Best Photo Scanner: My Recommendation

Choosing a Scanner

The best way to get your photos onto your harddrive is using a scanner, but it can be hard to know which is the best photo scanner. These come in all shapes and sizes, but here’s the things you should look for when deciding which one to buy:

• Scanning Resolution (DPI)

  DPI, or depth per inches, is a measure of the resolution you can scan your pictures in. A DPI of 4800×4800 means that your picture will have the resolution of 4800×4800 pixels, which is more than enough for capturing the details needed in photo repair.

• Color Depth

  Color depth, or bit depth is a measure of how many specific colors the flatbed scanner can capture. The higher bit depth the more tones you’ll capture from your photo. Even most low range scanners today have 48-bit colors, which is more than enough to capture all detail.

• Scanning Formats

  There’s two kinds of scanners that photo restorers use. The most common model is the flatbed scanner, which all of the below recommendations are, and with it you can scan 95% of all pictures you might have at home. The other kind of scanner is a negative scanner made specifically for scanning 35mm slides and negatives, but in my opinion you’ll need to have to scan hundreds or thousands of negatives for it to be worth the price. They’re pretty expensive. It’s possible to scan negatives and 35mm slides with the scanners below too, the image quality will just not be as good.

Don’t want to buy a scanner?

Check out these recommended photo scanning services for an easy and cheap way to get top quality scans of your photos.

Recommended Photo Scanners

• Epson Perfection V300 (~$80 – Most Popular)

  The Epson V300 is probably the most popular photo scanner on the market today. With an optical resolution of 4800 x 9600 dpi and a built-in support for scanning 35mm slides and negatives, you really can’t find more bang for the buck than this one. This scanner will fit 95% of peoples needs and this would be the one I would buy if I was looking for a new photo scanner today.

  Read my Epson Perfection V300 review

  Another budget alternative is the Epson Perfection 4490, which gives you great photo scans for less than $125. This is the same print scanner as ScanCafe uses.

• Epson Perfection V600 (~$199)

  The king of photo scanners, this scanner can swallow any photo format you can throw at it. At 22 pounds it’s literally a beast, but you’ll get among the best quality scans you can buy.
  More about Epson Perfection V600

  Epson Perfection V700(~$565)

  
  The king of photo scanners, this scanner can swallow any photo format you can throw at it. At 22 pounds it’s literally a beast, but you’ll get among the best quality scans you can buy.
  More about Epson Perfection V700

So, choosing the best photo scanner has got a lot to do with personal preference, it all depends on how you intend to use the scanner. A good flatbed scanner should for photo scanning have as high DPI as possible, because this gives you a much more detailed digital copy.

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