Best bulk photo scanner I found
To get straight to the point the best bulk photo scanner with auto-feed that I found was the Epson FastFoto FF-680W. It is the fastest consumer photo scanner on the market currently and can hold the most photos at 36. The downside to this scanner is that it’s quite pricey. Continue reading on why I feel this is the best bulk photo scanner on the market and the best way to scan a whole lot of old photos.
My experience scanning photos
Here is a funny story about my experience scanning old family photos. Since I am the only tech savvy person in the family and I work in the IT field, I naturally have these tasks pushed my way . My mom likes to take and collect photos from other members of the extended family. Because of this, there was 10 big plastic totes full of photos that I had to digitize.
Maybe it wasn’t the smartest decision but I agreed to this monumental task. I already had an all-in-one printer and figured I would just scan all the photos with the scanner I already had. So I started out scanning one photo at a time but that was taking way to long. After some quick thinking I figured I would scan 4 photos at a time and then crop them later with software. Even after this genius idea, it was taking way too much time and attention.
What was the best solution to scan all these old photos?
So I therefore took a break and brainstormed. Briefly looked at sending out photos to an online photo service but didn’t want to spend that much money and also risk losing my mom’s photos in the mail. I then remembered that at work they used to have a scanner with automatic feed that would scan a stack of documents automatically. They did this because it digitized all the paperwork employees signed thus giving them easier access to these documents when needed. So now I needed to find a photo scanner with automatic feeder. Therefore I would just have to load the photos into the tray and be free to do something else while the photos scan. Most importantly I could also use this scanner to digitize other family member’s photos as well.
Yes I did complete scanning all my mom’s old photos. I gradually completed the task over several months but found it worth because of the following reasons.
- Got to ask my mom about photos I had questions on
- Saved money over using a photo service
- I didn’t have to devote my full attention to the scanner because I would just load a stack of photos and go off and do something else
- Can scan or show other family members how to digitize their photos
Because I like to get the best quality product for the best price I usually do research before I buy a big ticket item. I thought sharing my experience and my research might help some others who are willing to take the DIY scan approach. What was best for me may not be best for you therefore read through what I found or take a look at another guide on the best way to scan a lot photos.
Issues looking for bulk photo scanners
The big issue I found when doing the research on bulk auto-feed photo scanners is that there just aren’t that many products to choose from. Almost all photo scanners with automatic feeders were either single feed or only supported multiple documents instead of multiple photos. My whole goal was to load a stack of photos in the tray and have them scan automatically.
Therefore after the research what I discovered was that most photo scanners are flatbed scanners. Most auto-feed multiple document scanners main function is for scanning paper therefore although these machines support photo scanning they weren’t designed for it. What I mean by this is that you can scan your photos with the scanner but because the rollers aren’t really designed for photos you can potentially have issues with photos getting stuck or bending.
There must be a bulk photo scanner with auto-feed on the market
After extensive research I found only one bulk photo scanner with auto feed that I could just put photos in the tray and let it go. The scanner I found was the Epson FastFoto FF-680W which is designed for this very purpose. I did find a couple of alternatives with the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 and the Epson PHOTO AND BUSINESS CARD FEEDER B12B813372 which is an attachment that goes on a Epson scanner that you have to buy separately. I will walk you through my thought process and why I chose the Epson FastFoto FF-680W.
The Epson FastFoto FF-680W versus the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500
Epson FastFoto FF-680W
Scanner Overview
The Epson FastFoto FF-680W is a versatile home scanner. Not only does it have the ability to scan bulk photos but it also can scan documents decently as well. Therefore this scanner won’t become irrelevant once you have completed scanning your photo collection. Most bulk scanners on the market are document scanners therefore scanning a lot of photos is not ideal. Therefore the Epson FF-680W is different as its main function is a photo scanner.
Epson claims this bulk scanner is the “world’s fastest personal photo scanner.” They also state that it takes around 1 sec for a photo to scan at 300 dpi and 3 sec for 600 dpi. Although I didn’t time my scans I would have to say it was pretty close to those estimations without taking into consideration warm up time and save time. I did the process enough to know it took around 2 minutes to scan a batch of 36 photos (which is the max photos tray can hold) and save them all. If I had to guess I would say the scanning portion took anywhere from 45-50 seconds for the 36 photos, but like I said before I didn’t actually time it so take it with a grain of salt.
Scanner Software
The Epson FastFoto FF-680W comes with some useful software called FastFoto Software. In the Fastfoto software you can rotate, crop, enhance or restore images as well as correct red-eye problems. When you first initiate a scan the software gives the option to create subfolders named by your choice of time reference such as year, decade, month, season. You can choose these from a pull down menu and at the same time you can enter descriptive text such as “2018_Summer_beach_Malibu”. FastFoto also allows you to upload images directly to sites such as Dropbox and Google Drive.
In the software settings is where you can set your resolution at either 300 dpi or 600 dpi. From here you can also opt for an enhanced scan, which applies FastFoto’s automatic enhancement. When the scan is done, thumbnails of the images in your batch appear in FastFoto’s main pane. This is where you can do even more enhancements or photo edits. Besides that with the FastFoto software you can also scan other documents and graphics the same way as the photos. I didn’t really test these features too much as I opted to keep most of the defaults and I was pretty satisfied with the results.
What I liked
- Quickly scans stacks of photo prints
- Quality was good for my tastes
- Decent as a document scanner.
