Nineteen Years Ago Today: Sunday, November 26, 2006

We hosted Mark's son Drew (and his dog Cana) on Thanksgiving Day in 2006 (which was November 23), but he headed back home to San Antonio the next day.  (We didn't take any pictures.)  Mark's daughter Kim had also invited us to her home in Allen for Thanksgiving Day, so we invited them to come out to our house later that weekend.  She and much of her family came Sunday from about noon to about 4pm.  We played frisbee in the backyard, and walked down to our historic courthouse square, where we toured the Old Hood County Jail and Museum.  We had barbeque and apple pie (probably homemade by Mark) and ice cream for lunch.

Above:  Mark, Luke, and the twins (Adam and Drew, not sure which is which) walking from our backyard down to the courthouse square.

Below:  Luke peeking in one of the cells in the Old Hood County Jail and Museum.

Above:  Heidi, one of the twins (still can't tell them apart), and Luke playing frisbee.

Below:  Mike and Kim relaxing on the chair-and-a-half in our living room.

© Amanda Pape - 2025 - e-mail me!

Epson FastFoto FF-680W Scanner Review - Part 5 (the end)

This is Part 5, the final part, of my review of the Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-speed Photo Scanning System - other parts are here:  Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4.

At the end of Part 4, I said I would use this post to talk about how easy it was to set this scanner up (with one minor glitch), the things I didn't test (and why), and what I would use - and not use - this scanner for.

Scanner Setup

I carefully unboxed the scanner (since I will need to repack it to send back later) and followed the instructions on the enclosed "Start Here" poster.  After unpacking, you go to www.fastfoto.com/getstarted in the USA to download the software.

Clicking on the blue "Download FastFoto Software" button brought up this page:

I clicked on Epson FastFoto FF-680W on the lower right, which led to this next screen, where I clicked on the Downloads tab (far left) and selected my operating system:

Finally, the "Drivers and Utilities Combo Package Installer" link became available, so I clicked the Download button (lower right):

After agreeing to the license, I had to select some installation options.  I went with all the recommendations, and decided to send usage information to Epson as well, since I was testing the product.  Then I clicked the Next button at the bottom.

After all the software was downloaded and installed, I followed on-screen instructions (as noted in step 4 of part 2, Install software, on the "Start Here" poster), and plugged in the scanner.

Next came the first surprise - selecting your connection method.  I was under the impression this was only a wireless scanner.  Wireless can be spotty in my house, so I was pleased to see USB cable as a connection option, and chose that.

Here's where things got weird.  While I was still on this Connection tab, the screen went mostly blank, and nothing happened for a while.  Then I noticed two blank buttons at the bottom of the screen.  Being the type that believes sometimes you have to break something to fix it, I clicked on the darker of the two buttons, the one on the left, figuring it was supposed to say something like "Next" or "Continue" or "Yes" or "Accept," and the other, lighter-colored button to its right said the opposite.

When I did that, I had a pop-up window that was just as cryptic.  It said EpsonInstaller with a big question mark, and Yes - No buttons.  I picked yes.

Apparently, whatever I did must have been the right thing (I did tell my contact with Epson about this issue).  This screen related to Epson FastFoto Setup popped up, pertaining to where you wanted scans to be saved and what to name them.  I changed the setting for "Your scanned photos will be saved in this folder" from the default (for my computer) C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\FastFoto to E:\FastFoto (since my E hard drive is where I store all my data), but left the default file name alone.  (These can both be changed on the Organization tab in Settings, and you can always specify a different folder or default file name before scanning a batch.)

The Enhancements settings also popped up.   I set the scanner to do auto enhancements (brightness, contrast, and saturation), remove red eye, and restore faded colors.  I also chose to follow the recommendation to apply these enhancements to a second copy of the photo, and not to the original scan.  These can also be changed, on the Enhancement tab under Settings, before you scan each batch.

I believe at this point, the next screen to appear was the start screen for scanning:

What I Didn't Test (and Why)

1.  I didn't test connecting the scanner to my wi-fi network.  I prefer the hardwire USB connection, and I have the perfect little table (on rollers, and with a drawer and lower shelf) to put the scanner on and have it near the computer when I'm using it.

2.  I didn't test some of the additional features of the FastFoto software that you can apply to completed scans, such as Share (only to e-mail like Outlook, not web-based email like Gmail), Upload (to Dropbox or Google Drive; requires linking to your accounts with those services), various Edit features on images you select (rotate left or right, crop, restore color, reduce red eye, add/edit/remove a date, enhance brightness/contrast/saturation, and undo all), and of course Delete.

