I give the Epson FF-680W FastFoto Scanner the thumbs up

[@timothybogaert6189]

Nice video you made. Very calm and you kept it very easy. I disagree on 1 thing. I scan my pictures usually on 600dpi. This gives you more options if you want to do something with your scans. For example, I scanned some old pictures of small size from my family. After scanning, i made a fotoalbum which i could enlarge the little pictures a bit without (noticeable) quality loss. This is only a matter of opinion of course. Greetings

[@cvaelliott]

Thank you for your nice comments I really appreciate the feedback as I try to make videos that are informative. And like you I have also decided to stick to the 600 DPI setting for very much the same settings. Cliff

[@SKSK-rz7br]

Nice video ... im from London UK ... I was in Tassie back in 1996 (Backpacking days) - loved it there.. and as for the scanner will purchase when i can convince myself to part with £540.00 .... :-} .. Hope all's well

[@clensmedia6514]

Thanks for watching my video, it was for someone like you that I produced the video for, to help them make a decision on is it worth the money. Im my case it has been a godsend as we have literally scanned thousands of pics since the video was made and it made the process so easy. As for Tassie a great place and I am glad you got a chance to enjoy it (especially as a backpacker). I also have great memories of my trip to the UK in 2014, experienced my first white Christmas there in Chester.

[@michaelburton4236]

I looked at this myself, great review .. impressive device, I’ll be around with my full drawers of 60+ years of photos that need scanning!!!!!!!

[@clensmedia6514]

Hi Michael yes it has proved to be a very good product, after a few weeks I had captured almost all our family photographs. It is nw with my brother in law scanning thousands of his pics.

[@michaelburton4236]

@@clensmedia6514 the cue has started!!!

[@Kellysnorthshore]

Great video. Really appreciate you sharing this information!

[@clensmedia6514]

Glad it is helping people, thanks for the comment

[@lloydchristmas4547]

Thanks a lot for the excellent introduction to this scanner.

[@clensmedia6514]

Thank you Lloyd, appreciate your comment.

[@marvamason]

I have another question about the software that comes with this Epson. I am really attracted to the fact that it will enhance photos automatically. I know that it will create folders for all the pictures and that it will upload to dropbox or Google photos. Are you able to copy these folders onto an external hard drive so it doesn’t eat up all of your space on the computer?

[@clensmedia6514]

Hi Marva yes its very easy to jus the directory of scans to any external storage. Epson automatically sets up a directory called FastFoto in the pictures directory of your Mac where all of the directories for batch scans are created and stored. As for the enhancement feature, it does a pretty good job but be aware that occasionally it gets it wrong necessitating the need to rescan the photo, on the second run it gets it right. Cliff

[@marvamason]

@@clensmedia6514 that is perfect. I don’t need all of my photos to be enhanced. But there may be some of the older ones that I would like to see the enhancement…. Thank you so much for your fast response. You have been very gracious and I appreciate it. Once I get through with all my pictures, then I will tackle scanning all my negatives in case there is something there I missed.

[@jenniferhanenburg7670]

I noticed that you were able to add a date to your scanned photos. Is that information saved in the data of the scan or is that only for the organization of the folders? I am wondering if the photo will maintain the date that I have chosen for it as it is moved into other backup storage. I find that the date of scanned photos is that of the day of scan...

[@clensmedia6514]

Hi Jennifer the dates are stored in the folder and file name of the pictures scanned and so as long as you don't change the file name of the pictures you will be able to see the dates. But if you want to imbed date and other information into the meta data of the picture files you will need to use another piece of software like Photo Mechanic to add this information. Here is their web site home.camerabits.com When I have more time in the coming weeks I may do a video on this very subject. Hope this helps you. Cliff

[@marvamason]

This scanner seems to be on the top of my list at the moment of choice. Does the scanner have to be connected to the computer while scanning or can you scan all your pictures and then connect to the computer and upload?

[@clensmedia6514]

Hi Marva, yes it must be connected to the computer as all of the functions are controlled via the software on your computer. But as it is connected by Wireless connection it makes it very easy to use. I have the scanner set up on a shelf at one end of my office and the laptop down the other end, I just turn on the scanner by pressing the button then wait a moment for the software on my laptop to connect and away I go scanning to my heart s content.. I hope this helps, Cliff.

[@marvamason]

@@clensmedia6514 thanks so much. This might actually work. I was hoping to do the scanning from the living room and my computer is in the computer room.

[@clensmedia6514]

@@marvamason That will definitely work as long as you have decent wiFi connection, keep in mind you will have to walk back and forth to load the pictures after each batch scan.

[@tonniaspigener7258]

Could you please tell me the steps on how to put scanned photos from the fastfoto 680 onto a flash drive ? Thank you

[@clensmedia6514]

Hi Tonia if you're on a Mac, use Finder to copy the directory you saved the scans to then after plugging in the flash drive into a port double click on it when it appears on the desktop and paste, the directory will then be copied to the flash drive. If a PC basically the same but using file explorer. Hope this helps. Cliff

[@user-ps5ic2hr9t]

Hi, thanks for the review, one question: does it scan edge to edge - ie all sides to the edge? If it doesn't, how much gets cut off? Thanks!

[@clensmedia6514]

Hi yes it scans the whole photograph edge to edge with no cropping.

[@user-ps5ic2hr9t]

@@clensmedia6514 awesome, thanks for the reply, looks like we're buying one!

[@clensmedia6514]

You won't regret it as our family have been sharing the scanner around and we have scanned thousands of photographs now to great success. I will though make one amendment to my comment in the video about scanning at 300 DPI I now suggest 600 is better for long term storage and reproduction. Best of luck.

[@TheGeoDaddy]

Read the Amazon comments… doubtless a great way to bulk scan a lot of SNAPS! But If you have quality shots, use a flatbed (or, for really serious work, and IF you have negatives - positives for you serious Photographers - a macro lens and digital camera) This time saver produces JPEGS while - even a low end - flatbed will give you a TIFF! What’s the diff? It’s like 1080P video vs 4K ie only wanna see your pics on a smart phone? KISS! But if you wanna put treasured family keepsakes on a monitor… TIFF/4K!

[@clensmedia6514]

Hi George every thing is a balance and in this case this device does a fantastic job of creating archives of printed photographs fast. Meaning if you have inherited thousands of pictures from dead relatives there is no way you are going to use a flat bed scanner as you will be scanning for years. I made this video for people who are not technical and so the storage of hundreds if not thousands of pictures in Jpeg form from this scanner is a perfect fit for them. I would hasten to add most of the targeted audience would not know what a Tiff is and to be honest they don't need to know unless they are into processing and composting of high quality pictures, in which case they will know anyway.

[@jeffleonhardt7173]

The manual states not to connect to the computer until the software is installed. :-)

[@clensmedia6514]

I don't understand your comment, I followed the procedure exactly as laid out in the quick start guide. Installed the software onto the computer then connected the printer by cable for final installation.

[@nosuchthing8]

RTM!

[@terrybrooks395]

1200dpi is interpolated, best not use that, use a max of 600dpi

[@gilbertmontanez8084]

I was looking for this comment. Why would 600 DPI be better than 1200 DPI? I would assume 1200 DPI captures more detail and quality, which is important.

[@ashleymitts]

What does Interpolated mean?

[@nosuchthing8]

Dude, the worst illumination of a laptop ever