Automatic Photo Scanner

February 28, 2012February 28, 2012

Portable Pen Scanner for My Kid

My son is getting into high school this June and I’ve got a mind to upgrade his school bag with some tools to help him not just to catch up but get ahead if possible. I thought of a portable pen scanner (also called portable wand scanner) and the Docupen RC800 caught my attention.

The transcript of the essential parts of the above video is as follows:

[note]
Planon recently introduced a pack of accessories for its line of DOCUPEN portable scanners. Before you look at the accessories, it’s first best to look at the promise of a portable scanner itself. What does it look like and what can it do?

A wonder wand.

It’s Docupen’s portable scanner called the RC800. It’s actually the world’s smallest full page scanner. And, it passes my stringent test of height, weight and firmness. This little device does it all. It looks like a jumbo sized pen, but what it lets you do is scan anything at any time either color or black and white. It scans a full page in only 4 seconds and have enough memory to hold 100 pages.

And then to make it even more stylish, it even comes with its leather-like case. You can store it easily in a brief case or wear it attached to your belt.

The Docupen comes with all the software you need to get you started, plus a scaled-down version of paper port…a document management program, great for keeping things organized
[/note]

A sexier video detailing the Docupen RC800 portable pen scanner is embedded below, if you want to check it out.

I’m ordering a portable pen scanner for my son because I know it’s going to be one cool tool for him once he gets into high school. I imagine, had I had this tool back when I was in high school myself, things would have been a lot easier and lighter. My visits to the library would have been quicker and much more fruitful.

Let’s face it. Not all books and school material have digital versions. Not all books you study in school are in the internet, yet. And not all subject matters the teacher might assign to you could be just simply googled. The school library is not about to get phased out yet.

portable pen scanner

Ok. There’s the iPhone camera that you can use to capture pages of a book or capture your friendly classmate’s notes. Or, a digital point and shoot, which you most probably already have. But I guess there’s no doubt that a portable pen scanner is designed to perform way better for this particular job than those other gadgets.

Like Mike in the video below, if you have a non-digital printed picture you want to share to your facebook friends, it’ll just take you 10 seconds from scanning the picture to uploading it to your fb account.

Portable Pen Scanner: Docupen RC800

A newer version, the Planon Docupen RC805 portable pen scanner, is slicker. Should make one feel James Bond-ish. 🙂

July 26, 2011October 29, 2011

Alternative to Scanning Old Photos

I stumbled upon an alternative to scanning old photos sometime ago when I found myself facing the boring task of scanning old photos to digitize them. Most people are not really familiar even with the simple procedures of how to scan old photos using our Epson copier-printer-fax. So, inasmuch as I’m available at the time, I got requested to do the honors of digitizing the photos for posterity.

The problem with our current setup is that it tends to stretch our patience to the limits. The simple procedure of scanning a single regular sized picture takes more time than our patience can hold. First, you need to place the pictures (4 at most) on the flatbed, then click the pre-scan button, which then with our old office computer takes forever to complete. Then once the pre-scanning is done, you click again on the scan button, which then either takes the same amount of time, or even longer to get done. Add to this the tendency of the old computer (running on XP) to ‘hang’ sometimes which really makes me want to blast it with the power of my ring (if I were a Green Lantern). 🙂

Had we an automatic photo scanner with automatic feeder however, things might have been different.

The Alternative to scanning old photos

The alternative (besides hiring an external scanning service) to scanning old photos to digital is to use our DSLR camera (we have a Canon Rebel T3i / 600D at the office) to shoot the photos. Yes, I still had to do it one by one, but it is a lot faster and more enjoyable to do.

I moved a small table near the window so that I could use the best natural lighting available.
Since we have a tripod, I used it to mount the camera just a few inches above the table’s surface level. In the absence of a tripod, I could just use some books and a few other objects with which I could use to raise and lean the camera on.
Had we a book rest, it would have come handy. But since I can’t get ahold of one, I had to make do with some old newspapers which I arranged so that I could lean a photograph in such a way that its surface is perpendicular to the camera lens’ line of sight. I had, of course, earlier set things up so that the available light does not reflect back to the camera.
Then I started shooting each picture one by one. The minimum distance between the camera lens and the picture, by the way, depends on your lens. An EFS 18-200mm IS for instance can only go as near as 45 cm. I found I can still get even nearer though, but I had to use manual focusing because AF (auto focus) fails in this case. Also, the best way to reduce camera shake and thus avoid even the tiniest blur in the resulting picture is to use the camera’s built in shutter timer.
After all the photos have been photographed, I uploaded them all to the computer and proceeded to crop the edges where necessary.

