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How Well Do Automatic Picture Scanners Work?

This article has been generously donated to InfoBarrel for Charities.

stefm | Mar 25, 2010 |

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A photo scanner is a very useful device to have if you have a lot of prints or slides of photos taken with film cameras that you want to easily share with people via email. They need to be turned into digital files a computer can recognize, and that is what a scanner does. By the way, it's not a good idea to use a scanner with prints made from digital images, because no matter how good the scanner, the resulting digital file is not going to look as good as the file that was used to make the print.

Photo scanners differ from copy machines in that they are designed to capture all of the gradations of tone and color in a photo, while copy machines are intended mostly for text documents and produce a high contrast image. Photo scanners also usually come with a device for scanning negatives and slides. It is more difficult to get a good file with these kinds of images, because they are much smaller, so if you primarily will be scanning your old 35mm slide collection you will need to spend more to get adequate quality. You should get one that has Digital ICE, which is the best method for digitally erasing scratches and dust from transparencies. It can make photos look much better than the original print did. The Epson V500 is an excellent choice and costs around $200.

If you are mostly dealing with prints, consider getting a automatic photo scanner with feeder built in to speed things up. With these automatic scanners you can load up a bunch of pictures at once and let the scanner do its thing while you work on something else. They work great if you get a good one, and the Epson Perfection 2480 is one of the best. Photo scanner automatic document feeder attachments are often sold either with or without the feeder, so when purchasing be sure to specify you want the feeder included with your scanner.