Scanning Snapshots? What settings?

If you're scanning your old family snapshots, using too high of a setting will take substantially more time, and probably won't gain much .... but that depends on what you want to do with the scan. Understanding what settings will allow you do do various things might help when you are deciding.

[@ToddfromLA]

I recently purchased the Epson FF-680 and this is the exact video that I was hoping to find on KZbin. Thank you for all of your effort to make this video and the detail you went into. It will save me a lot of trial and error.

[@elseefried]

One of the best videos and informative on scanning photos. I really learned a lot from your style of comparing and why you’d choose one over another. Really really helpful. Thanks

[@cwaynefox]

Glad it was helpful!

[@andrewclack6599]

This video has been so useful and convinced me to buy the Epson 680. I’m hugely impressed with both the hardware and software that comes with it. My objective is to declutter the thousands of generational photos that I’ve inherited from relatives who have died. Bringing oneself to the point where one is actually ready to incinerate them is tough but I made the decision I’d keep one or two boxes of really precious originals and burn the rest. So I’m about halfway through and chose to scan all 5x3, 6x4 and even 7x5 at 600dpi, dropping to 300dpi on large prints (>10x8) but if the 10x8 was say a wedding group with lots of people in it (so small faces) I am using 600dpi on these so there’s enough detail to recognise them all. I will finish all scans, back up all images to a second drive, then to cloud storage, and only then will I destroy them.

[@haeremaru]

Excellent insights, very practical and useable. Very timely as I am looking at options to having a shop do all the scans. I stumbled on another video from you earlier, with great tips on capabilities for tagging info about the batches of pictures in an easy way on the 680 (year, place, etc..). Thanks.

[@dorisnincsics3709]

Thank you Wayne you are very informative

[@cwaynefox]

Thanks

[@jeffleonhardt7173]

Great video! You made a lot of great points on not over doing it...

[@cwaynefox]

I appreciate that!

[@davidpendleton4464]

All the information I wanted. Thanks so much for the video

[@cwaynefox]

Glad it was helpful!

[@yannisgk]

very informative video!!!thanks Sir!!!

[@howardjordan1486]

Thanks for all The great information my question is I’ve never done anything like this with photos, which machine do you recommend for me to purchase for the photos I have thousands to do thank you very much.

[@jameswubbolt7787]

Awesome.thx.

[@Zam919]

Great video. Question, did you scan to a Tif file in your scans and then convert or straight to jpeg?

[@cwaynefox]

The jpeg files were straight from the scanner. The flatbed scanner was set to 70 on the jpeg compression, based on file size I believe that’s what the FastFoto scanners use when saving as a jpeg.

[@DesiMakeupGrl]

This was a great video. You have a wealth of knowledge. I am trying to decide between a flatbed scanner compared to the fastfoto. I want to use the pictures for a Photobook. With some full page spreads. What dpi would you suggest in that case? Would 600 be adequate? And if I were to get a less expensive flatbed scanner like the Epson V600 do you think that would give a better scan than the fastfoto? Sorry for all the questions. I’m very new to this and I trust your expertise.

[@cwaynefox]

Sorry to take so long to answer, this summer's been really busy getting ready for my upcoming wedding. The flatbed scanner will always yield slightly better results and is more versatile. Just a lot slower than the FastFoto. If you can only afford one, the flatbed is the one you want. I think 600 dpi would be more than adequate for printing in photobooks.

[@DesiMakeupGrl]

@@cwaynefox Thank you for replying. I appreciate your advice. I’ll look into getting a flatbed scanner. Congrats on your wedding and looking forward to future videos from you.

[@PeterSteward]

Hi, Thanks for the info on the scanners, how does the FF680 handle dust on a stack of photos, does it create a dust streak, how often is cleaning of the lens required.

[@cwaynefox]

No lens, it has a "linear" sensor. Dust or dirt on the sensor leaves a mark. Software can detect and handles it quite well, it will remind you to clean it or tell you if it senses dust. Easy to clean, just a wipe with a micro fiber cloth does the trick.

[@tanyarobbins1996]

Terrific videos. Thank you. I’m just getting started using it today. Quick question. How do you scan into a folder you created previously (like the next day or such ). I select the correct folder but when i deselect “create subfolder”, the extension shows the main folder , not the sub folder I selected from clicking the folder icon. I know I could manually move them…or so I think? But it feels like there should be a way to go back and add to a folder created before. I’ve googled and not found an answer so I thought I’d reach out. Thx

[@cwaynefox]

You should be able to select the folder you used previously. Not sure why it’s a problem for you. Make sure you update the counter to the next number available in the folder or it can over write files already scanned.

[@frizzyacademic]

Great info on the Fastfoto across your videos Wayne. What program do you recommend for the Fastfoto 680 today? The epson software does the count correctly, that doesn’t bother me overly as my family photos aren’t in order (mostly just in stacks in boxes) I notice the iPad epson fastfoto scanning app doesn’t edit the EXIF data with the date. I might try a couple of programs light silverlight or Vuescan. Or the Fastfoto app on windows and Mac. Having the correct EXIF dates I pretty handy to order your photos by date on iOS photos app.

[@jgp5775]

thank you for the info . Will the DPI make much detail difference if viewing the photos on a 75 inch or 85 inch big screen tv? I will be using a Canon flatbed scanner

[@cwaynefox]

You can scan higher DPI, but the source of the scan (the photo) doesn’t have enough detail to go more than about 600dpi. Usually when viewing on a big TV you are quite a distance (big TV’s don’t have any more pixels than smaller tv’s, they are just bigger. But you are further away so visually you can’t see them). I did all of my snapshots at 300dpi, and they look great on a 70” TV.

[@jgp5775]

@@cwaynefox thank you ,that helps

[@berniemoskowitz1438]

if using the epson ff680 can you work on the photos in a program like luminar?

[@cwaynefox]

It creates standard jpeg or tiff files which work in any image editing software.

[@berniemoskowitz1438]

@@cwaynefox Thank you. I learnt a lot from your videos!

[@Imstarshine]

Hi, thanks for the information, could you help with a question? I'm hoping to scan old 1990s colour snapshots on a flatbed cannon lide 300. I would like to scan 3 photos at a time on the plate. Do you know which software would autocrop and rotate as i scan? I thought Adobe Elements did this but, I tried researching this using AI and Google and I'm getting conflicting feedback. Thank you

[@cwaynefox]

I’m not familiar with the Canon Scanners. I know the Epson scanners have the functionality you describe built into the Epson Scanner software, maybe the Canon Software does this as well? Have you researched that? Another possibility that might work is SilverFast, their scanning software is pretty good. Not sure if they have this functionality, but worth checking out.. www.silverfast.com

[@Imstarshine]

@@cwaynefox that's very kind of you, thank you. After watching your videos I have bought the Epson Fastfoto 680. I'm going to give it a go as I have a lot of photos of my own to catalogue, and also many more of my parents from the 1950s, 1960s. I am hoping I don't get too many of those lines appearing in the photos as I'm a bit of a perfectionist- with analysis paralysis. I'll be sure to check your videos for tips! Glad I found your channel, very good!