Scanning your family photo archive. Epson FF-680W scanner review
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Review of the Epson FF-680W high speed double sided photo scanner. Bulk photo scanning, software and usage details. Scans at 300/600/1200 dpi, including writing on the back of the prints. Is it good enough quality? Is it fast enough?
How useful is the image correction, does it deal with faded prints? Are the scans good enough to print? What about making larger prints from your photos? How does it help organise your archive? The scanner accepts larger panoramic prints and odd sizes
Full scanner details:
www.epson.co.u...
My more detailed review is at:
www.northlight...
My review of a much higher end scanner
www.northlight...
#Epson #PhotoScanning #FamilyPhotos #TechReview
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My more detailed review is at: www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson-ff-680w-print-scanner/
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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
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!
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.
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.
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...
Good review Keith
Thanks
Just ordered one. I'll let you know how I get on Keith. (So, until it arrives, I can get on organising my 500,000 digital TREE photo library...
Excellent - just remember to keep it clean. A wipe of the scan windows every few packs of prints, with a soft cloth helps.
It's very easy for a speck of dust to spoil a run of prints - Prints can very easily pick up dust, even if stored well.
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.
Hello, i know very little regarding scanners and would love some direction regarding Epson FF-680W vs Epson V850. i know the V850 will have a much higher dpi but is it needed? my reason for the purchase is to digitize 3,000 family photos of my parents who have passed so it being done right is important to me. with the speed and duplexing of thee 680 is that enough to to the job well? Thank you
The V850 is likely way over the top for such work - and it will take a lot longer.
The 680 is far better suited to such a task - take a bit longer and use the higher resolution setting - it also captures any notes on the back.
Thank you so much for your knowledge and time. It is greatly appreciated
Just remember to keep things clean and watch out for lines on scans caused from dust.
@@KeithCooper will do. Thank you
@@KeithCooper I just bought mine and am already noticing lines on my photos...
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
These and the Fujitsu ix1600 are often recommended for archiving documents, like certificates, contracts etc. But they are hardly appropriate for photos. Yes they will work, but if you want any kind of quality you will have to use a good flatbed. Even a Lide 400 will give better results for an 8th of the price. Yes it's a project. I do my family's in batches of 100. It will take a while. I'm not in a hurry.
As ever, different requirements, different products may suit...
I simply don't agree with you - you obviously have different archiving requirements.
Nothing stops people doing this more than the tedium of doing it one scan at a time.
If I was doing just a few or wanted to make big prints, then I'd use a 'proper' scanner.
Otherwise for many people without your spare time and patience - this is fine.
@@KeithCooper Fair enough. I guess the photos that are "worthy" of the extra effort are usually few. On the other hand, people are making it a bigger deal than it has to be. You can do it on auto-pilot while watching netflix. You can also scan other stuff that are not necessarily loose sheets. And keep the extra money for a nice lens or a printer.
From comments I've had, the simplicity of it has made the difference between it happening at all, or the photos sitting in a box or going in the bin...
I've realised that people have very different attitudes over the fundamental importance of this to them and others...
I'm not impressed with it. Yes there is speed but I am starting to notice the photos are being scratched from the rollers after about 300 photos in. Yes, I have cleaned the rollers but this should not be happening and is something I noticed in other comments, mostly from Reddit.
Yes - I would clean it every half dozen pack of prints or so
There is no 'should' about it - old photos pick up dust. cleaning is a necessity
@@KeithCooper Yes you can clean the photos but no, the rollers do impact the pictures, even if you clean. I'm convinced that Epson paid you and some "influencers" to market this product. I see so many "influencers" on youtube touting this product but when you actually dig deep into the criticism of the product, people who actually use it and care for it, say its not a good product and it DOES scratch the photos. Photo scanning is tedious work and this product was entirely made to convince a lazy audience (including myself) that it could be done in bulk without affecting the photos. I think we were sold and marketed to on this. Why wouldn't Epson do that? Easy money for them to convince an audience to spend $500. Again, your response is really telling LOL
Epson paid me nothing - and do I resent the implication that my 20 years of writing reviews [and recently adding videos] is influenced in such a manner.
I specifically requested a look at this device from Epson UK, after my Father died and I found many hundreds of packs of prints.
As a result of borrowing the device they [and their written notes] are now archived.
Images I particularly wanted at higher resolution were scanned on a flatbed scanner, but this device meant that all the others - yes, some with a few marks - are in a searchable digital form.