Reddit mentions: The best office scanners & accessories

Some ideas that have worked well for me/others:

Aging Parents - Kind of expensive (fluctuates a ton) but if you have a parent with a ton of photos who talks about scanning them all in someday, this scanner is fantastic. I have the older version and it's literally so easy to use that even my mom and dad could figure it out when I let them borrow it. Not a great bulk doc scanner but exactly what you need for photos. Pair with a case like this to store the originals in and you've done a great deed.

Newlyweds- If they don't have specific interests, a picnic blanket goes over well. I have the one linked and it's nice for the cheap price. Pair with some wine, maybe some other picnic accessories. I'm also giving a minted gift for a custom designed print for wedding photos to my brother/new sister-in-law.

Teens- Move beyond the selfie stick - some phone lenses go a long way, get a self timer for the phone, or a PowerCore. The powercore isn't sexy but super loved by all. I usually hit up BaubleBar or Sephora for deals too.

Handyman- I shoved this cheap light in my husband's stocking last year and he loves it. It's super handy.

Homebody- This is out of stock in the best size right now but it always comes back in. It is the softest blanket ever, doesn't shed, and we bought them for every room of the house.

Dog- What dog doesn't love bully sticks? A good deal, really good quality and my dogs have loved them.

On my wishlist- A milk frother, The Food Lab cookbook, a magnetic pincushion, maybe some Ugg slippers, a bunch of Etsy art and Essie gel couture nail polish. Debating a special purchase for myself with a bonus I received, I'm thinking a camera for a big trip coming up if I can find the right holiday deal.

I personally think the VSCO presets are great and I have a few reasons for this:

• The cost of film keeps rising and it's not easy to justify $8USD every time you want to shoot a roll of Portra 400 or $11USD every time you want to shoot 36 frames of Fuji Pro 400H.
  
  
• The stock of filming is depleting. As the demand for film decreases, the cost goes up. And long with that, the realization that this medium is not going to last forever. Can a person really justify the cost of a good film camera when we are worried about its future?
  
  
• Along with the cost of film, you have the cost of AND RISK of developing film. Mom and pop shops that develop film are scarce and as a result, the only place we can develop are the drug stores that are few and far between. Even these businesses don't see it in their best interest to keep their machines for long. The risk comes when you have some new hire at the store who is clueless about using the machine and can screw up the development of your film.
  
  
• The last part to sharing your film shots come when you have to scan them via a scanner. Film photos and prints are absolutely beautiful when done right but if you want to share them with friends, you need to have a scanner (good ones aren't that expensive) which uses a CCD sensor to scan the images. So when you digitize the images (unless you're using a high quality scanner), you run into the problem you had in the first place, which is wanting the feel of film. Because now you've used a DSLR or scanner sensor to digitize the film. Which does remove some of its aesthetic. So what's the solution? Buy a $500 scanner just for film? Who can justify the cost when, as I said above, the stock is dwindling and expensive.
  
  So let's concretize this:
  
  Decent quality camera at a trusted online source - $65
  
  Decent quality lens at a trusted online source - $47
  
  5-pack of Kodak Portra 400 at a popular online film photography website - $40 ($8 per roll)
  
  Average cost of developing at a drug store near me in Chicago - $5 per roll ($25 for the 5-pack (180 shots) you shot)
  
  Mid-level scanner for 35mm negatives - $150
  
  Total cost is $327 USD BEFORE tax.
  
  Now of course as you shoot more film, this cost will add up. $65 for every 180 frames. This is not cheap. Now imagine you go out and get yourself an entry level DSLR or M4/3 camera and lens w/ an SD card. You're talking $500-$600 and you don't have a medium that's fading away.
  
  What does VSCO have to do with this? It's simple. It is the first great piece of software that allows us to come close to the look of film. Maybe it's not perfect but rather than bash it as a tool for Lightroom, I would say we should advocate this type of idea and perfect it. Even have Kodak and Fujifilm create their own presets that they can sell for use.
  
  Some people have even created some examples comparing VSCO vs real film. So when done right, the results can be mind blowingly close (and overall worth it in my opinion) to film.
  
  That being said, I do still love to browse Flickr from time to time and just search specifically for film photos. And if I had the time and money, I might shoot film for fun. But I think in the long term VSCO and other apps like it, are how I will go.

Some of the flatbed scanners with film holders work well, as dtanist suggested. If you're looking for a "dedicated" film scanner, you can occasionally find the Plustek OpticFilm 7400 or even 7600i SE for under $200 on sale. I picked up a 7400 in October of 2012 for $170; it had very solid reviews on B&H, and fair (i.e. - "It's good-- for the price") reviews from various tech / photo blogs.

My thoughts on the 7400: It lacks hardware dust & scratch removal, and it definitely isn't fast, but if your negatives are clean and you aren't in a rush, its image quality is good.

Actually, though, it looks like those two models were replaced earlier this year. There may be some still lingering around; the replacements are the OpticFilm 8100 and 8200i SE. I'd recommend the SE models over the 7400 / 8100, simply for the addition of infrared for dust & scratch removal (unless you take great care of your negatives and clean them before scanning; then it's not as much of an issue).

If you aren't in a rush, I'd recommend setting up price trackers at camelcamelcamel for Amazon, and camelegg for NewEgg (that's where I got my 7400), and perhaps a deal alert at SlickDeals (and that's where I FOUND the deal on the 7400).

EDIT: The Canoscan 9000F MkII that dtanist mentioned is ~$160 at Amazon right now.

>The issue is that we have no idea if a regular developer will be able to get them developed.

If you can see them, they're already developed.

As for digitizing them, you'll hae a couple options:

• Any decent photo lab would be able to scan them in for you, but it can take a bit of time and money (it would be $0.65 to $1 a frame in my neck of the woods).
  
