Scanning a TON of old photos, like over 3,000 most likely

[DawnM]

I have found thousands of slides, which I guess I just need to work through slowly because I haven't found a fast way to do them myself other than a one by one scan to upload.

But now I have TONS of old photos.   Boxes and boxes of them.  My parents just had loads and loads of pictures.

Yesterday I took iPhone pics of them but they aren't good quality that way at all, AND it would take forever to do it.

I have been looking for a photo scanner that can do it quickly AND repairs them a bit while scanning so I don't have to go in and readjust all the 1980s yellow light one by one.

The only thing I have found that fits the bill is the Epson FastFoto Scanner, but it is $600.   

I have a flatbed scanner, but it is so slow, even when I try to upload 4 at a time.   It is decent quality but a lot of work.

Is there anything else on the market that will do what I want it to do?   Upload fast/fast feed, repair as it uploads (yes, I know some I may still need to tweak, but the bulk will be fine.)

I was hoping for something in the $300 or so range.

[Miss Tick]

Have you considered sending them out in batches to a company that will do this for you? My mom had a good experience doing that.

That would mean you could focus your time in sorting through which ones you want scanned, or grouping them.

Edited February 20, 2022 by SusanC
sometimes I post before finishing my thought

[Grace Hopper]

1 hour ago, SusanC said:

Have you considered sending them out in batches to a company that will do this for you? My mom had a good experience doing that.

That would mean you could focus your time in sorting through which ones you want scanned, or grouping them.

I would love to hear of anyone’s specific recommendations for such a service. I’ve been putting off this job for far too long myself, and have a few photos appx a century old I need to get scanned/enhanced, but find myself with the same time & equipment constraints as DawnM. 

[DawnM]

3 hours ago, SusanC said:

Have you considered sending them out in batches to a company that will do this for you? My mom had a good experience doing that.

That would mean you could focus your time in sorting through which ones you want scanned, or grouping them.

I would prefer not to, for a variety of reasons.

[MerryAtHope]

I am intrigued by this app but haven’t tried it: https://photomyne.com/faq/pricing

I have used Legacy Box for videos and they handled things well. They do photos—when you look at pricing, 1 “item” is 25 photos. So, if you have thousands, that would be cost prohibitive! They frequently have 50% off sales, and last Labor Day I saw 60% off. Even at that though, 3000 would be “120 items,” wow!

[Miss Tick]

2 hours ago, Grace Hopper said:

I would love to hear of anyone’s specific recommendations for such a service. I’ve been putting off this job for far too long myself, and have a few photos appx a century old I need to get scanned/enhanced, but find myself with the same time & equipment constraints as DawnM. 

My mom used "Scan my Photos .com" and was happy with the results.

[Beth S]

I've scanned all of our own photos, and the best from both sets of parents' collections in the past 5 years.

I used a cheap flat-bed scanner, scanning 4 at a time, on a high resolution.
Then when I go to use one of the photos, I crop it.

My brother pays for the deluxe Google Photo cloud storage, in exchange for enjoying the pix I've scanned.
I enjoy finding old photos & sharing them at birthdays, & make mini photo albums for inexpensive Christmas Gifts.

Photos are my love language.

I did find lots of slides.  I sent them to ScanCafe.com with great success.
I've done 3 batches of about 50 slides each.  Very definitely the best-of-the-best.
I paid about 75c per slide, but it was totally worth it.
I mailed the slides to ScanCafe in Indiana.  They scanned the slides & someone in a foreign country edits the digital files.
Then they mailed back the slides, and emailed a link to the digital files.

I did sort (to make the project do-able), and scanned only the ones I wanted (maybe 10% of the total).

I think that if you truly scanned 3000 photos, it would be very difficult to sift thru them, to find specific people or specific occasions.
I grouped the photos before scanning, so they are grouped by family member.

All this to say . . . it was a very long, but rewarding project.
I thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing along the way.

I just realized that I've had the SAME $600 photo scanner (that you mentioned) in my Amazon Wish List for years.
I couldn't rationalize that kind of expense, but if you think of the TIME savings, then it would be worthwhile!

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DLX26BB/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_7?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Best Wishes on your Photo Project!

 

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by Beth S

[KungFuPanda]

I wouldn't even try to fix that many photos.  Maybe scan them all as quickly and accurately as possible and put them into a bound book for your coffee table.  There's nothing wrong with the photos looking like the original.  The dozen or so that you REALLY love and will display more prominently can be treated with more time and care.  This is one of those projects where if you try to do it perfectly it will never get done.