Simple, no-frills photograph scanner?

[DoYouKubuntu]

I just got thoroughly overwhelmed searching, in vain, for a bare-bones photo scanner.

All I want it to do is: be stationary, have a feeder, accommodate photos of varying sizes dating back decades [not 8x10 or anything that big, more like 4x6, 3x5, whatever typical image sizes were when printed]. Bonus points if I can connect it to my Wi-Fi network and can save its files on networked drives. Acceptable if it's USB, as long as it works with Linux.

I don't need or want any frills! Just feed it photos and have it save the files where I can easily access them.

I figured this would be a trivial pursuit, and that such a creature would cost <$100. I was wrong! I stopped looking when fancy-schmancy scanners in four figures showed up.

[jlittle]

... a bare-bones photo scanner...
All I want ... a feeder, accommodate photos of varying sizes dating back decades ...

IMO, if you want reasonable quality, a feeder won't work well at any price, and would risk damaging the photos.

IMO, it's a job better done by a service that has decades of experience, even though they cost a lot.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Thanks, John.

I definitely would not want to damage any photos, but I was hoping to do this myself. I need things to do!

But they have to meet my specific needs. I thought this would be something I could work on, 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, until it was done. In my case, it's not the end product so much as getting there.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Never mind! I went ahead and ordered a scanner that looked pretty much as I imagined, and can be used with or without a computer. So I added an SD card to the order, and they're on their way, out for delivery today.

Its feeder handles photos of various sizes, and the scanner [supposedly] automatically detects the size, and scans accordingly. If it really works like that, I won't need to manually edit each scan, like I used to when using a full-sized scanner, to crop it down to just the photo. We'll see!

[GreyGeek]

My wife's relative asked for copies of her historical photos and documents from the mid to late 1800s. This morning I took by GS10 and photographed them all in about 3 minutes. I used Dolphin to connect to my phone and copied the photos to my Pictures folder. I used Gwenview to crop (and sometimes rotate) the photos. Then I used Thunderbird to email them one at a time (avg size 2.4Mb) to her relative. Total time about 15-20 minutes.

[oshunluvr]

I looked into this a decade ago and they were $1000 back then. I ended up with a 4800dpi Canon flatbed that I could put 5-6 pictures on or 4 slides at a time. Then I used VueScan (pro registered version) to scan each photo/slide individually. I would just plop the photos down when I was doing other things and scan them as I did whatever. Took a few months to get through them all, but it was piece-meal when I had time so it didn't seem all that difficult of a task.

[DoYouKubuntu]

I have thousands of photos to scan, and I definitely don't have the patience [or energy] to do them via full-sized scanner!

Oh, I tried...gosh...the first time was in my old house, so 15+ years ago, then again here at some point. It just wasn't worth the hassle.

I think all along I was waiting...waiting...for a usable photo scanner to be invented...and, alas!, it has.

[oshunluvr]

You know, once you finish with the project you could sell it or do a little side-business!

[DoYouKubuntu]

You're on the same wavelength I am, @oshunluvr!

Seriously, I was thinking once I'm done scanning all my photos, what good will it be? So I said to myself, hmmm...I could do small-scale conversion jobs for other people. Or sell it.

[DoYouKubuntu]

This is what I bought; they arrived last night.



You'll note that in addition to the photo scanner, there are two 1TB external drives--they're replacing the two existing, still perfectly good ones mentioned in another thread.

The photo scanner pretty much fit my criteria. The SD card lets it function as a standalone unit, no need to be connected to a computer [though it can be, via USB]. Now all that remains is to see how well it actually works!

[GreyGeek]

Looking forward to your report, AND lusting after those two 1TB drives

[DoYouKubuntu]

They're cheap inexpensive, GG! Each is <$60 and if history can be counted on, great quality. They're replacing identical drives that have hummed along for six years, with no hiccups. They're Transcend, military drop-tested, USB drives. Worth every cent...and then some!

[GreyGeek]

Do you just reformat the entire drive to eliminate their software and 256 bit AES encryption folders and app?

[DoYouKubuntu]

To be [painfully] honest...I didn't do anything to the new ones--and absolutely do not recall formatting the old ones.

I simply deleted their [worthless, useless, windows and Mac] software, and plunged in backing up files.