  
• You can do it yourself with any decent camera and proper backlighting. I was able to get this from the sample image you posted. If you were to hold it flat, with even light all across from behind, and use a high resolution camera. Some simple tweaking in photoshop will get you pretty desirable results (if you can't work photoshop, and want to go this route, let me know and I can do the tweaking for you).
  
  
• My preferred route is through the use of a film scanner. You can find dedicated ones for different sizes, but for archival purposes, I always recommend a flatbed with appropriate inserts. An Epson V600 or CanoScan 9000F II would be good models to look at. They'll come with template inserts for various types of film and have appropriate backlighting built in. The nice thing about these is they'll work with most types of negatives, in addition to regular photos and documents (it's always nice to have a scanner).

This is great. Hands are such a pain to draw well and you've done a great job. The story is relatable to anyone who's been high and experienced how weird your body is if you really think about it. 10/10, would read again.

If you're serious about moving from single illustrations to sequential art there are a lot of books and sites out there to help.


Fundamentals

Scott McCloud

Will Eisner


Writing

Jim Zub


Coloring

K Michael Russell


These are just a few. This may not be a popular opinion here but bittorent is your friend. Use it to torrent Photoshop, Manga Studio, and any drawing books you're interested in. Then you need to ask yourself what your end goal is. Printed comics? Web comics?

I've changed my workflow from originally doing everything with paper and pens to involving more digital elements during the process. It's made working quicker and most people want to consume comics on their laptop or tablet which means you'll end up converting to digital at some point in the future anyway.

Here's some examples of my stuff. I'm still learning so there's a lot here I'm embarrassed to show but it might be helpful context.

Web comic done with pencils and inks on paper then scanned. I did this for a year and you can see how much better my art gets towards the end from practicing every day. I wish I would have kept it up.

First try coloring something digitally.

Here's the second try doing a longer format comic. K Michael Russell's videos are awesome for learning the basics of coloring. Here's what the layers look like broken apart.

You can get a scanner relatively cheap, here's the one I use. The downside of a small scanner means you need to draw on paper smaller than 11x17 or draw on large paper and scan it in piece by piece.

I also moved to a Wacom tablet for inking/coloring. My next comic will be posted soon and was done 100% digital. I'm not in love with how it turned out but it helped me learn what you and can and can't do on a drawing tablet.

Hopefully some of this is helpful.

I scan all of my RGD drawings and primarily work in graphite. I use a canoscan 8600f but I believe they have updated the model to the 9000. It works pretty well. Sometimes the dark pencils (the ole' 9b) can get reflective, particularly when you mix media and they are drawn on a dark surface. The only way to avoid that is to make a whole elaborate setup. Black felt behind the art. Studio lighting. Then you can spread you light sources so wide they won't reflect as much.

By that point, if you aren't working to large, it's easier to just scan and use a white balance card. Just include that little guy into the scan and use the black, white, and grey eyedropper tools in the "levels" settings in Photoshop. Any reflections, you can edit out to make it match the real values of the drawing.

_Dead's suggestion with the shade is the best method for shooting on a larger scale and don't have the resources for a fancy pants setup. Cell phones won't have the best camera for shooting the art but you gotta use what you gotta use.

Just remember, even with a white balance card, the most important thing is making sure the lighting is EVEN. Try your best to make sure there are no hot-spots of light because that is the most difficult to adjust later.

I can go into more detail on fancy pants rigs if needed.

Awesome!

Film development is a little intimidating at first, but very rewarding (plus it saves you a few bucks!). I’d start with black+white chemistry, that’s the simplest process and it works at room temperature.

You’ll need:

• A developing tank (I like Patterson tanks)
  
• 2 lightproof 1 liter bottles
  
• Developer (HC-110 or Ilfosol might be a good choice for you, but my fav is D-76)
  
• Fixer (I like Ilford Rapid Fix)
  
• Foto-flo (this makes washing the film easier, but is optional)
  
  Scanning is only done after you’ve developed everything and got the negatives dry. You can start a holy war here discussing scanners, but if you have a light box and a DSLR (or an iPhone and a jig to align it!) you can get very good scans on the cheap. Lomography sells such a jig for phones:
  
  https://www.amazon.com/Lomography-Smartphone-Film-Photo-Scanner/dp/B00BZSZL64

In a developed country, I would be more worried about preserving proof of identity or ownership, rather than purging information about myself. Imagine if a bank, or even the Federal Government lost your retirement account info, and the burden was on you to prove what your account balance was. Say a loved one is hospitalized during a natural disaster- can you prove to the hospital that you are related?

The strategy that I would take would be:

• Scan and shred. Scan all important documents (identity, tax returns, receipts for valuables, etc) using a flatbed scanner or a bulk scanner. After scanning something, I usually shred it- no sense keeping all of that paper around. I will keep paper copies of some things for easy reference, but never more than can fit in one portable file box.
  
• Use encryption. Save all scanned documents in an encrypted container. You can create containers that require a composite key, i.e. a combination of a password and a key file (which you can store separately). Only mount the container when you need to save / retrieve items. They make similar container systems for password storage as well.
  
• Back up your container file and keyfile however you like- whether locally via USB sticks, on cloud storage, etc. At least one copy should be outside of your house, even if that just means your car. (i.e. house fire).
  
• Keep a USB stick with container files in your bugout bag. Update it once or twice per year.
  
• Keep all critical paper stuff (passports, birth certificates, etc) either with your bugout gear, or in a portable file box that you can cart out easily.

I have a similar handheld scanner, and while it does work pretty well, it requires a lot of practice to get a good scan. I've scanned things thinking I did a great job of keeping it straight and going the right speed, only to get back to my computer and find that someone's face is stretched out because I messed up ever-so-slightly.

Overall I like the scanner, but a photo of the item in question, taken with a good camera in decent lighting will be just as good. I'd recommend getting a good digital camera and portable tripod instead.

