A Portable Photo Scanner, as the name indicates, is a machine which performs the function of scanning photographs and is portable, which means it can be carried from one place to another with convenience. They say technology has the solution to everything. This statement fits portable photo scanners perfectly because they have truly made the life of photo enthusiasts and businessmen easy.

The portable photo scanner comes in handy because the size is small enough to fit into even a laptop bag and will take up little space in home or the office. A weight of almost a pound gives portable scanner the status of a fully portable member of the family of scanners. Its portability makes it easy to carry around while traveling.

Photo buffs find portable scanners very useful because it provides them with the ease to convert the photographs into digital format, which can be saved for a longer time in the computer and is the best way to get rid of photo clutter. Photographers can carry the scanner in their bags while they are traveling so that the photos can be immediately transferred into their laptop and that sets the memory of the digital camera free to capture more of precious moments.

Portable digital photo scanners usually operate on a lithium ion battery that allow the scanner to be used anywhere even on the road, as there is no wire which needs electric outlet for functioning. A USB 2.0 cable connects the computer with the scanner. The body of portable scanner is made up of high quality plastic which is durable and resistant to dents and dings.

Portable scanners usually have an automatic photo feeder by means of which five to ten or even more photographs can be scanned in less than a minute, unlike the flatbed scanners which require one photograph at a time to be placed on the glass surface and take longer to scan. The time is further prolonged by ensuring that the photo is placed in the correct manner without even a little tilt as it will result in a tilted digital image.

Like portable printers, the scanners are compatible with Windows and Mac. They come with pre installed photo software which gives high resolution digital images and fixes the color and pixel automatically. The price of portable document and photo scanners is a little higher than flatbed scanners, but when compared to the benefits and features it offers, the price is truly worth it.

A photo slide scanner performs the function of digitizing the entire collection of physical photographs and negatives. It is a must-have for amateur and pro photographers alike. A photo and slide scanner serves the dual purpose of converting the 35mm negative film into a whole new colorful picture on the computer screen and scanning the existing physical photographs into the computer.

The gadget has made the lives of people easier as it provides a medium for storing their precious camera moments onto computers for permanency. It also saves them the hassle of getting the 35mm negative slides developed into physical form via a third party. The scanner works by sliding the photos and negatives in from one side which after processing in the machine comes out from the other end.

There are various brands which manufacture all types of photo slides scanners notably, Hewlett Packard, Nikon, Cannon, Epson, Pardigital and Fujitsu. The scanners vary in prices and features however, they serve the same purpose. Sites such as Amazon, Sears, Price Grabber, eBay etc can provide an idea about the price ranges of photo slide scanners.

The Epson Perfection V300 Photo Scanner is the cheapest photo scanner available. It is a flatbed with a resolution of 4800 dots per inch and 48-bit color capability. It comes with special software applications that remove dust particles and stains from photographs and documents and also convert them into encrypted PDF formats which are ideal for sharing. The photo scanner is a worthy candidate in the line of affordable scanners costing US$100. The Epson Perfection V500 Photo scanner is a comparatively high quality scanner with a resolution of 6400 dots per inch. It is faster and has compartments for placing photographs and documents and delivers multiple copies. It comes with a USB cable and software such as Adobe Photoshop which allows the retouching of photographs manually as well as automatically. It uses LED as the source of light to enhance productivity in an environmentally friendly manner. Its price ranges from US$300 to US$349.

Likewise, the Pandigital PhotoLink One-Touch Scanner is a small sized scanner that is suitable for scanning photographs of 5’’ x 7’’ or less. It comes with a resolution of 300 to 600 dots per inch. The scanner belongs to the family of portable photo scanners. The user simply slips in the photo on the sliding sheet which is sucked in by the scanner and digital image appears on the computer screen within less than ten seconds. One feature that appeals the users is that it has a built-in 1GB memory card that allows storage and scanning of more photos. The scanner has a price range between US$74 to US$100.

The HP Scanjet G04050 photo scanner shines when it comes to quality and reliability. It can scan up to a resolution of 4800 dpi to 9600 dpi, without slowing down the process. It is capable of scanning thirty negative frames and sixteen 35 mm slides in one go. It comes with photo refining software which removes any defects from the pictures. HP has set a direct price of US$199 for this scanner.