- Size was not overbearing
What I didn’t like
- Somewhat pricey
- Auto correction can be off on bright photos
Watch Video of this bulk scanner in action
My Take on the Epson FastFoto FF-680W bulk photo scanner
This scanner definitely met all my needs. Therefore my advice is if you have huge stacks of photos that need to be scanned this scanner is perfect to handle that easily. If you only have a few hundred or even a few thousand photos my suggestion would be to go a cheaper route and either look for a single feed photo scanner or buy a flatbed scanner. When doing research many people mention that they buy this scanner to complete their massive photo scanning project and then sale on ebay or offerup to cut the price down even more. Keep in mind though if you scan other documents or you archive other family members photos like I plan to do then you can get further use out of this bulk photo scanner.
Another way to save some money is to buy the older release of this scanner. The Epson FastFoto FF-640 is very similar machine with the main difference being the top resolution is only 600 dpi while the Epson FastFoto FF-680W has a top resolution of 1200 dpi. Not much difference in speed or quality either.
Click Here for Current Price and Customer Reviews for the Epson FastFoto FF-680W
Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500
Scanner Overview
While I don’t have first hand knowledge of the Fujitsu FI-7160 I will share my research results. During my research I saw mention of this scanner doing an adequate job scanning photos by several people in reviews and message boards. Looking into it further reveals that this scanner is an awesome document scanner and would blow away the Epson FastFoto FF-680W if we were just comparing document scanning. Unfortunately customers have mixed results when it comes to just photo scanning. Many state that photo quality is sub par while a minority state that the result is good. Besides that the majority agreed that this would make a great document scanner and would make a passable photo scanner.
Fujitsu states this scanner has Intelligent scan correction. This performs a quick quality check on your scans including auto color detection, auto rotation for upside down documents, and blank page removal. Besides that the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 directly integrates with Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive so you can access your files from anywhere.
What I liked from Research
- Fast accurate scans
- Creates searchable PDF
- Small device
- Duplex scanning and color scanning are both very fast.
- Very easy to clear paper jams
- Detects overlapping pages extremely well
What I didn’t like from Research
- Downloading new software from Fujitsu can be difficult.
- Has problems with really small receipts and odd shaped business cards.
- NO TWAIN/WIA scanner drivers so can only use with provided software.
- Average photo scanning quality.
- Sometimes problems connecting to more than one workstation
- A little pricey for a document scanner
Watch Video of this bulk scanner in action
My Take on the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 bulk photo scanner
The Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 by almost all accounts is an excellent document scanner. If you have just a handful of pictures and a lot of documents, business cards, receipts to scan this would be a great device to own. This machine is a bit pricey though and you might want to look at a few other document scanners to see if there is a better value out there. Besides that also keep in mind this scanner has no TWAIN/WIA scanner drivers therefore you will have to use the software it comes with because most other software require either TWAIN or WIA.
For my needs of scanning a lot of photos , this bulk scanner just didn’t have what I was looking for. From the reviews, customers stated although this scanner could scan the pictures fast the quality was just average and even below average at times. If I didn’t have as many photos and have more documents that needed to be scanned I would have strongly considered this scanner since it’s a bit cheaper than the Epson FastFoto FF-680W.
Click Here for Current Price and Customer Reviews for Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500
Alternative potential option
While performing research I even came across another alternative. This alternative requires you to buy a scanner and then buy a separate attachment to bulk scan your photos.
Epson PHOTO AND BUSINESS CARD FEEDER B12B813372
The Epson Photo and business card feeder is a scanner attachment that will allow you to scan a stack of 24 photos. According to limited reviews this device is not the fastest but does it’s intended job.
What I liked from Research
- Price even with the cost of buying additional scanner is less than other bulk scanners reviewed above
- Does a good job scanning photos and doesn’t jam a lot
- Can scan bulk photos (24 at a time)
What I didn’t like from Research
- Included software leaves a lot to be desired.
- Compatible scanners are discontinued.
- Much bigger size with scanner than previous two scanners reviewed above.
Compatible Epson Scanners (these are all discontinued but can still purchase at some places)
My Take on the Epson PHOTO AND BUSINESS CARD FEEDER bulk photo scanner attachment
The Epson photo and business card feeder attachment from research is a decent enough device for scanning photos. Problem is that all the photo scanners its compatible with are now discontinued. If you can find or buy a Epson Perfection 2480 or 2580 you can can save quite a bit of money over the bulk scanners I reviewed above. On the other hand if you can only find a Epson Perfection 3490 or 3590 then I don’t feel the cost savings is enough to justify buying the scanner and attachment.
Even though the bulk scanner attachment with scanner could meet my needs, I felt that after scanning all my photos that I wouldn’t have much use for the flatbed scanner. Also the scanners are much larger in size than the Epson FastFoto FF-680W and Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500. Your situation could be different so I thought I would share my discoveries.
Click Here for Current Price and Customer Reviews for Epson Photo Feeder
Final Analysis on Best Bulk Photo Scanner
The Epson FastFoto FF-680W really stood out from the crowd when comparing the best bulk photo scanners. For personal use photo scanners this is by far the best and fastest scanner on the market. You would therefore have to spend thousands of dollars to buy a commercial photo scanner like they have at the big box stores to get better quality when bulk scanning. Although very pricey this photo scanner can actually save you money if you have a lot of photos to scan. Therefore I highly recommend the Epson FastFoto FF-680W bulk photo scanner if your primary goal is scan a lot of photos.
The Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 is an excellent document scanner that is very fast. Customers do state that photo scan quality is just average and the software that comes with the scanner could be better. If your primary job is to scan documents, receipts, business cards then this scanner would be perfect. I passed on this scanner because my primary job was to scan a lot of photos.
Lastly the Epson PHOTO AND BUSINESS CARD FEEDER is an adequate attachment that allows you to scan photos in bulk. Primary reason I didn’t pursue this route is that all the compatible scanners are discontinued. Although its fairly easy to find these scanners I didn’t feel there was enough benefit by going this route. I didn’t save enough time or money to make this worth it for me. Like I have stated many times before your situation could be different for you and if it is I hope this article is helpful for you.