Best way to scan a lot of photos
So you or a family member have a closet with boxes full of old photos or slides and are dying to have them scanned because having a backup is essential in case of disaster. There is no doubt this is a monumental task and that’s the reason many people don’t even start. But you are now determined now to scan all these photos and slides but have no idea how to start. Well, let us try to help you find the best way to scan a lot of photos.
There are several ways to go about digitizing your old printed photo or slide collection. The three ways we suggest you consider are :
- Scanning photo service –send or take your photos for someone else to scan your photos for you
- Scanner – buy a scanner and scan all the photos, slides, negatives yourself
- Cell phone – use apps to digitize all your old photos, negatives, and slides
What helps you determine which route you take usually depends on how many photos you have, how much time you are willing to dedicate to this task, and how much money you are willing to spend. Therefore no matter which avenue you take it will take some time and patience.
Scanning photo service:
This is probably the best and easiest way to scan all your old photos. The big reason everybody doesn’t go this route is because of cost. But going this route will save you a ton of time. There are pretty much 3 different ways to have someone scan all your photos
Online scanning photo service:
Basically how it works is you choose which size box you want. They send the box with pre-paid shipping labels. You then fill up the box with your photos, slides, negatives, etc and ship it back to the company. They then clean up and scan what you send them and save it to a flash drive, hard drive, DVD and then ship that along with your items back to you. Most importantly is that their technicians are experienced as this is their full time job whereas big box stores they have other jobs to do to keep busy.
If you have a lot of items to be scanned this can get quite pricey as it can cost from around $.20 to $.80 and up a picture depending on what you want done to them. If you don’t want to spend too much money at one time you can break up the amount the items that you send at one time. Then when more funds become available you can send more pictures to be scanned. A lot of these online photo scanning companies also give discounts per photo if you spend a certain amount or have a certain amount of pictures.
You do save a ton of time as usually the only time it takes from you is putting the pictures in the box and putting them back in place when received. Well there is taking the box to be shipped if necessary also. Therefore if time is more important than money this is definitely the way to go. Some of the top online scanning photo services are Memories Renewed, DigMyPics, GoPhoto, ScanCafe.
Pros:
- Easy process
- Save time and money
- Quality of work
Cons:
- Potential shipping issues can cause loss of items
Big Box Store:
Stores such as Walmart, Costco, Walgreens all have photo scanning services as well. Some have devices where you can do it yourself and some have staff that will do it for you. So pretty much what you do is gather all your photos put them in a box or storage container and take them with you to the physical store.
Prices for photos scanning are around the same or a little cheaper than the online companies offer. One big difference is that they don’t offer discounts for bulk photos like some of the online companies do. People have complained about quality from a lot of the big box stores as what you get depends on personnel. If you get someone inexperienced then you may not get the quality you were looking for. They also may not do a lot of the cleanup to the photos that the online companies provide.
It will probably take a little bit more time taking your photos to a big box store because of the lines or just waiting for the technician to finish. But it shouldn’t be too big of an issue because you can multi-task by shopping at the big box store for your regular purchases as you wait.
Pros:
- Easy process
- Save time and money
Cons:
- Quality of work up in air depending on technician
Mobile Scanning service:
You may have seen someone advertise their services in a classified ad. If you can find someone reputable this could be a great way to go. As with any service offered it’s important you get someone reputable with experience. Your old photos are valuable and irreplaceable therefore you want someone who knows what they are doing handling them. They need to have good equipment and know how to operate it because no wants torn or creased photos.
Prices should be comparable to both online companies and big box stores. Therefore cost shouldn’t be a determining factor. Things to look for is if the company is actually registered business, have insurance, have any references you can check.
This could be the most time consuming scanning service available though. Even though the company is mobile and comes to you it will take a lot of your time. This will take a lot of your time because you have to be in the vicinity of the area when the technician is scanning your photos. Unless you totally trust a stranger in your house you want to keep close just in case. You can find mobile scanning services in classified ads, Craigslist, or even on Amazon now with their Amazon Home services.
Pros:
- Prices comparable or cheaper
- Mobile they come to you
Cons:
- Quality of work up in air depending on technician
- Have to have a stranger in the house
- Risk: insured? Legit company?
Using a DIY Approach Scan the Pictures yourself with scanner:
If you don’t have the trust to send your precious photos away or trust someone else handling them then buying a quality scanner is the way to go. A word of caution is that this will take a very long time if you don’t buy a high end scanner. If you have 1000’s of photos and don’t want to spend the money having someone else do it, buying a high-end scanner therefore will still be the cheaper option. Think about it with some quick math. Average cost per photo is probably around $.50 per photo having someone else do it. Buying a consumer rated high end scanner will probably cost $400-800 depending on needs and features. Say you have 5000 photos it would cost $2500 for someone else to do it while buying a really good scanner would cost between $400-800 plus the time it takes performing the scans.
