Other than a wide format printer, a scanner can be a digital scrapbookers best friend. It will be , if you choose one with the features that you need and use most.

Going into an electronics store can be intimidating, especially when you don’t know the terminology and you’re trying to compare all these technical terms. Let us try to explain the main features to look for.

1. Resolution. The higher the resolution, the more detail can be captured in what you’re scanning. This is important for a few reasons:

a. you can take something small and blow it up to really big. Think about being able to enlarge something that’s 4” x 6” into a poster for example

b. you can zoom in on one little tiny element of an average size photo, say to crop out just that part, and you’ll be able to print it out clearly in a much larger size without losing any of the print quality.

c. For example, a 3200 x 9600 dpi scanner will handle those size challenges with NO problems

2. Automatic features

a. If you have a lot of old negatives and slide, you want to scan these automatically. It makes a tedious project go very quickly because you can scan a bunch at once. You don’t need to feed or lay down one filmstrip or slide at a time. The scanner will even place each scanned photo automatically into a folder that you prename, one whole bunch of photos at a time

b. Some scanners, offer other cool photo correction features.

i. They will restore old faded photos to their original color condition with one click

ii. It will also remove dust from your film – saving you hours of PhotoShop time

iii. The scanner automatically corrects photos with backlight problems. You have taken a photo of someone in front of a bright window. The subject comes out all dark because the light is behind them. The scanner will fix the lighting so that the subject is lit and even correct the color at the same time.

3. Here is the feature that scrapbookers will love most – a lid that is designed to flip open all the way, 180 degrees. It makes it easy to scan something without worrying about fitting it under a lid or taking the lid off completely. Perfect for reproducing scrapbook pages. It can even rest about an inch up – good for something 3-D that you don’t want to squash , like a delicate flower.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money. Technology’s become so advanced, the best scanner brands now include these features at a very low price.