more.
> 
> With a flatbed scanner... and 3 pictures per scan... that is 333 scans! plus then editing to cut them apart.
> 
> That will take literally hours.
> 
> I want one that can feed pictures automatically like 25 at a time.
> 
> I know there are a couple options out there... but has anyone used any of the succesfully?



If you have the negatives, the v700 will scan 24 35mm negatives at once and also use digital ice to restore them--removing scratches, dust, and enhancing color.

If you just have the photos.... then the "quickest" way to scan them is just to use a high quality digital camera with a close focusing lens on a tripod and rig up something to hold the photos and take pictures of them one by one--you should be able to breeze through a couple hundred photos in a few hours.  I did this with all my old photos using my d200 and it was really quick once everything was setup. You'll lose some quality, but not much more then you would if you scanned them with a flatbed scanner--the only trick is to control the lighting.


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## SpeedTrap

You could also see if you can find an HP Scanjet 5500C. (Discontinued)
It has a 4X6 auto feed on it.
I have one and it works well, the only downfall is you have to scan 5X7 or larger by had.  But if you have a ton of 4X6 or smaller it does a good job.


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## bhop

I have an Epson 4490.  All my film shots on my flickr link were scanned from it.  It can scan up to 10 shots at a time in auto mode. (2 strips of 5 frames).  It can scan 2 medium format frames at a time, or 4 slides at a time.


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## flycatcher

I found a place called The Digital Convert that scans both album pages and individual prints with excellent pricing.  they're in Chicago, so at least the folks out there should give 'em a try.

http://www.thedigitalconvert.com

Photos: 15-19 cents depending on quantity 
Album Pages: standard is only 45 cents; 60 cents for flatbed (better at preventing reflections)

...and you can toss in some documents, family recipes, addressbooks etc

The great thing is you don't have to take your pictures out of the albums. I don't see why anyone would want to destroy their albums in the process of getting them scanned.  Sure, you definitely won't have any reflections that way, but for me the point is to preserve and share. And this is the least expensive way to have it done. If you have 4 or 5 pics on a page, you're not paying per pic, but per page.

They even have this cool, customized TV slideshow option that zooms in on each photo on the album page. so even if you didn't scan individually, you can still see a nice slideshow. you can see it below after you download a small plugin.

http://www.thedigitalconvert.com/slideshows.html


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## flycatcher

the way i figure, you can either pay $100-200 for a standard flatbed scanner and even then spend countless boring hours scanning away. 

...or you can spend 100 bucks to some service and get like 500 pics already scanned with no effort on your part. if you've got just one album with 40 double-sided pages, you got to realize that's 80 full size scans. that's a heck of a lot of time to be spending scanning on a cheap flatbed. $30 or so and the whole thing can be scanned, burned to disc, and uploaded to the web for you.

i don't know. my feeling is that flatbeds were meant for casual use. you know, the occasional document your daughter needs in college. or maybe you're making a holiday card. but hundreds or thousands of pics? who has the time for that on a flatbed? the only high-speed scanners worth getting that won't ruin your pics are too expensive, and how does that help for album pages?


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## usayit

Buying a scanner is like buying a camera.... cheap scanner.. cheap quality of scans.  IMO, there are just a handful of good scanners out there (Nikon, Epson - I like V700, etc.) and all of them cost significantly more than $100-200. 

Also... this is a finite project.  Once the OP is done the scanner is going to collect dust.  Find the cost of a decent scanner.  Find the cost of good scanning service locally.  Figure in your time and the number of photos you need to scan.  Based on the final cost of scanner+time you should know if you should submit at a lab or DIY.

If you see yourself shooting film or doing more projects that involve a scanner, then they are worthwhile investment.


