Gadgets: Photo to Digital Picture Converter makes 5 megapixel Digital Copies

Scanning photos is not that difficult if you know what you are doing. Flat bed scanners are capable of scanning photos but if you want better control and high-resolution results there is a better way. You could always send your photos away and have them converted for a price but that is not a good option if there are no other copies available with the chance they may get lost. You could also take them to a do-it-yourself kiosk but the sheer number of photos may be overwhelming.

I like most people have boxes and albums full of photos that were taken before digital cameras were affordable to the masses. Family members seem to pick me as the keeper of all photos. Often I do not even know who the subjects are but I try to keep them in some sort of order.

A photo digital converter could improve and move all of those photos from my closet to my computer. As they are scanned the color balance and exposure is corrected. The result is a high (5 megapixel) resolution - new and improved version of the original.

Photos of different sizes make storing them difficult. An orderly storage solution never works out quite right. They never look nice, neat and uniform. Photos that measure 3” x 5”, 4” x 6” and 5” x 7” can all be scanned using a photo digital converter such as the one sold by VuPoint. I have searched for other photo converters but most are for scanning negative film and slides.

The unit consists of basically a box that contains similar workings of a digital camera. A frame holds the photo and you slip it inside the provided slot. You push a button and the photo is copied as a digital file. The photo converter attaches to any computer running Windows XP or Windows Vista. Software is provided to help you edit, crop and or resize the photo.

I have searched for other models that do the same thing as the VuPoint. I have not found any. I have also read the customer feedback – as I am sure that you will too. The opinions are varied and I wonder if this might not be the best thing for those without a good bit of patience. It seems that people either love it or they hate it.

If you are not willing to take the time that it will actually take to get your desired results you should probably pass. On the other hand this may be as good as it gets unless you want to deal with a flat bed scanner – which I have done and can verify that it is not easy either. I get a lot of “noise” on the scanned image and it is impossible to remove it satisfactorily. The resolution on a flatbed scanner does not seem to be that great either especially if I try to enlarge the photo.