Ah, I see. Well good on you for thinking of your residents then.

Another post reminded me: my department had a pretty nice scanner, the ScanSnap S1500. Another department in the building had their students scan homework. They also had a scanner, but their students always came to our lab to scan homework because our scanner was far, far superior in usability and scan quality. I realize it's pretty expensive for what it sounds like your budget is, but definitely go for that over anything that isn't of academic value - buy whiteboards first, then the scanner, then a dvd of Real Genius (trust me on this one), and then whatever else you have in mind.

I did 1500 so far, I used IDImager to catalog. Would really recommend it. Really the only solution I could find for cataloging large amounts of photos.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-9000F-Color-Scanner/dp/B003JQLHEA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1303811339&sr=1-1

Used that scanner, but it was a few years ago I bought it. Might be better now. Scans negatives great, which is what I mostly have. There are some auto negative scanners, but I couldn't see them working too well since you have to select the photo area.

I scanned into png since it was the best solution for lossless I could find. TIFF's were too big.

I hosted on smugmug since they would do pngs. Though their customer service has gone downhill in the 3 yrs I have had them, might not renew next year.

I bought this handheld scanner and it works great. It's light, easy to pack, and scans very quickly. Like another poster said slight movements can be aggravating, but most of the time the scanner auto corrected the movement and the rescan I did was unnecessary.

No need for a computer as it uses a microSD card for storage, some would see this as a pro or a con since they can't view the image on a monitor. You can however inspect it on the small display of the scanner, it will at least help determine if it scanned at an angle or if anything was cut off. The quality is top notch and it saves in either PDF or JPG at Lo (300dpi), Medium (600dpi), or Hi (1050dpi). ($89.95)

Additionally, it works perfect when I need to scan large media, but don't want to use a camera capture. Take multiple swipes of the piece, a poster say, and then stitch the multiple files in Photoshop later. Viola, high resolution scan. The scans are limited to 8.5" wide, but can go on indefinitely as far as I can tell.

TaoTronics® 1050 DPI 1.44'TFT Color Display Colour & Mono Handheld Scanner for Document, Photo, Reciepts, Books + JPG/PDF Format Selection

.

I've also used Genius Scan+ through all of college and genealogy work in a pinch. It does a great job of preserving a book page, screen cap, or board, but I wouldn't count on it to preserve photos unless I had nothing else. (Free/$6.99)

Genius Scan+ by Grizzy Labs

.

And I use this scanner for when I have no carry restrictions. A computer is required and I need multiple power outlets, but it has the best scan quality by far. A huge plus is that it can neatly scan negative strips with an included accessory. ($174.84)

Canon CanoScan 9000F MKII Color Image Scanner

There are a few new organizations building applications and infrastructure for digitizing archaeological data. As HappyArchFunTime said, check out the forthcoming Codifi app from the Center for Digital Archaeology (http://codifi.org/) and the FAIMS app/db system (https://www.fedarch.org/).

In the short term though, I'd suggest scanning the field notes so you at least have images of them, and linking the images to the database records. I use a ScanSnap S1500 scanner (http://www.amazon.com/Fujitsu-ScanSnap-Instant-Sheet-Fed-Scanner/dp/B001V9LQH0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1409886865&sr=8-3&keywords=scansnap+s+1500) to quickly scan separated pages, but you can also cheaply build a book scanner with a cardboard box and a digital camera to scan bound notes (http://www.diybookscanner.org/). While you can use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to extract text from the notes, I've found it doesn't work very well with handwriting - transcription of fieldnotes is better left to humans at this point.

Going forward, you might suggest that the excavators start recording digital while still in the field to avoid the data entry time. The fastest way to "go digital" at this point is to import use Filemaker Pro ($300) and run a mobile version of the database on iPads. John Walldrodt has some great demonstrations from the multiuser database he built for recording in Pompeii (http://paperlessarchaeology.com/the-database/). FileMaker can handle most data, so you should be able to import your current database into it. This is a significant task though, so I'd recommend waiting until the field season is over and then testing the mobile database before next year.

If you just want to try digital recording immediately, and only need to support a few users, try the MementoDB app (android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.luckydroid.droidbase&hl=en) or TapForms (iOS https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tap-forms-organizer-secure/id291405311?mt=8) as they are very simple to get up and running, but more limited in what they can do vs FileMaker.

Once you have digital datasets, consider talking to the Digital Archaeological Record (http://core.tdar.org/) which is focused on archiving data for future access and OpenContext - which is built to publish data sets (http://opencontext.org/about/) to see about preserving and sharing data with other professional archaeologists.

[Edit - model # and link for scanner]

A few years ago we went completely paperless. We had two huge 4-drawer filing cabinets of crap from years of running two businesses and managing our personal finances. It was unwieldy and we always ended up with huge piles of paper waiting to be filed, and I'd end up spending hours getting stuff together for tax time.

Here's what I did:

• Decided what actually needed to be saved and what could be discarded. A lot of what we were saving was old (some 10+ years old) and could just be thrown away. Bills that were from years ago were thrown away. Receipts going back 7 years were saved, along with any tax documentation, insurance info, etc.
  
  
• We purchased multiple scanners so that every employee that receives a lot of paper has access to a scanner and a shredder. I have a Brother ADS-2800W in my office (I do most of the financials and so have the most to scan). I also have a Brother ADS2500WE and two Brother ADS-1500Ws. When a piece of paper comes in to my home or office, it's scanned and then shredded (if needed) or recycled.
  
  
• I have presets for scanning one-sided, two-sided and continuous for long receipts. These go into a "To File" folder that's shared with my VA. My VA goes through and names all the scans based on content i.e. "2017-01-21 Staples Receipt.pdf" and files them in the appropriate folder in either my personal Google Drive or my business' Gsuite.
  