For professionals, who are looking for a photo slide scanner of quality, they should opt for Nikon Super CoolScan 500 ED which falls in the price range of US$4000 to US$4500.It comes with a dual lens that promises to provide super quality photographs which will be identical or more vibrant than the original ones. The developing time is less than fifteen seconds. It is equipped with software that addresses even the subtle defects in photos and offers a number of alternatives for color, brightness and contrast. The true optical resolution is 4000 dpi which takes the picture on the desktop to an entirely new level.  The scanner is durable and comes with a thirty year warranty.

With a photo scanner and feeder, you can now easily create a whole new world of digitized photographs on your desktops, laptops and notebooks. The photo scanner works on the principles of photocopier and shares certain features with digital camera.

The photo scanner has brought convenience to the lives of those who love to capture family memories, natural and random beauty in their digital or conventional cameras. The latter comes with 35mm negative slides, which can directly be brought to life with help of photo scanners with feeder or film sliders and stored on the computer in electronic form. The physical photographs when passed through the photo scanner with feeder, take the form of digital images, which you can share with your circle of friends and family over the internet.

The photo scanner comes in two forms— the photo flatbed scanner with or without feeder and the photo scanner with auto feeder. The photo flatbed scanner is the conservative form of scanner. It usually weighs around five to seven kilograms and looks more like a compact version of a photocopier.

The photo scanner works by lifting the lid of the scanner and placing the photograph you want to scan onto the glass top with face down and close the lid. When the scan button is pressed, a scanning head moves from right to left beneath the glass while emitting a green light. On the scanning head is attached a sensing unit for detecting light called charge coupled device or CCD. The light reflects the blueprint of the photograph on the charge coupled device which is then translated into binary language and a series of electric signals are generated. Then the digital image of the photograph appears on the computer screen which is more or less the same or even better than the original photograph. This is just the same way as you do with a photocopier to make copies of the documents in black and white.

In a flatbed photo scanner with feeder, a plastic feeder is there in which the photographs to be scanned are placed on by one, just like you place the page one by one on the printing tray. The photograph is sucked inside the body of the scanner where the scanning head moves from left to right below it. The image is copied on the charge coupled device, which is then translated into digital image within a few minutes.

Likewise, in an automatic photo feeder scanner, the photographs ten to fifty or even more in number are placed on the feeder. Then the feeder pushes the photographs into the body of the scanner where the scanning head moves back and forth beneath the stationary photographs. The blueprint of all photographs is imprinted on charge coupled device which in turn give rise to electric signals. The computer reads the signals and within seconds, the colorful and vibrant images appear on the desktop. The automatic photo scanner has replaced flatbed as it is lightweight and small in size and consumes less time, which makes scanning more convenient and fun.

Canon, Hewlett Packard (HP), Epson, Nikon, Fujitsu and Agfa are the names of reliable brands which are known for manufacturing high quality photo scanners.

If you have hundreds of photographs taken in the pre digital era and you want to get rid of the clutter without having to lose the memories, a photo scanner feeder is the right option for you. It saves time and creates a whole new world of digital photographs, which will be more vibrant than the original ones.

A photo scanner is classified into two types—flatbed photo scanner and automatic photo scanner with feeder. The flatbed photo scanner is a traditional type of scanner which allows scanning of one picture at a time. It is a time consuming process as the speed of the scanner is very low and it requires special care in placing the photograph on the scanning glass at the right angle, which needs to be adjusted a couple times before attaining the perfect position. The image is not of that good a quality. However, it has been widely used in offices and homes for scanning documents, business cards and photographs.

The second type is the automatic photo feeder scanner which is user friendly and easy to operate. It is known for reducing the scanning time and energy of the user. Unlike flatbed scanners, it comes with a feeder that allows users to place stacks of documents and photographs on it, which are fed into the scanner to automatically generate high quality digital scans within minutes. Thus, all that the user has to do is to put the documents or photographs into the feeder and press the scan button, and it takes care of the rest in unattended, batch mode. In some models, special compartments of five to ten in number are made on the scanning glass for placement of photographs. The demand of flatbed machines is diminishing as the automatic scanner is gradually replacing it.

