Automatic Document Feed/Photo Scanner?

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Automatic Document Feed/Photo Scanner?

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Started 2 years ago by molsballou
Latest reply from sceyeexplorer
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molsballou
Member

The Unclutter praise for the Fujitsu ScanSnap has had me drooling for ages. But somehow, I can't bite the bullet and buy this thing. My problem is that most of my paper clutter is not like that of a typical home office; they are photos, drawings and pages saved from magazines. (I am a graphic designer, and I hate to part with the things I find visually inspiring, but I'd rather save them digitally than physically.) So back to my question. From reviews I've read, the Fujitsu ScanSnap seems to be best for office papers rather than things that should be scanned at high resolution.

Has anyone tried the Epson Perfection V500 office scanner? (online here: http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?oid=63084659 )
From the product description it seems like the best of both worlds (Automatic Document Feeder/High resolution.) But is too good to be true?

Posted 2 years ago #
PJ Doland
Forum Admin

The Epson Perfection V500 is not an auto duplex scanner (meaning that it doesn't scan both sides of two-sided documents.

There are flatbed scanners with duplex document feeders, but they're HP units and they have terrible reviews from Amazon buyers.

If I were you, I would consider getting a NeatDesk or a ScanSnap for documents and a small and inexpensive Canon LiDE for things that require a flatbed.

Posted 2 years ago #
patrickrhone
Member

I second the SnapScan (recently updated for 10.6) and the NeatDesk (the desktop software for which is an awesome organizational tool as well).

Posted 2 years ago #
brw
Member

@patrickrhone - I have the scansnap as well, and updated the 10.6 software, but the ABBYY Professional reader still isn't updated.

Where did you get the NeatDesk software? Was it available as a stand alone?

Posted 2 years ago #
PJ Doland
Forum Admin

The NeatDesk software is available as a standalone product and it is compatible with a number of document scanners, including several ScanSnap models.

Posted 2 years ago #
v.bampton
Member

I've got the v500 (already had it for photographic use, so picked up the ADF). It's ok as an all-rounder, and good for photographs, but I'm still dreaming of a scansnap for scanning larger volumes of documents.

Posted 2 years ago #
molsballou
Member

Thank you PJ Doland for pointing out the Epson is not a duplex scanner. I hadn't noticed that, and I would have had serious buyer's remorse! I'm thinking maybe I'll start with a NeatDesk or ScanSnap, which will do away with most of my paper clutter, and then invest in a good flatbed scanner down the road. Thanks all!

Posted 2 years ago #
enigma
Member

Does it really have to be a scanner?

I recently found this camera/scanner "sceye" at http://www.sceye.biz/ that allows you to "scan" not just documents and save them in whatever file-format.

I´m rather happy with it as I can take it with me to different locations without much hassle and the results are quite impressive. Plus, it´s faster than any flatbed scanner. And it is powered via USB.

(I don´t know if they ship to the US. Also, I wish I had bought the one with the LED.)

Posted 2 years ago #
jennyusagi
Member

The ScanSnap will work ok for graphics/photos, support will tell you it's not made for that, but some things you can do: set up defaults, one for your regular documents (lower resolution, higher compression), one for your photos (I have mine at max resolution and no compression) - that way you can just double click to switch profiles depending on what you're scanning.

It has trouble with photos that do not have a light leading edge (the software expects that white edge of the paper) - so I often have to feed them in backwards, or rotate them to get the lightest edge to go in first. So be sure to click through and preview the scans to be sure the coloring didn't go off in a dark photo/graphic.

It also seems to not feed the photos very well, so I tend to add the next one as one is scanning in - still faster than using a flatbed! Any that I still have trouble with I just use my flatbed for. The flatbed I have came with software that lets you put down multiple photos and scan them all at once but output to separate files, which helps.

Posted 2 years ago #
schaller2003
Member

I have a couple questions about these.
1. How do you handle staples?
2. When the scanner scans in pages, I think most of them scan into a pdf. Say I am scanning a large stack of papers, like bills from my cell phone company for 2009. Each bill contains 4 pages, which I staple together to keep them together. When I scan all these to pdf it will create one large pdf with single pages. What strageties are there to keep them grouped together by bill (i.e. one pdf of say 50 pages grouped somehow by each bill (4 pages))? In other words, how do I make a "staple" when using these scanners?

Posted 2 years ago #
Bobbi
Member

schaller2003

The staples have to be removed.

Depending on what scanning software came with your scanner, you can decide to scan as pdf, jpg, tiff, etc. You can also decide to scan a 4 page document into one document (pdf) or as 4 separate documents. Don't forget to check the simplex/duplex feature. Duplex will scan both sides of the page without having to turn it over manually. Not important if all your pages are single-sided.

I usually scan each bill or document separately rather than with others. That's just me. I can locate more easily 2009-03 Verizon (4 pages) than in the Telephone 2009 (48 pages) document. To each his/her own. Again, the software might let you insert a blank page that tells it there is a different group. Check "preferences" or "settings" to see what your software offers.

Good luck!

Posted 2 years ago #
nellieb
Member

I have an Epson V500 Photo scanner. It is slow and time consuming to scan photographs which is why I bought it. I'm looking for something else as I have over 40 photo albums filled with pictures that I wish to convert to digital images.

Posted 2 years ago #
sceyeexplorer
Member

We have recently been named the US distribution / service point for the Sceye scanner. The innovations over the last year have been remarkeable. 10 megapixel camera, autoscan and the latest Sceye Race allows a very quick computer hotkey to place the scanned page into any open document or email or pretty much any Windows or Mac program.
http://www.thelowvisionstore.net/sceye

I hope it is OK to post such here.

Posted 4 months ago #

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