You can save even more money by buying just a regular flatbed scanner. You can find scanners that will scan high resolution pictures for under $100. If you have slides and negatives expect to spend between $100-200. Keep in mind though that these lower end scanners can be painfully slow. Therefore taking a ton of your personal time. A tip that could save you time is that you can scan multiple photos at a time and then crop them later to separate them.
Take a look at our suggestions on scanners if you plan on buying one:
Our pick for best budget photo scanner:
Epson Perfection V39 photo Scanner
Features/Benefits
- High-quality scanning for photos and documents – 4800 dpi optical resolution for amazing clarity and detail
- Preserve priceless memories – operating temperature is 50 degree Fahrenheit to 95 degree Fahrenheit
- Scan to Facebook, Google Drive and other cloud services – Epson Document Capture Pro and Easy Photo Scan software included. Scanning Speed: Color 300 dpi approximately 10 seconds (via USB 2.0) and Color 600 dpi approximately 30 seconds (via USB 2.0).
- Easy-to-use buttons – for simple scan jobs, plus a space-saving built-in kickstand for vertical placement.
Our pick for best photo, slide, negatives scanner:
Epson Perfection V600 Color Photo, Image, Film, Negative & Document Scanner
Features/Benefits
- Create enlargements from film — 6400 x 9600 dpi for enlargements up to 17″ x 22″
- Scan slides, negatives and medium–format panoramic film — built-in Transparency Unit
- Remove the appearance of tears and creases from damaged photos — DIGITAL ICE for Prints
- Remove the appearance of dust and scratches from film — DIGITAL ICE for Film
- Restore faded color photos with one touch — Epson Easy Photo Fix included
- Achieve greater productivity — convert scanned documents into editable text with ABBYY FineReader Sprint Plus OCR
- Quickly complete any task — instantly scan, copy, scan-to-email and create PDFs with four customizable buttons
- Energy-efficient LED for fast scans — exclusive ReadyScan LED light source means no warmup time, faster scans and lower power consumption
- Take your photos further — Arcsoft Photostudio included, to help edit and enhance your digital images
- Weight and Dimensions (W x D x H) — Weight: 9.0 lb, Dimensions: 11″ x 19″ x 4.6″
Our pick for best high-end scanner:
Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-speed Photo and Document Scanning System
Features/Benefits
- World’s Fastest Personal Photo Scanner — scan thousands of photos as fast as 1 photo per second at 300 dpi.
- Preserve Your Priceless Photos — SafeTouch Technology for worry-free scanning up to 8.5″ wide, plus postcards, Polaroid photos and panoramas.
- Second-Generation Epson FastFoto Software — Scan, Restore, Organize and Share precious memories; offers intelligent file organization tools.
- Flexible Scanning — offers modes for easy sharing (300 dpi), archiving (600 dpi TIFF) and enlarging (1200 dpi); handles multiple sizes in one batch.
- Powerful Document Scanning — includes Epson ScanSmart Software with OCR; scan receipts, tax records, wills and more, up to 45 ppm/90 ipm.
Using a DIY Approach Scan the Pictures yourself with cell phone apps:
The last way to scan all your old personal or family photos is to use your cellphone. Using your cellphone to scan has several advantages as well as several disadvantages. Therefore it is up to you to see what is most important to you.
Advantages:
- Cheapest option available
- Free Apps available
- don’t need much space
- can share quickly to social media
Disadvantages:
- Very time consuming
- Need to find a place with good lighting
- low resolution
- can’t scan slides or negatives
We would suggest you only choose to use your cell phone to scan your old photos if you have little to no budget or you only have a handful of photos to scan. The best thing about using a cell phone app to scan your photos is the ability to quickly share on social media your photos. The big downside by using a cell phone app besides time is the low resolution of the scan.
Some of the popular or best rated photo apps are Photo Scan by Google, Photo Scanner, Pic Scanner, Memories. Some are free but some have a cost but are usually under $5. So if you have the time and don’t care too much about the resolution of the photo you can scan your old photos for pretty much free.
Summary
There is no one way that is best to scan a lot of photos. If you have to weigh the benefits and downfalls of each method and choose what’s best for your situation. Therefore we are going to list considerations for each method and you can choose what method is best for you.
Online scanning service – consider using this if your personal time is a big factor and you have a fairly large budget.
Big box store – consider using this if you don’t want to ship your photos and your photos are in good condition.
Mobile photo scanning service – consider using this if you get good recommendations on service and have the time to being in the vicinity when the work is being done.
DIY scanner – consider this route if you have budget concerns and a decent amount of time available and want a high resolution photo.
DIY cell phone app – consider this route if you have pretty much no budget, a lot of free time, and want to share photos quickly on social media.