Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless Scanner

UPDATE: Loving this scanner! So fast! Using it for a lot of documents too now, not just photos. It doesn’t seem to be able to scan to .pdf format as far as I can see (at least with the software provided), so I just scan the document to .jpgs then print the batch of .jpgs to a single .pdf file. Finally helping me to get rid of decades worth of paper I’d been reluctant to part with!

UPDATE 2: Figured out how scan to.pdf. Not as fast, in some cases, easier to scan to.jpg and convert….

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I have a Brother multifunction that’s great for scanning documents and serviceable for the occasional photo, but I have a ton of old photo prints that I wanted to digitize and dump, and that would have been a completely unmanageable project without a high speed scanner with a feeder, so I decided to try this.

Setup was easy – at least via USB; I was curious to try connecting it wirelessly to my iPad, but ran into issues with my router that I didn’t have the patience to resolve, so I just went with the USB connection for now, and that setup was straightforward as expected. The speed is certainly impressive, and the fact that it actually scans both sides is fantastic (for prints that have no data I want to keep on the back, I just delete those secondary images after the fact – easier for me that sorting pre-sorting photos into batches of one-sided vs. duplex scanning).

As for photo quality, it’s very good, especially considering that many of the photos I’m scanning were taken 30+ years ago with inexpensive 126mm and 135mm point-and-shoot cameras and have less than ideal resolution and lighting. Out of curiosity, I scanned one such print with this Epson, then took it over to my Brother multifunction and scanned it at 300×300 dpi, and the Epson actually produced a noticeably better scan – more detail visible in the shadows, and sharper image overall. Despite the fact that the actual scan time was at least 50% faster in my rough estimation. Not to mention the additional effort/time needed with the flatbed scanner to lift the cover, place the image on the glass, close the cover, select the scan options in the software interface…

I pretty much stuck to feeding stacks of consistently sized prints, but I did occasionally scan say a 3″x5″ and a 5″x7″ at the same time with no issue. Might be more of an issue with a large batch of mismatched sizes. I was able to scan a polaroid print with no issue, though another one kept getting stuck for some reason – perhaps because it was a shade thicker, with a bit of a lump towards the edge of the image frame, due to the layers of the polaroid separating slightly over the years. Regardless, the jam was easily cleared.

No issues with streaks on the images or anything. At least so far, though I’m only about 50 images in. I was also tempted to try to Fujitsu high-speed photo scanner that also receives high ratings, but this is working well enough so far, that I think I’ll spare myself the hassle of trying that one just for comparison.

I bought this scanner to clear up some storage bins of photographs after my mom passed away, and it has been worth every penny. I’m SO glad I invested in this because it has allowed me to save a HUGE amount of photographs from years and years ago, preserving precious memories that might have otherwise been lost.

The picture quality is outstanding, capturing even the smallest details in both photos and documents. It’s incredibly easy to use, making the scanning process quick and efficient. I’ve also started scanning my kids’ drawings, so I can save them forever too.

The accuracy of the scans is almost perfect, with just the occasional minor adjustment needed. Overall, I am very happy with this purchase. If you have a lot of photos or documents to digitize, this scanner is a fantastic choice. Highly recommend!

This is one of the few scanners that has a auto feed to scan stacks of photos at a time. Much faster than using a flatbed scanner. Therefore I bit the bullet and bought this. Turns out it’s worth every penny!

– Scans BOTH SIDES of photos at the same time. If there are notes on the backs of the photos, they will be scanned.
– The quality is excellent. I scanned the same set of photos on my HP all-in-one printer/scanner and this scanner. This scanner captures much more detail from the photos especially the shadow areas.
– Files can be saved in lossless .tif format (or lossy .jpg format)
– FastFoto app can apply auto adjustments to pictures (colour, brightness, and redeye), and save these adjustments in a SEPARATE file, preserving the original scan in case you want to edit it later using more “advanced” apps like Photoshop.
– Scanner itself is compact and folds up for storage. It’s sitting on my mom’s desk right now, and it takes up less than half the space than the flatbed scanner she had.
– It is FAST. Takes a few seconds to scan each photo at 600dpi. (there are also 300dpi and 1200dpi options)
– Files are automatically put into folders and numbered. When adding more files to the same folder, the numbering continues from the last picture.
– File numbering corresponds to the order you load the photos (with the front photo being #0001). It actually scans them in reverse order but the file numbering will be correct after scanning. Helps with my OCD making sure that photos are in the order taken.
– Can scan documents as well as pictures.

I did notice some etching of glossy photos like some reviewers mentioned. The etching results in some streaks in the scans, and those get blown up by some AI photo editing tools. I would say this is a minor annoyance because the image quality is so much better than flatbed, and it’s so much faster to scan hundreds of photos. I don’t plan to keep the originals and I will look into removing the streaks in the editing workflow.

