Photo Scanning

Scanning equipment really matters, and it comes down to two key variables: 1) Can we get an exquisite scan of the image with a high degree of sharpness and accurate color? 2) Can we get these great results for all types of photographs, even if they are delicate or challenging? The answer to this is yes, but it means you need a lot of different equipment and the experience to know when to use which scanners.

First, a few obvious points. We clean photographs before we scan so that dust doesn’t scan into the photos, and we clean the scanners regularly so that debris doesn’t get into the scans either. That means wiping lenses, cleaning rollers, replacing the lighting elements regularly and more. Additionally, all of our scanners offer high DPI, so if your prints are at 100–300 DPI as is common, we are scanning at 600 DPI. Our slide and film scanning is covered on another page, but we’re at 2,000 to 4,000 DPI for those digitizing processes.

Second, let’s talk about the nuances of the scanners and the situations we need to accommodate:

Flatbed Scanners and Oversized Flatbed Scanners: Flatbed scanners are an important part of what we do. They are a workhorse, high-quality solution for delicate items that can handle pressure from the top, but cannot be put through a roller or are too large for a high-speed scanning system. Great examples of when we use flatbed scanners are letters, thicker photo prints from the 1920 to 1940, and curling photos, and the smaller square or oval photos that we see from time to time. We also have a special set of flatbed scanners with a glass edge for dealing with certain bound items with exceptionally tight bindings where content is tight in the margin. We use four different flatbed scanner models at EverPresent, all of which are commercial-grade machines that cost thousands of dollars.

Overhead Scanners: Overhead scanners refer to a sophisticated camera element that images the photos from above. These scanners are most appropriate for very large items like a full newspaper page, or scrapbooks or bound items where items will fall out or be damaged if we turn over the book into a flatbed. This methodology is also ideal for any three dimensional scanning situation, such as dealing with a picture in a frame or a photograph of an important memento, like war medals. Our overhead scanning technology has been designed in-house and relies on Nikon and Canon imaging elements. All of our overhead scanning rigs cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Feed Scanners: Feed scanners are appropriate for a minority of what we see, but can be effective if used with care. The quality is exquisite as long as these scanners are only used for the appropriate media, and only used in the semi-automated mode. In our experience feed scanners will skip images if they are used in fully automatic modes in most cases and/or jam and damage photos. The best uses of feed scanners are relatively recent prints between 4×6 and 8×10 in size that are in near-mint condition – or – 35mm slides and negatives that are also in excellent condition. We primarily use devices with customized modifications, and each of our scan stations in this arena costs over $20,000 to build.