  
• I use a scanning app on my phone for paper receipts when I'm out of the office. I save these JPGs directly to the receipts folder on my business Gsuite Google Drive.
  
  My folder structure in Gsuite is:
  
  > Financial
  >> Receipts (just scans of receipts for archival purposes)
  >>> 2016
  >
  >>> 2017
  >
  >>> 2018 etc
  >
  >> Tax Documents (1099s, W2s, property tax, mortgage interest, etc.)
  >>> 2016
  >
  >>> 2017
  >
  >>> 2018
  
  So far this has worked extremely well. My accounting firm has access to the Tax Documents folder, and my Xero accounting software. They just wait for my email that everything is there and ready, and they prepare my taxes with all of the information provided.
  
  This is the 2nd tax season we've been on this system and it's working extremely well. I used to file an extension and just dreaded going through getting everything ready for tax time, now I'm just about ready to file and it's not even February. We will be filed by Feb 15 this year at the latest.

A computer with a printer. Some people buy a course book with friends and scan it with a hand scanner to save on money. Books can be about $400-600 per semester. Or they just download the book from about a billion sources. A hand scanner might be useful for scanning books that are on reserve for courses in your library.

hand scanner example
http://www.amazon.com/VuPoint-Solutions-Magic-Portable-Scanner/dp/B004EFXW6Q/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1A8KYCFVK0FD012GC2JQ

Just a get a Jumbl 35mm scanner from Amazon. Or something similar. Image quality is fine for web sharing and on screen viewing and its very quick. I scanned a 34 images in probably 5 minutes. Example gallery - this was very grainy film. If you were a professional trying to maximize quality or archiving fine art negatives and had a serious budget there are definitely better quality alternatives. This will get the job done fast and good enough.

For your prints you want to scan go to a thrift shop and pick up a flat bed. Seriously any flatbed will do a decent job for prints. I picked up a great flatbed that also does negatives - canoscan 8800f - for $25 at my local thrift shop.

I also recommend an air rocket and some optical gloves to keep dust under control. Makes a big difference in your scans.

Digitizing old slides/negatives really comes down to a couple options:

• Good quality, but expensive using a service like ScanCafe. The biggest upside is that you're not doing it yourself, you send them out and have them done.
  
• High quality, but slow using something like a DSLR + macro lens and lightbox. You'll get great quality, but it'll take a long time and you'll need to hand-crop the images afterwards. You can get some extremely impressive results, but you'll be hand-retouching each image so that slows down the process.
  
• Lower quality, medium speed using something like a cheap 35mm slide scanner. You'll have to load the images in one-by-one, but you get results more quickly than you would if you're doing it using a digital camera + macro lens.
  
  Also I would cull the number down if possible. Five thousand slides is a LOT, I'd start by determining what needs prioritization to be digitized and then saving the rest for later if you end up doing it yourself.

A lot of my drawings are 18 or 19x24 inches and I don't have a scanner for those. Though I know there are companies out there that can scan large artwork (much larger than mine) for a fee and you may need to ship it.

That being said, [this] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008Y8E1XC/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) is the scanner I use now. It fits 11x17 in drawings (which is the size I would like to work in from now on.) I've found that it does scan a little light, but can easily be corrected with any basic photo editing software, just adjust brightness/contrass/etc.. This particular scanner is out of sale (on amazon, anyway) but if you do plan on finding/ordering an A3 scanner, make sure that the scanner BED, the place where you will put your drawing/work, is actually A3. A lot of printers/scanner combos advertise A3, but it turns out the scanner is standard 8.5x11in and it prints in A3. It took me a long time to find the scanner I did, unfortunately.

If you aren't able to find a scanner to suit your needs (though if you are working small enough, you should be able to find one in a decent price range and even portable!(ish)) then you should look into researching how to photograph artwork. There's a special skill to it that involves lighting and tools and cameras... Nothing I'm very familiar with. I just mess around with my phone or other camera until I'm frustrated and give up. I do that for a few days before I settle on a mediocre photo.

I don't think I would recommend scanning oil paintings, though you may be able to safely if you do some research! Good luck and I hope this helps.

My in-laws gave me a Fujitsu ScanSnap 1100i for Christmas a couple of years ago. I was skeptical, but I really like it. Easy enough to use that I actually do use it, and included OCR. The software isn't perfect, but it's good enough. I recommend it. I don't think they make it any more, but they make something similar (and a lot of more expensive ones that deal better with high volume if you need that).

EDIT: I think this is the current version. Mine isn't wireless.

I assume you mean US$, what you get depends on what film types you intend to scan.

If you only ever plan to shoot and scan 35mm i would recommend going for a dedicated 35mm scanner like a Plustek 7200 (3250DPI) for $200, or if you wanted the absolute best scanner short of drum scanning then the $400 Pacific Image Prime Film XA (4300DPI) is reckoned to have the highest DPI scan.

If you just want a general purpose scanner for 35mm and 120 (and documents) then something like an Epson V550 (1600DPI) for $160 is fine.

DPI numbers pulled from this page on the wiki.

I use an Epson V500 with third party film holders for 120 and have no problems. Looks like they've added a half decent 120 holder with the V550 so you shouldn't have to spend more for third party ones.

Only you can decide how much dpi is enough for your scanning needs. You can buy a brand new Aztek Premier and scan at 8000dpi if you want, or you can take pics of your negatives with your cell phone.

But a lot of people are fine with 2000dpi from a lab scanner or flatbed, even though it's only 6 megapixels for a 35mm frame. The Plusteks are a pretty good option since 3250dpi gets you some pretty large files. However, they are so slow that if 3250dpi is the approximate target, I'd say you're better off buying a used d800e and a macro lens, because you can scan a whole roll in ten minutes and then when you're done with that, you also have a nice dslr and lens instead of a big brick of a scanner sitting on your desk that doesn't have many other uses.