3.  I didn't test the Invoice/Receipt Manager in the ScanSmart software, because that required signing up for a trial.  

4.  I didn't test the supplied carrier sheet. It is used to scan certain items rather than sending them through the automatic document feeder without it:

• fragile, folded, irregularly-shaped, irreplaceable, perforated-edged, torn, wrinkled, or too-curled photos;

• folded items* (such as graduation invitations);

• valuable original documents or artwork; and 

• anything too-small (smaller than 2 × 2 inches) or too large (bigger than legal-size paper).

You are supposed to load these originals one by one using a carrier sheet, which is considered a consumable item (i.e., you can purchase more of them).  I didn't want to damage the one that came with this test machine.  Also, my flatbed scanner handles these items just fine - and I have to do them one-at-a-time there too.

* The user's guide indicated you could scan envelopes, if loaded properly (front face down, point of the flap pointing to either side, not up or down), without using the carrier sheet.  However, every time I tried to scan one, it would jam.  This was disappointing as I have a number of letters to scan, with envelopes decorated on both sides, and was hoping to use the Epson FastFoto FF-680W to scan both envelope sides at one time.

How I Would Use the Epson FastFoto FF-680W Scanner

This scanner excels at scanning smaller (8" by 10" or less) standard print photos, black-and-white or (especially) color, particularly if there is any information written or stamped on the back.  It is also excellent for scanning double-sided documents (or multi-page single-side documents), especially if you want to save them as searchable PDFs.  I've also found it handy for scanning both sides of postcards and unfolded greeting cards (but sadly, not their envelopes).  It's also very good (and faster than on a flatbed scanner) with paper business cards and plastic cards (IDs, etc.), although I don't see much need to scan any beyond what I already did.  The scanner is very fast, even at 1200 dpi, and the ability to scan duplex AND to apply enhancements and corrections to an image is a plus.

I would use the Epson FastFoto FF-680W scanner in addition to my 20+-year-old Epson Perfection 3200 Photo flatbed scanner.  The latter would be better (and faster when only scanning one side) for anything that would need to be scanned in the carrier sheet on the FF-680W, and for envelopes.  In addition, I can scan slides and negatives (35mm and three larger formats) on the Perfection 3200, and I do a surprisingly large number of those.

  

© Amanda Pape - 2025 - e-mail me!

Epson FastFoto FF-680W Scanner Review - Part 4

This is Part 4 of my review of the Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-speed Photo Scanning System - other parts are here:  Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 5.

So a quick confession here - when the review scanner first arrived, after getting it set up, the first thing I scanned was not photos, but some documents.  I was getting ready to send some VHS tapes (home movies from her childhood) to my daughter, but I wanted to copy the notes about each video before sending the originals to her.

These notes were all double-sided, so I decided to use the FastFoto scanner to quickly scan both sides, since I needed to mail the tapes later that same day.  The Epson FastFoto software was installed, so I used that.  It only lets you save the scans as JPEGs or TIFFs, so I saved them as JPEGs.  I didn't write down all the settings I used, but I got some images so I can refer to the information on them later if needed, and sent most of the originals on to my daughter, back in the cases with the tapes they described.  There were three sets of notes that matched tapes that had already been digitized, so I sent her JPEG scans of those notes and kept the originals.

As I've been using the scanner and reading the user guide more thoroughly, I learned that the Epson ScanSmart software was more appropriate for most documents - especially ones like these, black on white.  It also had the capability to save the scans as PDFs - and as searchable PDFs.  So I decided to re-scan the originals I still had.

These original documents were created in 1993 to 1995 on a dot matrix printer.  Here are the steps I went through to scan them.

When you start the Epson ScanSmart software, you get a screen like this:

I first clicked on the Settings button in the upper right corner, which opened the following menu:

I clicked on the button that said Scan Settings, to see what those were.  That opened up this separate window.  These were the default settings, so for the time being, I left them as they were (note the scan resolution is 200 dpi).  I clicked the save button, which returned me to the previous screen.

I next selected File Name Settings from the menu on the left.  I left this with the defaults as well, which included checking the box for automatic naming using optical character recognition (OCR) - I was curious to see how that worked.

Next I went to Save Settings in the menu on the left.  Since I wanted to test saving these documents as PDFs, I clicked on the Options button for that choice, which opened up a new window.

Here's the window for PDF settings.  I left these as they were.  I had to look up a PDF/A file.  It's a standard format used for archiving (hence the A) electronic documents - more info here.  In this case, I don't need that, nor did I need any of the Security settings, such as setting a password to open the file.  I clicked OK, which took me back to the previous screen, pictured above.  I was done with settings, so I clicked the Close button.  

That took me to the screen that comes up when you start the software (the first image in this post).  I was ready to click on the big blue button on the left, to scan double-sided.  But first, I needed to load the documents into the automatic document feeder (ADF) of the Epson FastFoto scanner.

For documents, you load them top side first, but with the fronts of pages facing the back of the scanner, instead of the front - the opposite of photos (which face forward).

