Protect your cherished childhood memories with a portable photo scanner. Sometimes when you visit your relatives or your childhood friends, they show you some photos you never thought existed. You wished you could have the lost films so you can have a copy… Well, you can… Nowadays, there are many photo scanners available to choose from. Some are designed so you can carry them with you wherever you go. Compact and lightweight, it can fit easily to your backpack or shoulder bag until you finally need them. Scan your old photos and save your unforgettable memories. The best thing about digitized photos is that you can repair them. If digitized, you can easily restore faded or damaged photos. Sometimes, people neglect those photos and over time become dull and cracks appear on them. Using the bundled software that usually comes with the scanner, you can easily remove cracks and adjust the color or increase the brightness and sharpness. Next thing you know, the cracks are gone and looked much better than the original one.
Most portable scanners today are made with ultra high resolution and can produce an image up to 1800 x 1200 pixels and 300 x 300 dpi like the Pandigital SCNO2 Photo Link. Unlike before, you need to hookup your scanner into a computer before you could use it. Nowadays, scanners are made so you can use it independently. With the memory card installed, it can store many images. The number of images it can store depends on the size and the selected resolution. Just scan continuously until the memory card is full, and then upload it to your PC and you’re ready for the next batch. The memory card used in photo scanner is the same one that is used in digital cameras and mobile phones. So you can actually view them directly on your digital cameras. Some digital cameras have built-in editing software like the Sony Cybershot. You can use it to edit your photos for simple crop resize or red-eye removal if you don’t have a computer.
When buying a portable photo scanner, you must consider the resolution. The higher the value, the more quality image you can get. High resolution images are great if you are planning to edit or repair your photos. Too much resolution also increases the size of file, so it’s up to you to balance between quality and size. You must also consider the size of the photo it can scan. For a portable scanner, probably you can only scan a standard 4R photo size maximum. If you need to scan larger photos, you might need a flatbed scanner like Epson Perfection V500, Visioneer OneTouch 9520, or HP Scanjet G4050 Photo scanner. Flatbed scanners usually have a much higher resolution of 4,800×9,600 dpi and can produce a higher quality output which can scan a letter or A6 size pictures. They are perfect for professional use and some even have the capability of scanning 3D objects like the Canon LiDE100 Color Image Scanner. Finding a cheap photo scanner depends on how you prefer to buy it, on electronic stores or shop online. If you have the time to browse the internet I’m sure you can easily find every model on sale. Just remember to consider the shipping cost when comparing prices.