It's pricey but I picked up a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500. Best thing ever. Everything gets scanned and backed up to cloud storage. Original thrown away unless it is some sort of special document like a car title which goes in a filing cabinet.

My desk went from a sea of paper to empty. Highly recommend.

Oh God, yes, one of those clipboards with internal storage is a must. I have a plastic one, made by Dexas (like $6 at Wal-Mart) and a heavy duty aluminum one.

The pens that have 4 colors in one can be a lifesaver.

Get tons of index cards for making flashcards.

Get a bunch of those little post it flags to mark important passages in texts.

No-bleed, possibly erasable highlighters.

I also got a mini portable scanner. It was a lifesaver in the library.

You mentioned a new backpack. Depending on how your days work out, you might want to consider something with wheels. I'd avoid the rolling crates like this. They always fell apart on me.

I wound up amassing SO MUCH loose paper, I needed tons of binder clips and paper clips to keep it organized.

A mini stapler can be a godsend when your prof hands out 10 page unstapled packets.

Have you considered getting a document scanner? A good one can run you a few hundred dollars, but one of my good friends uses one for all of his notes. At the end of every day he takes his stack of notes, drops them into a Fujitsu SnapSanner, and with a few custom Apple Scripts everything gets sorted and uploaded to Dropbox and/or Evernote. Since all of the notes are OCR'ed, indexed, and optimized on the fly, the file sizes are manageable, the scans are very clear, and the notes are searchable. I've been eying this model and will likely pick one up for use this year.

I tried to go the MS Surface Pro route with both the SP1 and SP2 but always ended up giving up due to limitations of the Surface (poor battery life, screen size sucked, the height of the surface itself strained my hand/wrist/arm after a while, and I'm not a huge fan of Windows 8). Looks like the SP3 resolved almost all of the things I didn't like about using the SP1/SP2 (still runs Windows 8 but hey, nothing is perfect).

No, it doesn't have a feeder, but the Evernote process isn't too bad. This is the particular Doxie that I bought. The process of importing to Evernote isn't too bad, although you can't go directly to it, per say. Basically, you scan as many documents as you want, then plug the Doxie into your laptop. From there, you open up Doxie's software to group the individual notes into multi-page documents, as well as adjust the page borders to crop out extra space that their automatic process missed, fix white balance, whatever. From there, you can select individual PDFs or all of them and it's just one click to add them to the default notebook in Evernote. It sounds like a long process, but it really isn't. I was able to power through an entire semester worth of papers, handouts, tests, essays, etc. and get them all imported into the proper notebook with names, dates, tags and everything in one evening.

Thanks for passing on that review, I'll be sure to check it out! If I decide to go for either bag, I'll write about my thoughts and post them here.

Epson Perfection V850 Pro scanner https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OCEJMG8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Mgj2DbESVWW6G

I scanned ~50,000 35mm negative frames and nearly 2,000 slides with three of these. I was very happy with the results, and they’re still running!

They have several different transparency adapters, including slides, 35mm strips, medium format film, and oversized film. They’re also great for scanning paper documents under 8.5”x14”.

Good luck!

https://www.amazon.ca/Epson-Canada-Perfection-Photo-Scanner/dp/B00E1O74SW/


"Effective pixels: 54,400 x 74,880 (6400 dpi), color bit depth: 48-bit internal/external"
Wow. That's a HUGE image resolution! The scanner looks nice, lots of stuff I don't understand.
Looks like the max paper size I can scan is 8.5 x 11 basically. How thick of paper/ Could I fit a small sketchbook in the scanner or do I have to remove pages from my book?

First be polite and be prepared for more brickwalls, before you got into genealogy, how would you react if some stranger walked up to you and started asking you questions about their family/history/past... it can get creepy really fast.

I always start with in personal visits first. Be polite, and introduce yourself and how you are related. Be sure to list DIRECT relationships... they may not know who their GREAT Aunt is, so you may have to explain how you are related.

When asking for information, start with dead people... or people you don't have much information on. Once they warm up to you, you can start asking for information about the living. I have found that by providing them with something they may know about someone is a good way to break the ice. You have to build a relationship (if you don't already have one) with these people and sometimes that is a bit of a challenge.

If you have any documentation from people they would know, Pictures and records, bring those along. I don't know how many times I have brought pictures of family with me, and they are usually pictures that they have not seen. Once the pictures are out, most of the time it turns into a "you showed me yours, let me show you mine".

If you don't have a portable scanner, get one (This is the one I use). Get scans of whatever they will let you scan, even if they ahve old books, flip though them and if you find anything that is hand written scan that, you never know where a small piece of information will lead you. Don't ask for the original. Sometimes they will be interested in providing you the original, but 8 times out of 10, they won't.

Don't forget about them. After you get the information, ask for an email address, and send updates, don't just use them for information and never talk to them again, most of the time people will appreciate being included in your research.

I have a listserv I use to subscribe people that want to keep up with updates that we have made.

And that is about it, just remember it can get awkward quickly, so having some ammo of familiar information will warm them up nicely...

I'm curious for a source too, but it's not at all far fetched. Scanners are tiny nowadays and could easily be put into the feed chute of a shredder. The guts of this would do nicely. Data over power lines certainly isn't a new technology. Hell. You could use a wifi scanner and not even screw with that.

I could cobble this together in my garage over a weekend probably.

Edit to fix link.

Not quite a pen, but you should be able to use a portable scanner like this.
It will save text as an image, and then there are any number of free downloadable OCR programs you can use to convert the image to text that you can put into a word document

If you have a computer and a printer/copier/scanner combo, (here's one for sub $100 or if you feel like spending $800+ for one I'd recommend this one). But if you have to take them on your phone then try and make sure you have good light and a stable hand. Also, if you plan on making more art to post here (Which, by the way, yours was great) and have to use your phone you could look into something like this. It's (somewhat) cheap, but it makes it so much easier to scan good quality pictures and documents.