After loading the documents and pressing the big blue "SCAN double-sided" button, it took about 10 seconds (at 200 dpi) for the software to scan both side of four pieces of paper.  I got a screen that allowed me to review, edit (delete, rotate, or crop) and/or re-order the scans.  Everything looked good, so I clicked the Next button at the bottom right of this screen.

This leads to a screen where you have lots of options on what to do with your scanned image - save (to computer), attach to email, send to Google Drive or Dropbox or Evernote or Gmail or Microsoft OneDrive, print, save to Microsoft Word or Excel or PowerPoint, and (on a trial basis) manage invoices and receipts.  I chose Save.

The software will plug in the default name from the File Name Settings I discussed earlier in this post.  I guess OCR couldn't generate a name, perhaps because these were 30+-year-old dot matrix documents scanned at 200 dpi.  No matter.  I wanted to change the file name to something more relevant for me anyway, as well as change the folder where it would be saved.  You could also select the file type ...

... which gave you a number of options - PDF, searchable PDF, JPEG, TIFF, Multi-TIFF, PNG, and BMP.    

I chose Searchable PDF, and thus also needed to select the OCR Language (the default is English).  Then I clicked the blue Save button at the bottom right corner of the screen.

The OCR does work, as shown in the screen grab below when I opened the PDF with Adobe Acrobat.  I decided, however, that the 200 dpi scan was too "grainy" and rescanned the documents at 300 dpi (still grainy) and 600 dpi (okay), which is what is shown below.  Remember, this is dot matrix printing and the papers are more than 30 years old.  I'm happy with what I got.

One more post for this series, where I'll wrap up with how easy it was to set this scanner up (with one minor glitch), the things I didn't test (and why), and what I would use - and not use - this scanner for.
 

© Amanda Pape - 2025 - e-mail me!

Epson FastFoto FF-680W Scanner Review - Part 3

This is Part 3 of my review of the Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-speed Photo Scanning System - other parts are here:  Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 4 - Part 5.

A tip sheet that I received in advance of the scanner's delivery suggested using it for other memorabilia, such as greeting cards and postcards.  It so happens that my late husband saved EVERY card and letter I gave or sent him over the eighteen years of our marriage, and I'd started scanning some of those for my grief blog.  

The Epson FastFoto is perfect for this task, because greeting cards have two sides - outside and inside (front and back for postcards).  I treated the cards similarly to photos, with some of the same settings.

I set the scanner to scan the cards at 300 dpi and produce JPEGs, and to scan ALL the "backs," as this was the inside of the greeting cards.  I also set the scanner to do auto enhancements (brightness, contrast, saturation) and to restore faded colors, and to apply these enhancements to a second copy of the card, and not to the original scan.  I left remove red eye unchecked; it wasn't necessary for cards.  I also turned on auto rotation, curled photo correction, and reduce lines and streaks in the advanced settings.  (See Part 1 for a discussion of these various settings.)

Because of their size, I fed the cards in opened up with the outside of the card facing up, and the front cover of the card as the leading edge, as in the photo below.  That image is followed by some examples of my results, and what I learned.

Above:  The scanner loaded with some cards and ready to go.

Below:  Example of a scanned card.  The first image is the original scan of the outside of the card, the second is a copy of that scan with enhancements (auto brightness, contrast, and saturation; and restore faded colors) applied, and the third image is the inside of the card.

Above and below:  Interestingly, for these two cards, the software could "read" enough of the image to orient the outside of the cards correctly, but not the insides.  Not a problem, this is an easy fix.

I did notice a problem with a few of the cards that required me to change a setting and rescan them.  Remember for the advanced setting, "reduce lines and streaks," the user guide noted that "enabling this setting may slightly crop your photos."  On some cards, I wrote messages right up to the edges of the card, so this was an issue, as in the example below.

Above and below:  First scan of this card, with the advanced setting "reduce lines and streaks" checked.  This cut off part of my message on the inside of the card, below.

So I turned off the advanced setting, "reduce lines and streaks," which undid the cropping of the inside of the card.  However, this time there were two lines or streaks on the outside of the card, most noticeable on the outside back (which I will be cropping out when I use these images in my private blog).  You can click on the image below to enlarge it and see it better.

Second scan of this card, with the advanced setting "reduce lines and streaks" UNchecked.  Now my handwritten message on the inside of the card, below, is entirely visible - but also visible are some streaks on the outside of the card, above.

According to the user guide and the Help utility in the software, these straight lines can be caused by dirt or dust on your photos (or cards) or by dirt or dust on the glass surfaces of the scanner.  For the latter, a microfiber cloth and instructions in the user guide are provided for cleaning.

