Hi everyone, I’m new here and could really use some people’s suggestions. I’m looking for a scanner that I could put in a stack of photos and have the scanner scan them all in at the touch of a button. This would be for archival purposes so it would have to be high rez. Also, it cannot damage the original photo. I know a lot of roller feeders can leave marks on glossy photos. Price is also not really an issue, I just want to know that it would do the job ahead of time. Maybe I could rent it at first to make sure it works for what I need it for.

Also, my other question, for regular photos, what is generally the resolution/format/megabit size that is recommended for archival purposes?

If anyone has gone through a similar situation where the need to constantly scan batch photos for archival, I would really appreciate a suggestion.
Thanks.

Chase, I don't know of an "auto feed" scanner, but for archival purposes I would scan at at leaset 300 DPI (ppi) and save as TIFF. Yeah, it generates larger files, but the resulting files would be suitable for just about any future need including high res printing.

Hi Swampy, thanks for your help. If anyone else could think of some possible hardware that would me my requirements that would be great. Thanks

There are many autofeed scanners, particularly from HP. However, the feeders are meant for papers, not photos, so I'd be concerned about their safety. Photoshop can take a single scan of several photos and separate each into separate files. I suspect this might be a better option for you. If this is a single situation (not ongoing), you might just want to hire a teenager to do it (give them some white cotton gloves).

>>> many photos you can place on the flatbed at once, and separate them into separate files.

You can also batch scan several photos of different sizes etc. And use Photoshop's Auto Crop and Straighten to save separate files. One caveat, you have to leave about 1/4 inch between pics so that Photoshop can detect the edges to do the crop and rotate.

>>> many photos you can place on the flatbed at once, and separate them into separate files.

You can also batch scan several photos of different sizes etc. And use Photoshop's Auto Crop and Straighten to save separate files. One caveat, you have to leave about 1/4 inch between pics so that Photoshop can detect the edges to do the crop and rotate.

on the HP have noticed better to do a document scan than a picture scan

The crop and straighten function works best if the pics are placed ragged on the flatbed. If you align all the edges too perfectly, it won't find them and you'll be left with one full sheet.

On the other hand, I don't know how much you're will to spend, but Kodak has a line of auto scanners. I work in a pro lab and we have one. I can scan hundreds of photos in minutes, and it straightens every one. 300 DPI from wallets to 8x10's.

Do you have the model number of the Kodak scanner? What about some pricing?

The model we use is the i1220. I did 522 photos Saturday in about an hour, and that was manually feeding each individual photo because they were all different sizes. The stack feeder works best with the same size photos.

I don't know the price, sorry.