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## Digital Solutions

Hi All - I'm new to the sight and was referred by a photographer friend.  I own a high-speed, high-resolution batch scanner made by Kodak (I paid just under $1,800.00 for it.)  It is the Kodak s1220.  I have my own home-based business and scanning is one of the services I provide.  After reading many of the posts, I thought I would share what I know.
> many scanning places ship your photos to India and other places to get their service done, I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want my photos going across the world and (hopefully) back!
> I share the opinion of many of you, traditional flat bed scanners that many of us have with our printers are best used casually, they are very time consuming to use!
> As far as album pages, it's time to get your precious photos OUT of old albums that are ruining them!!! I have a solution for that too 
> The scanner that I own can do the following:
* Scan photos from wallet size to 8x10
* Scan documents as well
* Scan front, or back, or both at the same time
* Scan 30 (4x6 size) photos per minute at 300 dpi (about 1000 per hour)
* It has a 'photo sharpening' element that will automatically sharpen every picture when order is complete
* Can rotate images 90, 180 or 270 degrees
* Provides a choice of resolution: 300, 600 or 1200 dpi
* Stores JPEG compressed images as .jpg files for printing, emailing or uploading to a photo management system
* Stores all your photos and documents onto a CD for you

You can read about the Kodak s1220 on Kodak's site if you want more detailed info.  

I have digital (and traditional picture) solutions for everyone.  I'm in the business of helping people build lasting legacies of heritage for their families.  I have joined a movement with a mission to help families discover, preserve, celebrate and pass on, their heritage.  I help people discover the rich heritage that is locked inside their endless boxes of photos on hard drives and camera memory cards.  Don't let your heritage fade out, make sure it is preserved for your family and future generations (remember, you may be someone's great-great-grandparent someday - they will want to know you!)

Contact me through a post or email:

Karen (Williams) Adams
Southern California
www.StoryBookMaking.Net
email:  karen@storybookmaking.Net


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## Digital Solutions

dynasty06 said:


> Hey,
> 
> I have decided to tackle a project which I have been meaning to do forever. I want to scan hundreds of photos and get rid of all my photo albums.
> 
> After searching the web I am surprised about the lack of products to do this! The only scanner that has an automatic photo feed I have found with decent reviews is the Epson Perfection 2480 and the Auto Feeder attachment.
> 
> That product was made in 2004 and is now discontinued.
> 
> I do not want to send my pictures to one of those services. Personally I do not want my pictures in the hands of some strangers who will edit and see each one. I would love to just do it myself at home over several nights.
> 
> Some of you people MUST have done this. Has anyone figured out how to reliably and efficiently scan hundreds of old photos?
> 
> Thanks


Hi Dynasty06 - See my post #35 below your 'scanning multiple photos at once' post . . . hope I can help 

Karen


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## bstevens

I tried purchasing an Epson 4490 to scan stacks of photos. It jammed up on about the 10th photo. So out of frustration I started looking for low-cost scanning services, but ones that would NOT ship my photos to India. I found this service, ScanPhotosToDigital. Their best package for photos is about $0.15 per photo. Although I haven't used them for negatives or slides, they scan those as well. I signed up for their email list and they have really good monthly specials, like 2 for 1 and free gift cards, etc. What I like about them is their quick turnaround - 3 days for photos - and they guarantee their work. Hope that helps!

Bryan


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## Digitalnovice

I am glad i came across this thread as i have been scanning some really old family fotos but they are still in the albums as they too delicate to try and remove.But this is a long timetaking task.I am using the brother all in one printer/scanner.I agree with RacePhoto editing them is also time consuming.The problem i have is that when you view them after scanning them to the PC they are really small,can anyone tell me the best way to get them some decent size.many thanks for feedback.


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## JonnyL

I too was very worried about sending my photos out to get scanned by someone else, but after a week of wasted evenings scanning about 1% of my photos on a flatbed, I found a pretty nice little company in Los Angeles that scanned all 2,000 of my photos in a two days!  I think they're a pretty small operation...at least they made it feel that way.  I was very comfortable with the whole process and the scans came back great.  The Scan Studio


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