What Is a Photo Scanner?
You may want a scanner to scan old family film photographs, negatives, and transparencies.
you’re able to even use photo scanners to scan documents and go paper-free with your receipts.
However, you’re able to still find a selection of photo scanners from which to choose.
Scanning family photos may seem like a lot of work.
However, after you scan the images, every family member can have a digital copy.
Here are a few things to consider before purchasing:
How Much Should a Photo Scanner Cost?
Scanners are available at a range of prices from less than $100 to thousands of dollars.
The more features the scanner has, the more it costs.
Locate scanners online that have good reputations and meet your criteria.
Also, determine the seller’s return policy.
Test the scanner as soon as you get it.
That’s the only way to know if it works right for you.
If not, return it and try another one.
What Are You Scanning?
Do you have 4-by-6-inch photos, 8-by-10-inch or larger photos, tiny transparencies, or negatives?
Do you have all of these?
If so, a flatbed scanner with a film adapter is for you.
You may need a letter-size or larger flatbed scanner if you plan to scan large photos or documents.
Clean your photos, negatives, or transparencies before you scan.
If you don’t, the scanner can pick up every dust speck.
Resolution Options
Scanner resolutionis usually listed in dots per inch (dpi).
In general, 300 dpi is sufficient for most purposes.
For exceptionally high quality, 1200 dpi is necessary.
Manufacturer specifications typically include the speed of scanners on their websites.
Check there and compare your favorites.
Types of Photo Scanners
Several types of scanners are available, each ideal for distinct scanning tasks.
Flatbed Scanners
High-resolution flatbed scanners meet most high-quality scanning needs.
These aren’t the largest or fastest and don’t help scan transparencies.
However, these scanners do the trick for daily photo and document scanning.
All-in-Ones
If you have an all-in-one printer, you may have a scanner.
Get out the printer documentation and find the scanner specifications.
Many all-in-one printer scanners go as high as 1200 dpi.
It may be able to meet your document scanning needs and photo needs.
They aren’t suitable for photos unless you have only a few small images to scan.
Film Scanners
Film scanners specialize in scanning film and negatives.
They’re not a good fit for scanning documents, developed photos, or other images.
Orbital Scanner
Orbital scanners (aka planetary scanners) aren’t as science fiction-y as they sound.
Who Should Buy a Photo Scanner?
Play around with the controls on the scanner and the software you’re using.
There are severalphoto-scanning appsavailable on both Android and iOS, and most modern smartphones canscan documents on their own.
If your scanned images are incomplete, that means they’re being cropped incorrectly.
Some scanners also have an automatic detection feature for page sizes.
you might alsomanually add a watermark to scanned imagesafter they’ve been scanned by using image editing software.