I also scanned some paper business cards and some plastic cards as if they were photos - face up, top down, 300 dpi, saved as JPEGs, not scanning the back sides, no enhancements turned on, and only auto-rotate turned on with advanced settings (since one of my plastic cards was in portrait orientation.  You can scan up to 30 paper business cards at once; I only had twelve.  Here's how four of them turned out:

You can scan up to five plastic cards at one time, but one of mine jammed - I think because it was not of uniform thickness (thinner on the edges than in the middle).  Here are the other four (it did auto-rotate the one portrait-oriented card):

These are all ID cards from previous workplaces, but I imagine you could use this scanner and the FastFoto software to scan both sides of a driver license or other official ID.  Although that technology has been around a while (such as at doctor's offices), I didn't want to take a chance with my driver license!

Note that this scanner, and the Epson FastFoto software, can be used to scan other types of documents IF you want to save them as JPEG or TIFF files.  Check out the next post for scanning and saving as PDFs.

© Amanda Pape - 2025 - e-mail me!

Epson FastFoto FF-680W Scanner Review - Part 2

This is Part 2 of my review of the Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-speed Photo Scanning System - other parts are here:  Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

After testing with a small batch of black-and-white photos, I decided to scan 111 color photos from the period of 1967 through 1994.  These were all photos that included my three stepchildren, Kim, Noël, and Drew.  They had been in photo albums I'd put together for their late dad, and I decided it's time to pass the photos on to them.

Trouble is - in photos that have more than one of them - who gets the original?  So that's why I decided to scan them - so I can share them with them in Google Photos, and see who wants what.

The photos were in nine different sizes, ranging from as small as 2.25" by 2.25" and 2.5" by 2.5", to a few that were 4" by 6" and 5" by 7".  There were also some Polaroids from 1970 which, because of their thickness and stiffness, needed to be scanned one at a time.

However, you CAN scan multiple sizes at one time, up to 36 at a time, as long as they are at least 2" by 2", and grouped by size with the smallest in front and the with the largest at the back. The photos should be face up, in landscape orientation and top edge first, and centered in relation to each other.

So, I kept my photos in mostly chronological order, and scanned them in small batches mostly defined by the smallest photos.  I did, however, have one batch that consisted of 41 photos.  They all came out fine.

I set the scanner to scan the photos at 300 dpi and produce JPEGs, and to scan the backs if printing/handwriting was detectable (light setting).  I also set the scanner to do auto enhancements, remove red eye, and restore faded colors, and to apply these enhancements to a second copy of the photo, and not to the original scan.  I also turned on auto rotation, curled photo correction, and reduce lines and streaks in the advanced settings.  (See Part 1 for a discussion of these various settings.)

Here is a photo of the scanner in action, plus some examples of the results, with my comments.  In all of the examples, the first image is the original scan, the second is a copy of that scan with enhancements (auto brightness, contrast, and saturation; remove red eye; and restore faded colors) applied, and the third image is the back of the photo:

Above:  At 300 dpi, the scanner is very fast - note the blurred photo exiting at the bottom.

Below:  The auto-rotate setting did properly turn this photo, which was fed in landscape orientation.

Above:  The auto-rotate setting didn't turn this photo - but that's ok, it's an easy fix.

Below:  All the enhancement settings were turned on for this batch, and it (the middle image) turned out well.

In these photos, from 1991 (above) and 1970 (below), the enhancements (middle images) got the whites a little brighter than I like, so I would work on enhancing the original images (on the left) with other tools.

Above:  This is the oldest photo I scanned in this batch, from 1967.  I think the enhancements feature did an outstanding job on this one.

Below:  One of the Polaroids I scanned.  In this case, the enhancements (middle image) made it too dark, so I will work with the original on the left.

Above:  The enhancements feature got the whites in the foreground a little brighter than I like, but I'm not sure I could do any better than this with the original, with the tools I have available.

Below:  And the enhanced image below is also off on color, but again, I don't think I could do much better.  Note that the scan of the back indicates the print was processed in October 1974, so we know the photo was taken in or before that month.  That's all the info I have on this photo; I don't know two of the girls in it, or where it was taken.

One more example here - this one (October 1972) is from a batch of photos of myself (so I'm comfortable sharing larger versions) that I scanned before my 50-year high school reunion last month.  The original prints were 3.5" by 3.5" with a white border all around, standard for that time period, and they were shot on Kodacolor film.  I scanned these photos at 600 dpi, otherwise all settings were the same as above.

Here is the original scan:

And here is the one with all the automatic enhancements, including restoring faded colors.  Not bad!

All in all, I'm very pleased with how the Epson FastFoto FF-680W handled these color snapshots - and by how fast it was. 

You can use the Epson FastFoto FF-680W to scan things other than photos.  More on that in the next post in this series.

© Amanda Pape - 2025 - e-mail me!