fastest option to scan a few hundred photos and negatives?

[iandouglas736]

Hey all,

After a few decades of 35mm use, I made the switch to digital in about
2001/2002 and never looked back. Now I've got hundreds and hundreds of
printed photographs and a fistful of negatives that I'd like to scan.

However, Windows XP being what it is (buggy and prone to crashes),
along with my aging USB Canon CanoScan D1250U2F, I'm having a tough
time, since the flatbed scanner will only scan 4 photos at a time. I
initially bought it for its negative scanning feature but find its
quality is less-than-ideal.

I'm curious if anyone can recommend a service where to send my photos
and negatives to be scanned into digital format and sent back with a
DVD (or two, depending on scan quality and how many photos I send).

Thanks,
Ian

 

[Bob AZ]

However, Windows XP being what it is (buggy and prone to crashes),
along with my aging USB Canon CanoScan D1250U2F, I'm having a tough
time, since the flatbed scanner will only scan 4 photos at a time. I
initially bought it for its negative scanning feature but find its
quality is less-than-ideal.

If your present scanner is SCSI then there is a solution to the
shortcomings of XP and SCSI.

Bob AZ

 

[iandouglas736]

If your present scanner is SCSI then there is a solution to the
shortcomings of XP and SCSI.

No, current scanner is USB. XP Media Center edition is flaky, plus the
scanner's getting old. Years ago, I had an actual photo scanner, where
you plunk down a stack of photos and it would feed them through one at
a time and scan them, but it broke after a few weeks of use, and
bought it as a refurbished unit and couldn't get it replaced (store
only had one, it was a demo model), and have never seen anything like
it since. I just don't have the time or energy to personally sit down
and scan 4 photos at a time into a graphics application, crop out each
photo, save them all individually, rinse and repeat.

I'd love to either find a self-feeding photo scanner or a service
where I can package up this whole box of stuff and have someone else
do it... figure I'll need to budget about the same amount of money,
but have never seen another scanner device dedicated solely to
scanning photographs. The little gizmo I had before would scan up to
5x7 photos in a few seconds per photo. Since my primary machine is a
Linux box, I could have just let the Windows machine work away at a
stack of photos every evening and be done, but not sure what to do
now.

Any other ideas?

 

[Dave]

No, current scanner is USB. XP Media Center edition is flaky, plus the
scanner's getting old. Years ago, I had an actual photo scanner, where
you plunk down a stack of photos and it would feed them through one at
a time and scan them, but it broke after a few weeks of use, and
bought it as a refurbished unit and couldn't get it replaced (store
only had one, it was a demo model), and have never seen anything like
it since. I just don't have the time or energy to personally sit down
and scan 4 photos at a time into a graphics application, crop out each
photo, save them all individually, rinse and repeat.

I'd love to either find a self-feeding photo scanner or a service
where I can package up this whole box of stuff and have someone else
do it... figure I'll need to budget about the same amount of money,
but have never seen another scanner device dedicated solely to
scanning photographs. The little gizmo I had before would scan up to
5x7 photos in a few seconds per photo. Since my primary machine is a
Linux box, I could have just let the Windows machine work away at a
stack of photos every evening and be done, but not sure what to do
now.

Any other ideas?

Hi Ian,

Guess you weren't interested in my E-Mail offer??

Regards,
Dave

 

[thomas.c.monego]

No, current scanner is USB. XP Media Center edition is flaky, plus the
scanner's getting old. Years ago, I had an actual photo scanner, where
you plunk down a stack of photos and it would feed them through one at
a time and scan them, but it broke after a few weeks of use, and
bought it as a refurbished unit and couldn't get it replaced (store
only had one, it was a demo model), and have never seen anything like
it since. I just don't have the time or energy to personally sit down
and scan 4 photos at a time into a graphics application, crop out each
photo, save them all individually, rinse and repeat.

I'd love to either find a self-feeding photo scanner or a service
where I can package up this whole box of stuff and have someone else
do it... figure I'll need to budget about the same amount of money,
but have never seen another scanner device dedicated solely to
scanning photographs. The little gizmo I had before would scan up to
5x7 photos in a few seconds per photo. Since my primary machine is a
Linux box, I could have just let the Windows machine work away at a
stack of photos every evening and be done, but not sure what to do
now.

Any other ideas?

www.imagers.com (in the US).
Look at the Epson V700, and excellent flatbed that will take 12 slides
at a time. That is a good number for not having to have a lot of
memory to do your scanning if you are using high resolution. You can
get a Nikon LS5000 with a 50 slide feeder, but that is a lot of slides
to feed in. Both scanners are USB. I have SCSI set up on 3 XP machines
and don't have a problem, it is a question of having the correct
drivers on setup.

Tom