Big Scanning Project

Hello,

I have made it my project to scan a ton of photos this summer. I am currently working with iPhoto, but have decided that I will be switching to the more professional Aperture (unless someone wants to try and convince me Lightroom is more worth my time). I will not be scanning negatives, rather, the photos themselves. So, I would like some tips on a few things:

• What scanner to get that has a photo loading tray for 3x5 (4x6 would be nice too)
• How to automate my scanning

I've posted this in two other web forums, so sorry if this is a second read for some of you - I am just trying to get as many ideas as possible.

Thank you.

I have recently completed the task of scanning all my family's old photos, so can sympathize with you. Things I learned:

1. A scanner with a sheet feeder will not do you much good. I tried that, and though they fed, sometimes there would be multiple photos pulled through the feeder at one time, so that many photos got missed. And, I could only put about 10 photos in the feeder at one time. I finally gave up and used a Canon flatbed scanner. With the software that came with it, I could set up a "Multi-Scan" and could then lay as many photos out as would fit on the platen (with some space between) and the software would scan each photo as its own file. Alternatively, Photoshop Elements (and probably others) has a feature that if you scan multiple photos to one "page" you can then automatically split them.

2. If you are scanning old B&W photos, leave your scanner settings at "color". I had no problems, but have seen on many forums that B&W has caused other people to have major problems in iPhoto recognizing the photos. Scanning as color seems to work just fine.

3. I worked with iPhoto and it did everything I wanted it to do, no need to purchase other expensive software. After scanning, I created DVD's in iDVD, and included the actual files on the disk and gave to family members. They all raved about them!

Good luck!

Do you like that scanner? Or is there a different model you think is good?

I used a Canon LiDE 60 and am very pleased with the results. It has probably been superseded by a later model, but I thinke the LiDE line is all good. Just be sure to download the latest drivers and the latest CanoScan Toolbox (to get the multi-scan feature).