I will hopefully be using this one for a long time. Bought one for my parents, too; they're happy with it.

When I first got it, it printed so quickly that I thought it was just doing a self-test LOL

All-in-ones were universally terrible. I gave mine away and "upgraded" to that printer above and a Fujitsu ScanSnap (well worth the cost). Fantastic combo.

I've always just used my common sense. First I look at the item itself. Is it a popular item? Is it something people would need, or is it a luxury? etc. Once I figure that out I try and work my way up the categories. I say "ok so it's a popular scanner, but how often do these sell in comparison to other items you may find in computers & accessories".

It's crude, but it's my way of guesstimating a rough idea of the rank.

You could also try and check CCC. The whole not displaying main rank thing is fairy new, so they may have previous sales history to give you an idea. It may be over a year old, but it should still give you some idea.

http://camelcamelcamel.com/DYMO-1760685-CardScan-Personal-Scanner/product/B004YC2WO2

In your case it shows up until Feb 2015. Not so recent, but definitely give you an idea.

EDIT: You can also click on the category above it to see if it's in the top 100 of that category, etc. In your case, it is ranked 69 in "scanners" which isn't too bad.

Also, the amount of sellers as well as whether Amazon carries it is a good indicator. There usually wouldn't be 50+ sellers if it wasn't a decent item.

I just found an led light pad used for tracing that works well as a portable light box; works pretty well for proof sheets: http://www.piccoach.com/tipsandtricks/make-proof-sheets-without-scanner/

I don't know anything about this scanner but it's cheap and has pretty good reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Jumbl-High-Resolution-22MP-Scanner-Digitizer/dp/B00ICOB78K/

Scan them, and if possible from the actual negatives. It's going to be a big job though, but I assure it's really satisfying knowing that you're preserving some history; specifically photos of those particular times that no-one else in the world may have ever seen before.


So do yourself a favour, and hook yourself up with a decent scanner - can I suggest the Canon Canoscan 9000F MkII. It's an affordable, quality scanner that I've used for thousands of negatives and prints.

Once you've done that, put your photos in some sleeves, inside a box and store in a cool (but dry!) place, away from harsh light.

You're basically limited to flatbed scanners at that price range. I don't know why, but in Europe the Reflecta Proscan 10T is about £400, while the US version is only US$299.

In your price range, I'd recommend the Canon 9000F Mk II. It's not mind-blowing in achievable resolution, but it does well enough, especially with a light touch of sharpening after the fact.

Some examples, all 35mm:

• Film: HP5+
  
• Film: HP5+
  
• Film: Agfa Vista+ 200
  
• Film: Agfa Vista+ 200
  
• Film: Agfa Vista+ 200
  
• Film: Kodak Ultramax 400
  
• Film: Kodak Ultramax 400
  
• Film: Portra 400
  
  It has the added benefit of scanning 12 frames simultaneously, and it does it quicker (about 45 seconds per frame, give or take depending on your computer) than most dedicated scanners in the lower price ranges.

Its not an obsession, its from doing thorough research. This past July I was in need of a new laptop for work, I tested out the 2015 13" rMBP for 14 days and ended up returning it and then getting an XPS 13 9350. Right now the XPS 13 is the laptop to beat. At $800-900 its an exception value. A comparable Macbook Pro would be $1300, well over $500 for similar specs.

I do the same thing with every electronic purchase. I just spent the last week researching duplex document scanners. I finally ended up with the Fujitsu X500i. Yes its more expensive than what I wanted to spend but its the best value when it comes to performance per dollar.

I'm not pro Apple, I'm not pro Android. I'm anti Fanboy and pro technology.

Yeah, I have this one myself. I use it in conjunction with my laptop to save space. It's great.

Eh, that's about right. I pay $6 for color $7 for black and white, processing only. If I want print quality scans it's another $7. I go to Photoworks in San Francisco, so it's a bit pricy, but everyone there is extremely helpful and careful with my film. I've gotten burned too many times at store photo labs.

I've been shooting a ton of film, so I think my next major photography investment is going to be in a film scanner so I can just do the scans myself, most likely this one.

Ektar is really nice. Kodak uses the same technology in its Vision line of motion picture films, so that was my first experience with it. Skin tones, especially on darker skinned people, can be a problem depending on lighting.

I got a Canon 9000F MKII and I love it. It's super fast and you can do 35mm, slide and medium format film.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-9000F-MKII-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG/

Depends on how much time you have and how many photos/negatives you have. If its only a few, try your local photo print house (preferably a nice professional non-chain shop). If it is more than a few, try an online place like ScanCafe. If we are talking boxes and boxes and you have time on your hands and are tech savvy, consider a film scanner with infrared channel ($400), a flatbed scanner with touchup software ($150), and scanning software ($80). If you know nothing about photo restoration/touchup, you'd be best to just pay ScanCafe to do it.

How do you determine if an amazon rank is good based on sub-categories? For example:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YC2WO2

Seller rank of #5 in Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Scanners > Business Card Scanners.

Shouldn't this thing fly off my inventory in a few days once I list it? I know the sales rank chart that gets sent around is helpful showing the top 1, 5, and 10%, but that only shows main categories. How do you determine if something is good in sub-categories?

I was a bit quick to state that about the depth and lighting from looking at a couple comparison photos online. I was looking at scanners on amazon. How much do you think a decent one would cost? Here's one I found http://www.amazon.com/Jumbl-High-Resolution-Negative-Slide-Scanner/dp/B00ICOB78K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1448986208&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=film+scanner&psc=1 . Do you think I would get a better shot with all this or a low tier (around $200) DSLR? Thanks so much for the feedback!

I've never used a scanner - does it needs to be a particularly expensive one to scan it in and be able to read the text? For example, would this cheap Canon one do the job?