There! I completed the whole task in just 14.372% of the time it would have taken had I proceeded with scanning them. Ok, ok, I made that figure up. Maybe, it’s actually 12% or 15%. The only downside to the whole task is that it requires a lot of bending, which, depending on your age, you may either consider as a good physical exercise or a punishment to your back.

If you have an automatic photo scanner (e.g. Kodak s1220) that can output faster than this alternative to scanning old photos , please let me know.

June 22, 2011October 29, 2011

Legal Document Scanner: MFC-9970CDW

Color Laser Legal Document Scanner All-in-One with Wireless Networking and Duplex

This is an all-in-one equipment by Brother which works on letter, legal size , executive, folio, A4, A5, and B6 documents making this a perfect legal document scanner, copier, fax, and printer for your office or company. It scans, fax, print, and copy at a rate of up to 30 pages per minute in color or black/white. With a resolution of 2400 x 600 dpi, you get clear prints and scans that approaches the originals. Plus, it can do duplex printing without noticeable speed change. That is, it can print both sides of a document in a single pass. And unlike most all-in-one machines of this type, this machine allows you to copy documents without having to turn on the computer you hooked it on.

A cool addition to this legal document scanner all-in-one is the 5″ color touch screen display and a legal-size document glass. Coming with automatic feeder (which also gets this included in the automatic photo scanner category), it allows an input paper capacity of 300 sheets, which can be expanded via an optional tray to 800 sheets.

The wireless networking feature allows easy access from any station in a local area network in your office/company. With the usual plug and play convenience, you can have it configured one time and connected in your network and ready for use in mere minutes.

Available at amazon: Legal document scanner:Brother MFC-9970CDW

Brother Legal Document Scanner All-in-One

Technical Details

Print and copy at up to 30ppm
Automatic duplex print/copy/scan/fax (auto-feeder)
Wireless, Ethernet and USB interfaces
5″ Color Touch screen display
Resolution: Up to 2400 x 600 dpi
Paper Handling Size/Tray: Letter, Legal, Executive, Folio, A4, A5, B6

More here…

Click here for more details about the Legal document scanner:Brother MFC-9970CDW

[note]

Print

Print Technology: Color Laser
Consumable Type: 4 Toner Cartridges and Drum
Max. Print Speed (ppm): 30ppm Color or Black
Max. Print Resolution: Up to 2400 x 600 dpi
Standard Input Paper Capacity: 300-Sheet Input Capacity
Multi-purpose Tray: 50-Sheet Multi-Purpose Tray Capacity
Duplex Printing Capability: Yes
Standard Interface(s): Wireless 802.11b/g, 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet and Hi-Speed USB 2.0
USB Direct Interface: Yes
Standard Memory (MB): 256MB Memory with optional 512MB
Printer Driver Compatibility: Windows/Mac OS

Fax

Faxing Capability: B/W & Color Faxing
Fax Modem Speed: 33.6 kbps
Transmission Speed (sec): ~ 2.5 seconds per page
Total Auto Dial Locations: 340 locations
Broadcasting (# of locations): 390 locations
Auto Fax Reduction (for fax receiving): Yes
Fax Forwarding: Yes
Automatic Redial: Yes
Dual Access: Yes
Fax/Telephone Switch: Yes
Duplex Faxing: Yes

Copy

Max. Automatic Document Feeder Capacity: 50-Page ADF
Max. Copy Speed (cpm): 30cpm Color or Black
Stand-alone Copying: Yes (PC need not be turned on)
Reduction/Enlargement: 25% – 400%
Sorting Function: Yes
Duplex Copying: Yes
Document Glass Size: Legal

Scan

Duplex Scanning: Yes
Max. Interpolated Scan Resolution (dpi): 19,200 dpi x 19,200 dpi
Optical Scan Resolution: Up to 1200 x 2400 dpi
Scanner Driver Compatibility: Windows/Mac OS
Formats (Export): tiff/bmp/max/jpeg/pdf

source: brother-usa
[/note]

Click here for more details about the Legal document scanner:Brother MFC-9970CDW

Amazon.com Widgets

Not your best bet? Check out Other All-In-One Printers.

