Preserving family photos has just gotten so easy it would be a crime not to get the job done. Paper photos get stuck into a box or album, they eventually loose color and if disaster strikes they are gone forever. If you want to share them they have be taken back to the store to print extra copies. We always think that eventually we will get them all organized but in reality most never make it to that point.

Flat bed scanners are the most common devices used to digitize paper photos. I have one myself and they do a great job. The problem in my life however is that most of the older family photos were taken before my time and I do not know the people in the pictures. It is not much fun to look at a bunch of digital photos that no one knows the history of.

The Pandigital Photolink One-Touch Scanner has been my answer to my photo dilemma. My dilemma has been getting all of the people that do know the history together at one time. Even when I have been lucky enough to have them gathered together it has been impossible to get them gathered around the computer and scanner. The kitchen table is the best spot to get the most done.

This is where the Photolink shines. It is small and it does not depend on a computer. It can work all on its own. When I first found this little gadget I knew that it was exactly what I needed to get the photos organized. Since I purchased it there has been a new resurgence of interest in the project among other family members.

The first time that I introduced the Photolink to the family they could not believe how easy this project would be. After a few minutes of organizing our system – I scanned the photos, another member wrote down the history of each photo into a notebook all while my mother-in-law reminisced. The session lasted about two hours and we finished recording about 125 photos. Most of the time was spent enjoying the stories and the memories. My next step is to add descriptions to all of the digitally scanned photos – then give copies to other family members.

How does the Pandigital Photolink work?

It has two slots in the back of the unit. One is for compact flash memory card and the other is a 4-in-1-card reader including SD, xD, MMC, and NS. It has a cord that plugs into a power outlet and it has an (included) optional USB cable that connects it to a PC or a Mac. Paper photos up to a 4” X 6” can be scanned (anything larger cannot be scanned with the Photolink) by simply feeding them into the scanning slot and letting them go. The scanned image will be automatically saved to the installed memory card in the JPEG file format.

To access your photos the Photolink scanner can be attached to your PC or Mac via the USB port where it acts as a memory card reader. This is a cool feature for any other photos stored on memory cards as well. The photos are scanned at 300 DPI with a resolution of 1800 x 1200. I am amazed at how great the photos look – even the old ones. I love the black and white photos.

The photos shown above are scanned from my Photolink One-Touch Scanner. They have not been retouched – these are the original scans. You can see that paper photos degrade after many years. It is important to save our family photo history before it is beyond repair.