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Office-Products-LiDE120-Scanner/dp/B00LN0NUOO/ref=sr_1_2?s=office-electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1416776382&sr=1-2&keywords=CanoScan

Cheers!

Edit: Sorry, and assuming I do each page slowly over a few weeks (got a job so can't do it all in one), it's then an easy process to combine all the pages into one Word document or PDF?

This works! Not sure how it compares to others in its price range, but I have an older version that does great. https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-MKII-Negative-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

Just an FYI I have this scanner and it works great. You have so much awesome history to preserve.

I bought a flatbed scanner from Amazon a few months ago for ~$60 and used it to clear out an entire 4-drawer filing cabinet. I minimized everything to fit in the built-in file drawer of my desk and it was a WONDERFUL feeling when it was all finished! It was definitely a labor of love but I listened to a bunch of podcasts and broke the scanning sessions into segments so I didn't get too overwhelmed. This scanner only fits up to letter-sized documents so that was a bit of a challenge, but larger scanners are so much more expensive.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LN0NUOO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The Canon 9000F MKII is an excellent, highly-rated scanner and will handle your 35mm film easily. The 110 negatives might be more difficult as few scanners exist that will handle this old film format. The 9000F does not have a film holder designed to hold strips of 110 film for scanning, and the scanner will attempt to detect the presence of the film holder during scanning.

Some users have been able to work around this by placing strips of 110 film inside the larger 35mm holder, and turning OFF the thumbnail view mode in the scanning software and cropping the resulting preview manually prior to scanning. There is some additional information at the link below. Hope this helps.

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-MKII-Negative-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG

http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/General-Printer-Discussion/Can-I-scan-110-film-negatives-on-the-canoscan-9000f/td-p/4421 (Scroll to the middle of the page and read the post by "smaricic".)

There is also a non-Canon 110 film holder for this scanner that can be used:

https://www.amazon.com/Film-Holder-CanoScan-Flatbed-Scanners/dp/B00MLN195O

I have this Vupoint Magic Wand.
It uses MicroUSB and also has a MicroSD card. It's pretty good. $70.

I use my Doxie Go to scan artwork as it comes in and then I save it in Dropbox organized by year. Highly recommend.

FYI if you have "hundreds" to do, you should think about spending a little more -- what's your time worth, anyway -- and get something like the CanoScan 9000 which does several at a time and would have muuuuuuch higher quality.

Depending on confidentiality concerns, you could outsource the scanning or grab something like this Fujitsu Scan feeder or similar.

Cloud storage is iffy when the service gets cancelled, there might not be the option to retrieve your files. A good mantra is "If your data is not in 3 separate places, it's nowhere."

1. Local
   
2. Cloud
   
3. Offsite
   
   Perhaps something like Bittorrent Sync to simplify the local + offsite.

The only thing I have experience with and can recommend is either scanning with your dslr or getting a flatbed scanner like this one. Go for either Canon or Epson ones. You may find some used or refurbished ones for less if you're okay with buying used stuff.

You can use a simple scanner like this or any other one you may have lying around.

I've never really used movie maker but it should be able to do the job perfectly. Just look up videos explaining pan/zoom.

If she doesn't give credit because there isn't any scanner warping I could always show her my magic wand. Absolutely SFW.

My favorite thing about the whole anti-plagiarism thing is a good portion of the teachers just steal their assignments off the internet nowadays. It's so easy just to google the question and get easy to copy (and adjust, so I don't get busted by the scanners) answers.

I bought a Fujitsu ScanSnap to help me go paperless. It's expensive ($400), but the thing is a beast. It's really fast and it can OCR your documents immediately while it scans the documents. So you can turn all your papers into searching electronic PDF's very easily. Buy a shredder, and all those papers sitting around will be gone.

I've made do with cell phone photos, which (as you noted) are not ideal, but very portable.

There are small portable "bar" scanners where you feed documents through them. For old, possibly delicate photos this is not great - the rollers can damage the original photo. You really want a flatbed scanner.

In the end, your best bet is probably just to get a compact flatbed scanner - there are a number of models (like this Canon scanner ) that are about the size of a laptop. You can carry it in a regular laptop bag.

I got very good results with that Minolta scanner from Vuescan, but after giving the scanner back I ended up buying a Canon flatbed. Its film scans are decent, if not razor sharp, and the price was right.

I use this one, it's great. It runs fully on USB so no external power is needed.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LN0NUOO

Use this scanner its worth the money

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AYUI490/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

save the pdfs to a dropbox folder

This is a pretty solid tutorial on how to photograph art.

Also, it might be too much for a student budget, but I picked up a large format Mustek scanner a couple of years back, one of these, and it's done well by me.

That is a newer version of the one I have. Depends on how much you're scanning... If not a ton, this one is great too, and super small. Not as fast, and you can't "stack" asuch stuff, but insanely compact.

Fujitsu ScanSnap iX100 Wireless Mobile Scanner for Mac and PC https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NWGGUAS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Tk0pDb7X039V3

my ScanSnap S1500M has held up well for over five years of moderate use, but i seriously doubt it is BIFL; the paper handling is very reliable and much more convenient than using a flatbed scanner; on Mac it used to come with a license for Acrobat Pro, which does a better job of OCR than the ScanSnap software; the newer model iX500 is the same basic design, which takes up a space the size of a sheet of paper on your desk; i have not used Fuji's smaller document scanners, but they get good reviews

While I agree on the Scansnap for the office, it might also be handy to throw one of these: http://amzn.com/B002R0BFAA (VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Portable Scanner) - in your briefcase. In our office, its very handy for scanning smaller blurbs (like property descriptions).

I have this one. - https://www.amazon.com/Fujitsu-ScanSnap-Wireless-Mobile-Scanner/dp/B00NWGGUAS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1495974000&sr=8-4&keywords=scansnap

It makes scanning very convenient and easy.

