January 13, 2014

Scanning Old Photos with a Pocket Scanner

I wanted a small scanner so that I could copy some old photos from the comfort of my sofa. Our home office is chilly in the winter, for one thing, and I like being comfortable.

I bought a Kodak P460 Personal Photo Scanner and I've been trying it out. (The link shows you the description on Amazon but I actually bought it at Kmart on clearance.) It's easy to use and scans at 600 DPI, which is more than enough.  It's doing a good job of scanning some old photos from the 70's.

At Swimming Lessons in Alexandria, VA:
Bonnie Boteler, Tammy Murray, Lynn & Marie Javins, Betsy Boteler

So far the only problem I've had with the scanner is a tendency to attract dust. The plastic sleeve that protects the pictures is especially static-prone, and after scanning a few pictures I started seeing dust spots, and lines on the images. Fortunately, Photoshop provides a choice of tools to get rid of these nuisances.

If you click on the two B&W pictures to enlarge them, you can see the difference before and after editing in Photoshop.


20 comments:

  1. Excellent!!! I'll bet that scanner gets a lot of use!

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  2. I don't think you can get those scanners any more. Looks like it works ok though. Does it do negatives

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  3. Always fun when folk share older pics. Very cool.

    I have a scanner.. maybe called a bed scanner?.. though I have no interest in scanning my bed. ;) At some point, I'd be interested in scanning some very old (100+ years) photos that I have from my generations passed. I hope to get to it at some point.

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  4. TexWis stole my words first. :) That really is awesome!! I scanned my entire collection of loose photos a couple years ago and so glad I did. Enjoy your trip down memory lane. Love the vintage photos.

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  5. @Bill Nicholls, Yes it scans negatives. I haven't tried that yet.

    @Hilary, I have a flat bed scanner too. It's old and so huge… but yeah, not big enough to scan a bed unless it's a bed for a baby doll!

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  6. Any small device like that'll attract dust quickly. My mobile does, and so does the PSP, much more than larger things like a television or DVD player.

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  7. That's so great, you've given me an idea for managing the many old photos we have! The photoshopping looks terrific:)

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  8. Thanks for your recent visits to my blog.

    The idea of scanning old photos makes me feel guilty. I have shoebox upon shoebox of old, disorganized photos that I should scan. But, there are so many that it is intimidating. When you are finished with your family, how about you start on mine?

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  9. @Jack, Sorry but I don't think I'll get all my old photos scanned anytime soon! Maybe never. ;-)

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  10. I need one of those. So you hook it up to your computer? I can't see the editing difference but it looks like the scanner does good job.

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  12. Wow. I like the old film to digital idea.

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  13. It's great to be able to have a digital record of all those old photos. I didn't know there was such a thing as a handheld one.

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  14. I think the results are great! I think this is a good tip!

    Warm greetings! ;-)
    Gert Jan Hermus
    dzjiedzjee.blogspot.com

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  15. i have looked at these and always wondered how well they work!!

    i have scanned picture using my kodack all in one, but i found once i did, they just sat on my computer taking up space ;)

    and i still have not learned how to put them on that thingy that looks like a pack of gum ;) ;)

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  16. Very interesting, I like that little scanner! Nice photos!

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  17. How cool is that Linda, we all have hundreds of pics from way back, might have to look into this :)

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