April 29, 2011

Portable Picture Scanner: NuLife Full Page Picture Scanner

Don’t let the ‘portable’ in portable picture scanner fool you. It is actually as sharp and efficient (or even better) as your dedicated full-fledged photo scanner in your office or home. The NuLife Full Page Picture Scanner scans all kinds of photos you have that you want digitized, from your IDs to your album pictures to your enlarged (up to 8.5″ X 11″) photographs. Of course, you can also turn into digital files even non-photo files such as receipts, business cards, notes, cheques, term papers, and other documents. Since it can stand alone without need of a computer, you can bring it up to your attic where the boxes of pictures are, instead of you hauling all those boxes of old photographs downstairs.

What users like about the Nulife Full Page Picture Scanner is that you don’t need to be connected to a PC to scan anything. Of course, you can also get it connected to the PC if you want to have the scanned material savse directly to the PC’s hard drive instead of the SC Card on the photo scanner. After every scan, a preview is shown on the LCD screen on the scanner where you get immediate feedback if your document or photo has been scanned properly. Or, after scanning a lot of pictures and documents, you can play back and see all that you have scanned so far. It’s got a zoom feature where you can check really closely how the details were scanned.

Full Page Picture Scanner

The ‘Full Page’ term means you can scan photos and just about any document up to as big as 8.5″ X 11″ (the size of a short bond paper or A4). So, you can feed your diploma, business cards, A4-sized posters, flyers, etc. All you do is feed them, and with a simple single touch they all get digitized into jpeg format.

Portability is unquestioned judging by its size and light weight. You can just toss it into a bag and carry it wherever, whenever.

In terms of support, the NuLife Full Page Picture Scanner’s maker provides 7-days a week toll free phone-in and online web support. Online, they present tutorials and webinars on how to use the product efficiently. These all worked to bring customer satisfaction for the product up over 90%.

Video: NuLife Full Page Picture Scanner

Click on center of blank box below to watch video

GET YOUR portable full page picture scanner here.

Here’s one testimony of a satisfied user:
[note]
This GiiNii picture scanner is one of those objects that you didn’t realize you needed until you actually do try it. I have hundreds of old pictures, prom shots, Hollywood days (and nights), beach pictures, etc. that have sat in a big box in my garage until now. I am strangely obsessed with the preservation of all my old pictures thanks to this invaluable little device. It is so unbelievably easy to use that my 89-year-old dad was scanning old World War II pictures last night. All you need is a memory SD card (I used a 4gb size). That’s it. No computer to hook up or anything. Simply turn it on and start feeding the pictures or documents into it. It works fairly quickly and the pictures are remarkably clear…just as nice as the originals.
[/note]

This portable full page picture scanner is available here.

Other Picture Scanners

Amazon.com Widgets

February 28, 2011

Fujitsu S1500 Automatic Photo-Document Scanner

In the category of automatic photo scanners / document scanner with feeder sorted according to the ‘best selling’, the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 Sheet-Fed Scanner for PC tops them all at Amazon.

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 is a better and even more enhanced version of its predecessor, the S510. The thing only has one (1) button, the SCAN button. This button scans whatever (whatever document, whatever size) you put in the automatic feeder, and automatically saves them into a pdf document and delivers best quality, whatever the setting you use. The following are the major features of this automatic photo and document scanner:

One button (‘SCAN’) searchable PDF creation

Outputs great quality PDF or JPEG documents.

amazingly intelligent paper feed detection and scans both sides of document automatically

Automatic page size detection
Automatically detects document type (color, b/w, grayscale)
Automatic de-skewing and cropping
Automatic Content-based Rotation
Automatically detects a variety of page sizes (intermixed in a stack) and automatically increase scanning resolution where it is needed

super fast 20 pages per minute color scanning

Scan thousands of pages in a day. Quick scanning, sans the lamp warm up delay.

