Photo Scanner - ePhoto Z300, awarded the German Design Award 2018, scans 4x6 photos in 2s, auto-alignment and cut with CCD Sensor Supports Mac and PC.

I bought this in place of an Epson V600 whcih I could never get working after 4 hours of dicking around. That was a flatbed photo scanner. This is a top-loader. This is a top-loader photo scanner which does docs as well. Set-up took <5 mins including downloading the drivers. So far it has been excellent. 300dip jpg wizzes through and 6oo dpi jgp a smidge longer. It does all normal formats though I haven't tested them. I did 60 photos in 25 mins including faff time, and have hundreds to go so am really glad. Does sizes A4 down to passport size. The feeder auto-centres when you feed in. Lots of functionality. The cost of getting the photos digitised was roughly £0.80p/photo so it definitely made sense to me to buy. Only a couple of whines - could be some documentation and the target directories could be easier to change. You need to wait for the scan process to finish before the next one can be done even though the photo has already come out of the bottom. Good thing is that the photos are grouped as you put them in but not saved so you can select them all and put them into a specific folder, but once saved to the folder you can't edit them again unless you re-scan or use another package. So far I am really impressed with how simple it was to set up and use - definitely intuitive. For smaller photos you can put them in two at a time to create a single image. The footprint is roughly A5 deep and high, and A4 wide so nowhere the footprint needed for a flatbed. Plus the ergonomics of an intuitive top-loader make it quick and easy to use - no dicking around with lids and having to place photos in a specific area. Doesn't do negatives though, but not an issue for me. So far a great buy - definitely reccommended!

When I started to look for a photo scanner I was going to spend £400 plus on a multi-feed scanner, I'm glad I didn't. As it's very unlikely the very small photos from 40 - 90 years old would have been able to go in the auto feeder. That said this is a great piece of kit and works very well. you have to feed each photo but take's in the photo once the photo reaches a certain point and scans very quickly. I have scanned over 1500 photos over about 10 hours and this includes filing them etc. far quicker than an all-in-one lifting and placing each one. I already have four other scanners 2No A4 BW both sheetfed, 1no A4 single sheet colour and 1no A3/A4 multi feed/single sheet colour. Three are Brother, one HP. All are very good but none does this job as well as the Plustek Some reviews complain about the software but it does what it says on the tin its simple to use and once you get into the rhythm very easy. There is a limit of 50 photo for each batch but all you have to do is save this batch in a location of your choice and start again you can scan 1 or fifty it doesn't matter and save each time. The quality is fine and when you consider the age of some of the photos you are likely to scan and the cameras our ancestors used. This scanner brings out a good image sometimes better than the original. I am very pleased with it. One note, this scanner does not scan negatives for that you would need a Plustek OpticFilm 8200i SE which is about £300. It's been very good value for money especially when you consider the competition.

Decided after many years that I needed to take control of my photo collection (about 5000 pictures pre-digital camera era) and hoped that this would be the device to allow me to do that... Initial thoughts on unpacking were: - good design - solid build - simple physical setup Installing the software (for a Mac) was a simple case of visiting the website and downloading the latest version, double clicking and then installing - what could go wrong? Running the calibration was also straight forwards - select from the menu and follow the prompts. The application, as has been pointed out in other reviews, is not the best and provides almost no standard features we have come to expect from a modern application: - opens in one of two modes, either a fixed size window or full screen. There is no option to resize... - opens on the primary screen only. I have a multi monitor setup for my Mac and had to set one of the large monitors as "main display" and then reopen the software to get in on the screen. Once installed and visible on the right screen the actual software use is straight forwards, configure the filename default, set the folder location and the resolution and you are good to go. The scanning resolution can be set to either 300dpi or 600dpi only - no additional options. This is acceptable for home use, but not for any "serious" requirements. The software has a set of simple controls for image quality and picture restoration. Again, they are suitable for home use (archiving, sharing, TV display) but I would recommend using an alternative product to correct the image if quality is paramount. Scanning is very simple, and in the case of 300dpi, almost ridiculously fast. Drop the photograph into the scanner feed location and 2-3 seconds later it appears on the screen ready for editing. All image are scanned to a staging area to allow them to be corrected and then saved - but you are limited to 60 images before you MUST save them which prevents you from scanning large number in a continuous run. I can only assume this is due to software limitation and the lack of correct memory management. It is also worth pointing out that the scanner can ONLY be used by the provided software - it does not appear as a selectable device other applications. HOWEVER... I have returned my scanner due to hardware(?) issues causing a "lockup" / "freeze" at random intervals through the scanning process. As a result I cannot comment in depth on the additional features of the software or the results it may be possible to achieve with some practice and mastery of all of the features - but my initial impressions (once you get past the limitations) were quite good. I really wanted to like this device: - it is simple to use - it is relatively inexpensive for what you get - it is fast (even without an automatic document feeder - see the Epson devices but be prepared to pay a premium) - it produces reasonable images which are more than suitable for home use ...but the annoying hardware glitch has spoiled the overall experience for me. Overall the quality and end-to-end workflow is, for a relatively inexpensive bulk scanner, quite good - and I would recommend this product for anybody with a large photograph collection looking for a cheap alternative to a professional scanning service. Hopefully you will get one that works correctly - by the number of reviews on here there are a lot of people who have - but the bottom line from me is that the product is good at what it does (when it works) but is let down somewhat by the software that supports it.

