My more detailed review is at: www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson-ff-680w-print-scanner/ If you'd like to make a small donation, I have a Kofi page: "Buy me a coffee" ko-fi.com/keithcooper
Thanks for the timely review! My wife and I were just talking about the hundreds of photos we have collected over forty years. I have a Epson flatbed and it is laborious to scan all those photos. I will read the detailed review, but this might be the solution to our archive problem
This scanner might be the solution to my boxes and boxes of family photographs. I have avoided going through the archives and scanning them because of the labor involved. I want to do this project before I die so I don't leave it to the kids. And I think the kids will want these old family photographs. So, you might have provided a solution to my quandary. Thanks!
Glad it was of interest - i don't think anyone who's not faced the task can appreciate how much of an impediment the sheer tedium of doing this on a normal scanner is ;-)
Very good review of a very effective machine for bulk scanning. I have been using the Epson ES-200 with the same success. My first comment is that old photos are offten dusty and sticky (old tape remnants). If you see vertical lines in your scans, you will have to clean the scanning strips (no big deal). The other comment is that if you commit a lot of time to scan piles of photos and store the scans in a methodical way, you should also store the original photos in a way that allows you to easily retrieve the best ones if you want to rescan them with higher quality.
Well done review. I encourage anyone to look at the accompanying blog post for more details, it'll probably answer many questions - like I was wondering how long to make a scan at the various resolutions as well as disk storage needs.
Great review Keith. This really is an amazing piece of kit. I have one I used to capture most of my prints a few years ago and now it mostly serves as a duplex document scanner (which it's good at too). But recently a friend had a situation where she only had 48 hours of access to several boxes of her family photos and she borrowed it, managing to capture *hundreds* she was interested in, including the notes on the backs. This number would've been prety much impossible with a flatbed and the other alternative was been shooting them with a camera with much more manual handling and likely quality issues. Does it have any competitors?
I've had the document version of this scanner for my home office for the last 4 years and it has worked flawlessly archiving my old paper files. The only niggle I had with it was that the scanning software times out too quickly and there's no way to adjust this. The wireless functionality is great. It would be good if it had a display so that you could select options at the scanner rather than having to go back to the PC. Has scanning software improved over the years? For higher quality prints is my old Epson Perfection 4990 ok or would I be better off with a newer flatbed scanner? Y
This works well - you can drive it from a phone. To my mind having it right next to the computer is far better, since I'm choosing folders and creating notes for date exif. I'd hate to have it in another room or try and enter info on some tiny screen ;-) Given my old Epson 1200U still give good service in this area, the 4990 is fine, particularly with good software.
hi there i wonder if you can help me, i have a XP-970 and when i have come to do a A3 print where it is nearly all black with some white sections there are spaced out vertical not of ink but like track marks...but they are constant unbroke lines so they are not the pinwheel issue. i have 260gsm paper and have tried it with thick paper setting. i have just printed the picture again and on the far left and far right there are 2 lines going from top to bottom, when i measure each side from the edge of the paper to the first line (as they are double lines about 1/2cm apart) its 8cm from the edge and then the other line is 8.5 cm...then the same at the other side of the paper
My more detailed review is at: www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson-ff-680w-print-scanner/
If you'd like to make a small donation, I have a Kofi page: "Buy me a coffee" ko-fi.com/keithcooper
I have one. It’s brilliant. It’s been the difference between scanning the photos and having them sit around waiting for me to scan them.
Yes - that sums up one of its key benefits
Wish they made something like this for slides. Thanks for all your hard work Keith!
Thanks - the best solutions for slides I've seen have been more 'home-made' ones with cameras. I've not seen any more 'commercial' versions.
Thanks for the timely review! My wife and I were just talking about the hundreds of photos we have collected over forty years. I have a Epson flatbed and it is laborious to scan all those photos. I will read the detailed review, but this might be the solution to our archive problem
Thanks - yes, the hassle is what stops most projects ;-)
This scanner might be the solution to my boxes and boxes of family photographs. I have avoided going through the archives and scanning them because of the labor involved. I want to do this project before I die so I don't leave it to the kids. And I think the kids will want these old family photographs. So, you might have provided a solution to my quandary. Thanks!
Glad it was of interest - i don't think anyone who's not faced the task can appreciate how much of an impediment the sheer tedium of doing this on a normal scanner is ;-)
@@KeithCooper It's absolutely mind-numbing!
Very good review of a very effective machine for bulk scanning. I have been using the Epson ES-200 with the same success. My first comment is that old photos are offten dusty and sticky (old tape remnants). If you see vertical lines in your scans, you will have to clean the scanning strips (no big deal). The other comment is that if you commit a lot of time to scan piles of photos and store the scans in a methodical way, you should also store the original photos in a way that allows you to easily retrieve the best ones if you want to rescan them with higher quality.
Good point - good indexing/sorting is key.
Good review Keith
Thanks
Well done review. I encourage anyone to look at the accompanying blog post for more details, it'll probably answer many questions - like I was wondering how long to make a scan at the various resolutions as well as disk storage needs.
Thanks for noting that!
Very useful. Thank you.
Thanks
Great review Keith. This really is an amazing piece of kit. I have one I used to capture most of my prints a few years ago and now it mostly serves as a duplex document scanner (which it's good at too). But recently a friend had a situation where she only had 48 hours of access to several boxes of her family photos and she borrowed it, managing to capture *hundreds* she was interested in, including the notes on the backs. This number would've been prety much impossible with a flatbed and the other alternative was been shooting them with a camera with much more manual handling and likely quality issues. Does it have any competitors?
Thanks - I don't know of others, but this isn't really one of my specialist areas...
I've had the document version of this scanner for my home office for the last 4 years and it has worked flawlessly archiving my old paper files. The only niggle I had with it was that the scanning software times out too quickly and there's no way to adjust this. The wireless functionality is great. It would be good if it had a display so that you could select options at the scanner rather than having to go back to the PC. Has scanning software improved over the years? For higher quality prints is my old Epson Perfection 4990 ok or would I be better off with a newer flatbed scanner? Y
This works well - you can drive it from a phone.
To my mind having it right next to the computer is far better, since I'm choosing folders and creating notes for date exif. I'd hate to have it in another room or try and enter info on some tiny screen ;-)
Given my old Epson 1200U still give good service in this area, the 4990 is fine, particularly with good software.
hi there i wonder if you can help me, i have a XP-970 and when i have come to do a A3 print where it is nearly all black with some white sections there are spaced out vertical not of ink but like track marks...but they are constant unbroke lines so they are not the pinwheel issue. i have 260gsm paper and have tried it with thick paper setting. i have just printed the picture again and on the far left and far right there are 2 lines going from top to bottom, when i measure each side from the edge of the paper to the first line (as they are double lines about 1/2cm apart) its 8cm from the edge and then the other line is 8.5 cm...then the same at the other side of the paper
Sorry, I've not seen this at all. I'd suggest asking on the printing forum at dpreview.com or at
www.printerknowledge.com