50-page Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)
Bundled with Adobe® Acrobat® 9 Standard

Acrobat 9 Standard enables password protection and digital ID creation in your scanned documents thus confidential data are secured on PDF files. Pdf documents of the scanned material are searchable and edittable.

Other applications bundled with this scanner are: CardMinder, Abby FineReader, and ScanSnap Organizer.

Great Fujitsu service and support

And comes with one year limited warranty.

You can check out lots more information and find out why there are so many very positive responses/reviews from buyers of this automatic photo and document scanner here.

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500. More information

The Deluxe Bundle Version:

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 Delux Bundle. More information

For Macintosh:

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500. More information

September 22, 2010November 26, 2011

Kodak Automatic Photo Scanner

Kodak s1220 Automatic Photo Scanner | Kodak PS810 Fast Photo Scanner

kodak s1220 automatic photo scanner

Kodak gives an automatic photo scanner that puts the “P” in photo.

The Kodak s1220 Automatic Photo Scanner

While an automatic photo scanner with feeder may be able to scan photographs, most of them are usually designed as regular scanners made primarily to scan documents (first) and also scan pictures, too. The Kodak s1220 Photo Scanner is a scanner that was designed to scan primarily pictures, but is also able to scan documents. If you have had your pictures scanned by scanning services before, chances are those scanner services were using this model.

With the Kodak Kodak s1220 Photo Scanner, you can just stack all your photos, with the stack consisting of an assortment of sizes, and let the machine do its work. You may want to set the feeder timeout value to something bigger than its default 1 second so that you can have time to just adjust a piece that can possibly get caught, without need of clicking the ‘resume’ button afterwards.

Another cool thing is that it can do both single and double-sided scanning, with no noticeable difference in speed. So, if you have documents with contents on both sides, you can have it scanned with just one pass, and you may also save it in pdf form. And wait till you see what the automatic straightening feature can do to pictures that get in the feeder slanted or skewed. You’ll really appreciate this automatic photo scanner with feeder from Kodak.

While this photo scanner may cost just a little bit more than any regular automatic photo scanners in the market, it does deliver its promises, thus making it a worthwhile investment on your part.

Kodak Automatic Photo Scanner Specs

Dimensions:
width: 13″
depth: 6.4″
height: 9.7″
weight: 12.1 lbs

Media max. size: 8.5″ x 34″

Color depth: 48-bit color
Color depth (external): 24-bit (16.7 million colors)
Optical Resolution: 600 dpi x 600 dpi
Scan element type: dual ccd
Lamp/Light source type: cold cathode flourescent lamp
Max Document Scan speed: 30 pages/minute
Connectivity: Hi-speed USB TYPE B

Software Included: KODAK Capture Software Lite
OS Required: Microsoft Windows Vista/2000/XP

Voltage: 120/230 V AC
Power Consumption: 40 Watt / Standby: 6watts

What Others Are Saying About the Kodak Photo Scanner

—
“For photographs I have “fed” the scanner an assorted mix of photo sizes and have seen some of the smaller prints go through skewed – but with AUTOMATIC STRAIGHTENING by the scanning software the end result is everything I need.”
—
“Upsides: Good quality scans at reasonable resolution very quickly with NO HASSLE.”

“Downside: Expensive, software simple and is limited to bulks scanning. Requires Windows so I had to bootcamp my Mac.”
—

Get to know more information, specifications and reviews straight from amazon: Kodak s1220 Photo Scanner.

Or, you can go directly to the source:The Kodak Store.

UPDATE:
+

The Kodak PS810 Fast Photo Scanner

At 65 photos per minute, this has got to be one fast photo scanner with automatic feeder. Watch this video and see 2 photo scanners compete for speed, then you decide.

You can get this at amazon at this link: [wpPopWizard item_id=kswppw_in1ine clickthru=http://moralde.com/kodak-ps810 newwindow=yes inltext=”<p>Fast Photo Scanner: Kodak PS810</p>” ]KODAK-PS810[/wpPopWizard]

August 27, 2010January 12, 2013

Automatic Photo Scanner Picks

An automatic photo scanner is a scanner that can scan multiple photos, documents, or even business cards through a feeder and can work with minimum manual intervention. Featured here is the Epson Perfection 2480 Limited Edition.