Oh good, another single function low use device I have to charge. But on a serious note, how could this have run out of money? Not only does it already exist in a variety of different forms, the software has been made by dozens of companies (for many years) and is available on a device that serves more than one purpose. I'm curious as to what the hangup is, and I'm guessing it has to do with a large number of not-quite-necessary purchases.

This is the one I’m currently using. It’s $170, which I think is a fairly good price.

What about something like this?

You really need to get a scanner that can handle slides, like the Canon 9000F. It's only $150 and you can digitize that entire collection.

Go with Fujitsu.

If you want top of the line, get the FI-7260.

If the flatbed really isn't needed, step down to the Scansnap ix500

The Fujitsu's are hands down the fastest and most reliable scanners I've encountered if you plan to scan any sort of moderate volume.

EDIT: Spelling

You can also scan and OCR these papers, making them easily searchable and infinitely more available. I got a ScanSnap and never looked back in my work.

I have an Epson V500 that I used to scan in film negatives, slides and printed pictures. I've had it for the past couple years and it has done a good job scanning in all the old family slides and some film negatives that I found.

Though since I've gotten the 500, the 550 and 600 have come out. I don't know what extra features (if any) the 550 has, but it is on Amazon for $169 for prime members.

Sigh....what will you guys do without me? What you need is this: Fujitsu Scansnap ix500. https://www.amazon.com/Fujitsu-PA03656-B005-Image-Scanner-ScanSnap/dp/B00ATZ9QMO
After buying this product.....many women have asked to marry me and have babies. I promise if you're a girl...you'll do the same.

This one at over $425: http://www.amazon.com/Fujitsu-ScanSnap-iX500-Scanner-PA03656-B005/dp/B00ATZ9QMO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373340677&sr=8-1&keywords=snapscan

I work in enterprise IT. This product is a god send. Read the reviews.

I purchased mine on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-9000F-MKII-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

I think I paid $130 at a point when it was on sale

An auto-feed scanner is stupidly efficient. Heck you could buy it from Amazon, finish your scanning and return it...

The one in my office can do 80 pages per minute.

Flatbeds might be 2 pages per minute. Hippo would be scanning for years.

heres the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/Epson-Perfection-V550-Negative-B11B210201/dp/B00E1O74SW?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s02

It was on sale when I got it.

That's a lot of manuals...

If I were buying an inexpensive flatbed, it would be this one:

Canon Office Products LiDE120 Color Image Scanner https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LN0NUOO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_XH.bzbJW6D47A

I'm getting my dad one of these, to backup all of his paper files because he runs his own business...

seems a little steep - it's $169 at Amazon and Adorama right now.

How would you feel about $100 shipped to California ?

I used a Canon 9000F markII flatbed scanner
https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-MKII-Negative-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520995242&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+canoscan+9000f+mark+ii

Already exists

My cousin raves about his Jumbl slide/film scanner. He's been digitalizing his father's photos for a while now.

Sure. Here's what I could pull from my orders and searching around. This is most of my gear. Not really "homelab" stuff. Have a crap ton of ethernet running around the house.

• Main router: ASUS RT-AC3100: https://www.amazon.ca/Asus-RT-AC3100-Dual-Band-Wi-Fi-Router/dp/B01707HPKS
  
• Two APs on the other levels of the house: ASUS RT-AC86U: https://www.amazon.ca/Asus-RT-AC86U-Dual-Wireless-Router/dp/B0752FD3XJ
  
• Switch: TP-Link TL-SG1024DE 24-Port Gigabit: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00CUG8ESM
  
• UPS: APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B003Y24DEU
  
• Synology DS412+: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B007JLE84C
  
• Synology DS1618+: https://www.amazon.ca/Synology-Bay-NAS-DiskStation-Diskless/dp/B07CR8RZYY
  
• Epson V550 Scanner: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00E1O74SW
  
• Black and White Laser Printer: Samsung ML-2851ND: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000XZ1LJG
  
• Colour Laser Printer: Samsung CLP-415N: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-CLP-415NW-Wireless-Printer/dp/B008HSIW20

I still shoot quite a bit of film and develop my own black and white.

I use Ilford developer and fixer.
Find development times for any brand of developer here.

Decent scanners are fairly inexpensive.
This one will do.
Having a lab develop film and scan images to a cd cost around $10 a roll, so the scanner will pay for itself soon.

I don't deal with a darkroom for prints anymore. I like film and still use it, but for me, photoshop is so much easier.

Epson V500 is a good cheap scanner to get started with. I started with that one before upgrading to the V800 for 4x5 wet scanning.

Did you get a lot of people asking for the actual image? I had that problem at events, its a tricking balance of being polite saying no but thanking them for either posing or yada yada yada.

Do you own a DSLR and a macro lens? If so, you can get results that rival professional drum scanner, and beat the typical (Epson V700) consumer level scanners. It's kind of a PITA to set up though, and you have to do a bunch of post processing if you do the multi-shot/stitch method for higher resolution. I just do them as a single frame since I'm not making prints or anything. Here's my setup in action.

I also did a bunch of experimenting with different backlights etc. trying to get my regular all-in-one printer scanner to get decent results, but nothing came out anywhere near as good as just taking a picture of a picture.

I am curious if anyone has tried one of those cheapie negative scanners you can get on amazon for under $100.

Want cheap, fast, only 35mm or slides and don't want to go much bigger then 5x7?

https://www.amazon.ca/Wolverine-Data-F2DSUPER-Digital-Converter/dp/B00GIDADP0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1465255988&sr=8-3&keywords=film+scanner


Want bigger, better but slow as all hell?

https://www.amazon.ca/Epson-Canada-Perfection-Scanner-V550/dp/B00E1O74SW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465256034&sr=8-1&keywords=epson+550