Is there an automated high-volume scanner for digitizing millions of printed photos?
Asked 1/21/2013
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I need to digitize a very large archive of printed photographs—around 6 million images—into files, with color scans at up to 600 dpi. I'm trying to find out whether there are industrial or high-capacity scanners that can automatically feed stacks of photos and scan them to disk with minimal operator intervention.
The photos may need to be sorted by size before scanning if that helps. Budget is roughly $20k–$50k. Do machines like this exist for photo archiving, and what practical limitations should I expect?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
8
There are a number of important details missing from your question:
What resolution do you require?
Color or black and white?
Does the scanner have to be able to handle a mix of sizes simultaneously, or can you sort them ahead of time so that all the photos in a given stack are the same? (Sheet feeders typically work best when the sheets are about the same size.)
There are lots of high capacity, automatic feed scanners out there capable of B&W or color scanning at up to 600dpi and 75, 100, or even 120 pages/minute. Here's one, for example. If your project fits within the parameters of what they can do, it doesn't matter much whether they're called "document scanners" or "photo scanners".
If you're planning to scan 6 million photos, you're going to want to catalog them somehow. If the photos are currently in some kind of order, it may be enough to preserve the order when you scan them and give each one a serial number so that you can find it again later. On the other hand, if there's other metadata involved, you're going to have to figure out some way to attach that data to the right photo. Figuring out an efficient workflow that minimizes mistakes and lets you scan enough photos so that you can finish in a reasonable time can be difficult. (I once worked on a project that involved scanning tens of thousands of pages, and the workflow problem was probably more difficult than any technical problem.)
Originally by user4262. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4262
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—high-capacity automatic-feed scanners do exist, and the document-imaging industry has used them for large-scale scanning for years. For your requirements, a fast sheet-fed scanner may be suitable if the prints can be sorted by size and are in good condition.
The main limitation is paper handling. In real-world use, you should not expect to load a large hopper and walk away for long periods. Jams, double-feeds, sticking, wrinkles, and varying print sizes are common problems, so operator attention is still required.
At up to 600 dpi color, throughput is possible, but success depends heavily on consistent media and workflow. Sorting by size beforehand will help a lot, since sheet feeders usually work best when items in a stack are similar.
Also plan for cataloging and archive management, not just scanning speed. With millions of images, naming, organizing, and tracking files will be a major part of the project.
If the originals are already digital files, do not print and rescan them—batch conversion software is the right tool instead.
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