Cons: Line and black bars appear on scanned image. Needs cleaning often.
The Bottom Line: Convenient, does well with short scans, needs cleaning often, portable, not for large photo collections. Slow output to PC. No computer required for use.
GaryD's Full Review: Pandigital& PhotoLink One-Touch Print Scanner (160...
THIS COULD HAVE BEEN THE CAT'S MEOW!
If you have ever attempted to scan a massive collection of old photos on a flatbed scanner attached to your computer you know how time intensive the process can be. To do it properly you must make adjustments to the computer software, place the photo on the scanner bed as straight as possible (the more preparation you do before hand the better your results). Then you must prescan, adjust the scan area and the resolution, prescan again, and perform the actual scan. Once the image has been entered into your computer software you may need to crop, clean up dust and scratches etc.
I'll tell you now friend that to scan a good quality photo regardless of size can take five, ten minutes or more. If you have a small photo collection your flatbed scanner is indeed the way to go for results you can be very proud of—for you are doing this to preserve your memories for generations and to arrest the originals from fading (no the actual original will continue to fade) but the digital file can last indefinitely when maintaining backups.
However you use of an image file will determine many of the factors involved. You will need to evaluate you purpose for the photo being scanned. Like: will you want to print photos on your printer, a professional photo developer or merely display your photos on a monitor or digital photo frame?
You can always make a large photo smaller however problems arise when you attempt to generate a large photo from say a wallet size image. The higher your resolution in DPI (known as Dots Per Inch) will increase the size of your file substantially, having a massive hard drive will be needed to accommodate those large files. You will need sufficient resolution too should you need to edit or crop the photo you scanned because you will loose resolution upon cropped and some other adjustments.
I've found what has worked best for me is to set resolution at 300dpi and the scan output set for the actual photo size. If it is an exceptionally good photo that I may want to print or professionally have developed or requires some serious editing. I'll set output scan size to an appropriate range.
You can imagine my hysterical delight when I ran across the Pandigital & PhotoLink One-Touch Print Scanner. For my preservation needs and digital photo display what could be better. I have no plans or intentions of printing any of the photos because I have the originals (but they are fading away), I want to display them all so this appeared to be a likely solution.
This was an unscheduled purchase, I have two high quality flatbed scanners just don't have the needed time to accomplish my archiving desire for a completely digitized life. You could even consider this a spontaneous purchase.
If you owned a Pandigital & PhotoLink One-Touch Print Scanner you could simply sit in your easy chair affront the television with your photo collection and insert one at a time (provided the size does not exceed a 4X6 inch photo). You don't need a computer while you scan because the photos are saved directly to a SD (secure digital) card. The specifications suggest one could possibility to scan up to 100 photos and hours at a minimum resolution of 300dpi.
After 10, 12, 14 hours on a computer the last thing I want is to be tethered to it until retiring hours. When dusk falls I want to relax a bit. You see the vast appeal to the Pandigital & PhotoLink One-Touch Print Scanner. It's completely portable as long as you have access to an AC outlet.
This could have been the cat's meow! It's small, portable, light weight, easy to use, and no computer required. So why do you keep reading "could have been"?
IN THE BOX
You are presented with
1 portable scanner 1 USB cable (you can use a computer with it if you like) 1 power adapter and cord 1 scanner cleaner instrument (about the size of a thumb drive) 1 scanner roller cleaner card 1 scanner calibration card 1 manual 1 CD with drivers for those not using Windows XP or better
1 512MB SD card in plastic case (this may not be included with all purchases)
IT IS EASY AND FAST BUT
I retrieved a box of photos I had been wanting to scan from my childhood, calibrated the scanner, and inserted the photos one after the other. After about twenty or so scans I turned the scanner off, removed the SD card and viewed the scanned photos on my computer. At first the images look great, clean, crisp and vibrate. As I went through them many photos were showing thin white lines or a black border at the bottom edge of the photo. The black border was not an issue, I could simply and easily crop it out with little effort, however, the thin white lines was another issue all together — they seemed to occur in areas of people’s faces.
I thought the solution would be to clean and calibrate the scanner more frequently (although the manual stated every fifty to 100 photos before cleaning should be needed). Yes, my photos were dust free as they live in albums in archival sleeves in a box.
The additional cleaning and recalibrating with increase frequency aided in resolve much of the problems mentioned but it caused another issue. Now I was cleaning almost as much as I was getting to scan photos. I'm looking at thousands of photos waiting their turn and I don't want to spend an eternity scanning them in.
This was not for me, not yet, but for those individuals that plan merely to display in a digital photo frame could easily be an ideal solution, especially if you are dealing with a small photo collection. I will give it my recommendation for this sole purpose because digital photo frames are very forgiving with their detail.
THE Pandigital Scanner NOT A KEEPER
Unfortunately the Pandigital & PhotoLink One-Touch Print Scanner was not a keeper for me. It's a brilliant ideal that deserves additional consideration it's actual functionality. For quick ease scans it does fine but I cannot honestly recommend this device for those like I with thousands of photos to scan in. It would require rescanning some photos more than once.
I thought if I connected the scanner to my computer where I could see the photos as they were scanned I could clean less. But the scanner is remarkablely very slow. Scan speed doesn't seem to be hampered all that much but the transference of the photo from the scanner to the pc takes a minute or so to become available.
What is a great ideal was not the promise I had anticipated. I returned the scanner with suggestions and my appreciation for the concept. The scanner I had received was the second generation. This being noted I would have probably been extremely disappointed with the initial version.
RECOMMENDATION
I can and cannot recommend the PanDigital scanner at this time. For you that have small collection, time, and use for a digital photo frame it's a good value with a small investment. Those of you with a sea of photos gradually deteriorating of bygone years I'll look elsewhere or wait until PanDigital improves upon this clever scanner. Right now this scanner is not a good value for me but I could not love the ideal more.
Preserve your favorite photos with this photo scanner that features OneTouch technology that saves each photo with a high 1800 x 1200 resolution and c...More at Best Buy ®
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