The built-in software often allows manual as well as automatic retouching of old photographs. There are special applications which offer the option of saving the photographs in encrypted form and sharing it easily with friends and family. Most of the scanners come with USB 2.0 cables which functions to boost the connectivity. The best part of photo feeder scanner is that it is light weight and reliable compared to the conventional flatbed.

The photo scanner with feeder is manufactured by a couple of well known electronic brands such as Hewlett Packard (HP), Canon, Fujitsu and Epson. The prices vary from brand to brand but are comparatively higher than regular flatbed scanners as convenience and quality does not come cheap.

A color scanner is a computer device that can capture images in color and then convert them into a digital form that can be processed, displayed and stored by a computer. Even though there are a few models of black and white scanners available, the majority of scanners of today are equipped with color scanning capabilities. There are various different kinds of color scanners, including handheld color scanners, color flatbed scanners, sheet-fed color scanners as well as drum color scanners that are widely used in the publishing industry to capture high-elaborated images. The most popular choice of scanner used in homes and offices is the flatbed color scanner.

Color scanners are specifically designed to digitize and transfer color images to your computer. There are many users who only scan grayscale or black and white documents such as text files and don’t make use of their scanner’s color capabilities. However, color printers are essential for those who want to transfer pictures, captured by anything except a digital camera, to their computer.

Some of the terms we commonly hear when dealing with color scanners is the bit/color depth and the resolution. Bit depth, also known as color dept, is a measure of the quantity of colors the scanner is capable of reproducing. Usually, 24 bits are at least needed by each pixel in a picture to attain “true color” and the majority of color scanners provide this as a minimum. The measure of resolution is dots per inch (dpi) and many flatbed scanners feature a minimum resolution of 300 by 300 dpi or even higher than this in most cases.

Imaging software should be provided with every color scanner you purchase. This will serve as a means of communication between the scanned image and your computer. Using the imaging software, you can edit the color, sharpness, brightness as well as the display size of the scanned image; however, it is impossible to edit text without having the optical character recognition software (OCR). Some of the most sophisticated imagining software sets come with OCR application to edit text on a scanned file.

Color scanners come in a variety of designs and prices to suit users with different requirements and budget. You can purchase a very basic scanner from a computer store or online retailer for as low as $100, whereas the more efficient, high quality scanners may cost you as high as over $1000.

Many people have discovered the delight of converting old family photographs, slides and documents from analog to the digital form using a color flatbed scanner. The purchase of a flatbed color scanner shouldn’t be a problem at all as there are many popular brands offering them.

The Canon CanoScan CS8800F Flatbed Scanner is one of the top selling scanners in the market. This powerful scanner is designed to be quick and sleek and will make an impact on you the very first time you switch it on.   The white, high-luminance LED-based lamps make the scanner ready-to-use all the time without requiring any time to warm-up. The CanoScan SC8800F is capable of delivering stunning results in no time at a maximum color resolution of 4800 x 9600 dots per inch. There are seven simple buttons to mechanize the scanning process, making it easy to scan, copy and produce emails. The integrated FARE 3.0 touching-up technology allows you to enhance your pictures.  If you want to save time, you can scan in batches of up to 4 slides or 12 35mm frames- both negatives and positives.

Hewlett Packard Scanjet G4010 Flatbed Scanner is another popular flatbed color image scanner. It offers outstanding document and photo scans and can produce stunning reprints at a resolution of 4800 x 9600 dots per inch. You have the option of scanning numerous images, slideshows or negatives and then saving them as separate digital files.

The Fujitsu Fi-6130 Flatbed Scanner is another good choice for a flatbed scanner. In addition to the impressive duplex scanning capability of about 80 images per 60 seconds in grayscale and monochrome, the Fujitsu Fi-6130 also offers remarkable performance of about 60 images in 60 seconds in color at a resolution of 300 dots per inch.

The Epson Perfection V500 Flatbed Scanner is admired because of its quality results and flexibility. It features a resolution of 6400 dots per inch and an environmentally friendly LED-based light source for enhanced productivity. The scanner offers a range of effective tools for photo retouch. The digital ICME technology incorporated into the scanner is a mixture of software and hardware and can be ideal for enhancing images and removing defects.

You will be surprised at how much better your old sepia photos can appear on the computer monitor after being processed by a color flatbed scanner. Without a doubt, it will require a great deal of hard work to copy all your albums; however, once you get the job done you will be pleased to have your precious memories in a digital format.