I inherited several large 20+ gallon totes full of family photos when my last immediate family member passed away several years ago. My ultimate goal was to scan all the photos in so that I could have a digital copy of them and do *something* with all the totes of physical pictures. At first, I picked up a flat bed scanner off Craigslist but that turned out to be problematic and cumbersome. In order to get a several scanned in, I’d end up adding 30 minutes total to one scan because of all of the post photo editing that is needed to crop photos and re-adjust etc. After several hours and only managing to scan in maybe 50-100 photos, I gave up and put the totes aside until I could figure out a better alternative.

I researched photo scanning services and with as many photos as I have, it would not have been feasible. The most “economical” package I could find was to scan 200 photos and the cost would be in the ballpark of $500. Considering I would have well over 200 photos to scan, I could not, in my right mind, justify paying this much $ to have my photos scanned.

In one of my late night, “my brain won’t slow down enough to fall asleep moments.” I started researching “auto-feed” scanners and if something like this would be possible. This is how I came across the FastFoto 680W. I read the reviews on Amazon as well as other websites not related to Epson, I saw the pros and cons and decided that it would be worth investing in this scanner in order to get these numerous totes of photos scanned in.

The scanner arrived and I had issues setting the scanner up on our wifi. I followed the steps as instructed and still had issues setting up the scanner on wifi. Having the scanner setup via USB wasn’t the best idea due to space on my desk and location of my computer equipment in my office. After uninstalling/reinstalling, coming across random “bummer” errors and just no luck, I called Epson and had them assist. Not sure what it was, but they had me walk through all of the steps I performed and re-performed and it set up just fine.

Once the scanner was setup, I was able to start scanning photos. I sorted through the photos and stacked them in similar photo sizes and time frames (or at least rough time frames). For the most part I haven’t run into any issues scanning photos. Some of the photos I have from the 50’s are are on thick card stock which will not process through the auto-feed scanner and will need to be scanned another way. I haven’t specifically counted, but I’ve placed a stack of more than 30 photos and it ran through without issue. So far, I’ve scanned over 1000 photos in. Periodically, I will get a notice on my PC to clean the scanner and have noted a few photos come through with lines on them but nothing too major.

I really like the auto-correct feature that comes with the photo scanning software. I have it set to where I can select which of the 2 scans look better and delete the one I don’t want. What is really cool about the scanner, is the smallest pictures I’ve been able to scan so far. The card the image is on is maybe less than 2″ by 1″ in size, so the image is super tiny. When the photos are enlarged in the software, you can see all the details that you couldn’t see (without a magnifying glass at least) on the original image. The quality and age of the photo comes into play here, so the output of what you scan really depends on what is on the original photo. I’ve never seen photos before of my grandparents from when they were younger than their 40’s. Finding these photos has been fascinating and to be able to see them like this… :-O I’ve had luck scanning photos from WWII era, all the way back to the early 1900’s if not before.

I’ve used the scanner to scan documents as well. The scanning process for the most part has been super easy, I’ve used the double-sided scan feature in the Epson ScanSmart software. I’ve run into a couple of errors where it scans the front of a document, shows it in the software but after you save to PDF, it is missing the front that you just scanned. Haven’t quite worked out the details on that.

My 2nd run in with Epson tech support wasn’t as great as the first one. The first one, I felt like I was being talked down to and like I was wasting their time. It may have been the accent, I’m not sure but the 2nd time was most definitely worse than the first.

I was scanning stacks of documents in using the ScanSmart software one night and haven’t had any issues. Everything was scanning fine, I was using the double-sided scanning option in the software. Then we had a power surge and everything in the house shut off and some things came back on (like they would when something like this happens). When I booted my PC back up to start scanning again, I was now missing the double-sided scanning option and could not get my scanner back online to continue scanning. I had the option of single-sided scanning and the option for the trial to scan receipts and invoices but my double-sided scanning option was no longer there. I performed several actions to troubleshoot the problem, including uninstalling/reinstalling the ScanSmart software, unplugging and plugging back in the scanner (finally got that back online and it would scan photos but NOT documents to PDF), uninstalled drivers for OCR and PDF, a myriad of other things in the correct steps needed to be taken. I finally gave up and called Epson. The first guy I talked to had no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned the double-sided scanning option in the software, played it off like I had no idea what *I* was talking about and was just in general incompetent. I finally got transferred to a manager who also talked down to me and because apparently it was right before their end of shift/end of day, told me that he would email me a document on how to remove a “core folder” for the software within 5 minutes after we got off the phone call, only to be hung up on and lied to. I ended up using the contact support feature on the epson website and told them everything and it wasn’t until after I submitted that, that I got the instructions I was promised before that I didn’t get. Long story short, I ended up figuring out how to fix the scanner issue that required a lot of digging through program files on my PC, temp files and other places. Any average person would probably not have been able to figure this out on their own.

My experiences with Epson have been LESS than stellar. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being excellent, 1 being the worst, I’d rate them at a 2 or 3.

The scanner itself works great. There are flaws, you will/may run into issues. Being able to scan in all these photos has been a relief to finally be able to do. Be prepared if you have to call Epson though as you will probably get the same level of service I received.