Featured Automatic Photo Scanner

Epson Perfection 2480 Limited Edition Scanner with Feeder

Quickly scan stacks of 4″ x 6″ photos or business cards. The Epson Perfection 2480 Limited Edition can be used to automatically scan documents, images and even slides and negatives. With a resolution of 2400 x 4800 dpi, it delivers consistently brilliant results. This automatic photo scanner package consists of the Epson Perfection 2480 and the Multi Photo/Business Card Feeder (see details below), which makes scanning multiple photos or documents very convenient and efficient without sacrificing quality. The Epson Perfection 2480 Limited Edition set bundles with it the Epson Easy Photo Fix for one-touch color restoration of faded photos, slides and negatives. Connectivity is through Hi-Speed USB 2.0.

The best reviews are those that come from satisfied customers who have used the product for a time:

“This automatic photo scanner itself produces very nice scans and is a competent piece of hardware. The real gem however is the feeder lid which has made the scanning of my collection of photos a breeze. No jams, no damage to the photos, and no hassle. Just drop a batch of up to 25 photos in the feeder mechanism and then go have a snack while the scanner does all the work. The included software does everything you need it to do – adjust color, crop, rotate, or remove red-eye – all with an easy to use interface.”

“I’ve been looking for an automatic photo scanner since I began – one with a photo sheet feeder. When I saw this one, I gave it a shot.

It works incredibly well. The photo feeder will pull up to 24 pics, scan, process, and eject them. You can define the folders and the scan quality for the process. With good condition photos, I have not had a single jam – very impressive.

Some photos I have were in albums, and after peeling them off, were curled. The feeder did take these in too, but with only occassional jamming.

The automatic feeder in general though is very impressive.

The process is not very fast – maybe about a minute or so per print. So this is not something to sit and wait for. Do something else and then come back to add prints, or set it up to do a stack at night.

The scan qualities are very good. Color and sharpness are fine. The quality of the scan is dependent on the quality of the original of course.

I’ve also scanned using the flat bed – this works very well too. If you put multiple prints on the glass, and separate them with some space, the software will recognize them and scan them in as separate images.”

Get more information and current price here: Epson Perfection 2480 Limited Edition Scanner with Feeder

Epson Automatic PHOTO AND BUSINESS CARD Scanner

In case you already have an existing Epson Perfection Scanner (2480, 2580, 3490 or 3590), you can turn it into an automatic photo scanner by coupling it with the Epson PHOTO AND BUSINESS CARD FEEDER.

This is a multi-photo/business card feeder that works perfectly with Epson Perfection 2480, Epson Perfection 2580, Epson Perfection 3490, Epson Perfection 3590. Scans a stack of up to 24 4″ x 6″ photos or business cards.

Some satisfied customer reviews:

1000 Scans and No Jams
I purchased an epson perfection 2480 automatic photo scanner a couple of years ago and after having scanned more than 1000 photos over the last several weeks, I am convinced that this is the best of its kind (automatic photo scanner with feeder) in the market. I also have an HP photo scanner which routinely jams, the software freezes up, and numerous reboots are required. Not so with this scanner and feeder. It takes up to 30 photos of the same size, and scans them without a hitch. The software is adequate and provides enough flexibility as to the types of scans (whether photographs or business cards) that you can adjust for your preferences. Easy to use, works great!

3000 pictures and counting
This automatic photo scanner feeder is so great I must post a review. I have scanned over 3,000 pictures with this feeder and my Espon 3490 scanner in about a month. The process is simple. You put pictures in the scanner, press the button, and come back later and you photos are scanned in. It scans about 10 per hour. The speed depends on your computer’s power since it uses you CPU to adjust the scan. If you have an Espon scanner that works with this feeder it is a must buy.

I’ll second that 5 star review
Works like a charm. A little bit slow but by far a better solution than scanning by hand. Remember to wipe the dust off of the flatbed after each batch.

Get more information and current price here: Epson Automatic PHOTO AND BUSINESS CARD Scanner

Did you find this post helpful? Please comment below.

Source of above reviews: Amazon. Slightly reworded.