Ah, the Plustek Photo Scanner Ephoto Z300—a device that promises to digitize your old family photos faster than your nan can say, “Back in my day, we didn’t have scanners!” Let’s start with the speed. This thing scans a 4x6-inch photo in just two seconds! That means you can finally tackle that shoebox full of old holiday snaps without dedicating an entire weekend to it. It’s so fast that if you blink, you might miss the scan happening. Now, onto the ease of use. No complicated settings, no fiddly trays—just feed your photo in, and boom, it’s digitized. Even your tech-averse relatives could use it without calling you for help every five minutes. But let’s talk quality. At 300dpi, it’s decent for everyday use, but if you’re expecting museum-level restoration, you might want to temper your expectations. It’s not going to turn your grainy 90s holiday photos into ultra-HD masterpieces, but hey, it gets the job done. And the design? It’s sleek, compact, and doesn’t look like it was designed in the 80s. It won’t take up half your desk, which is a win in itself. Final Verdict: If you want a fast, hassle-free way to digitize your old photos, the Plustek Ephoto Z300 is a solid choice. It’s not the highest-resolution scanner out there, but it’s quick, reliable, and grandparent-friendly. Just don’t expect it to magically fix your questionable fashion choices from the early 2000s. Would I recommend it? Absolutely—especially if you enjoy watching your old photos fly through the scanner at lightning speed.

I have a project to digitise thousands of photographs taken over sixty years or so. I have several flatbed scanners and film scanners, but the project has been painfully slow. The ePhoto Z300 has changed all that. The design is slightly unconventional. Photos are drop-fed through a slot, and then are pulled through automatically and scanned. There are two resolutions selectable in software 300dpi, and 600dpi. At 300dpi, a scan is very fast, with a standard sized 6"x4" photo taking under three seconds. At 600dpi, the same photo scans in about 24 seconds. The scanner can also be used to scan things like receipts, which is handy, as receipts are often printed on thermal paper, which fades very quickly and is prone to surface damage rendering them illegible. Configuration options are limited to resolution (300/600), Colour/Grey/Auto, and auto-crop/de-skew selection. This is fine, as this is intended to be a minimal-intervention device, just switch on and go. Colour scans were good quality. There is also an OCR capability for document reading, but I have not used this yet. Output scans can be saved in the usual way, or sent to social media, and online storage systems like Flickr and Google Drive. It would have been a nice touch if photo tags could have been entered as scans are saved, but there are other ways to do this. For batch scans, the default root file name is the current date and time, though you can set your own (e.g. 'Holiday 1996'). For most of my scans, 300dpi is fine, as this gives me acceptable web quality results and an easily constructed 'visual index', so that I can rescan selected pictures at higher resolution if required. The 300dpi scanning speed is so fast that I can barely keep up with the flow rate. I have already scanned many hundreds of photographs in one day, which would have taken weeks before. For sheer speed, ease of use and time-saving, this is a winner. Recommended.

I bought this scanner 15 months ago, and I have finally converted all my old printed photos using Windows PC. Absolutely brilliant bit of kit, very easy to use, the restoration software works very well. What takes the time is faffing about deciding which old photos to scan and which to bin, and then organising the scanned photos into folders and naming the photos where necessary

There are not many options for scanners to quickly reduce the number of stored photographs and photograph albums. Flatbed scanners are too slow. Having reviewed the options I settled on the Plustek ephoto Z300 and I am pleased that I did. It was a pleasant surprise to receive a helpful email from the vendor before I received the printer ( using Amazon Prime too!). Setup was easy. I did not have a cd drive on my laptop to install the supplied software. I could only find drivers on line so I use an old PC and copied the CD onto a USB stick. On loading this onto my laptop I was informed of a newer software version on line. This quickly downloaded and installed. I then installed and calibrated the printer and was scanning within 10 minutes. The unit has a nice small footprint and is quiet in operation. The bundled software is easy to use. I chose a location in my cloud, changed the scan dpi to 600 and quickly scanned the contents of one photo album. The software does permit rotation and editing. Bearing in mind that we could not do this when the photos were taken and printed and the fact that the cameras in my youth that I could afford were pretty basic I am very happy with simply scanning and not adjusting - I have about 50 albums to scan! The results are fine , memories are safely preserved and space in my house is recovered. The scans are quick, 300 dpi is very quick, 600 dpi takes a little longer. Feeding the photos is very easy. I have a flatbed scanner but chose this for speed and ease of use for scanning many photos and it is a good choice. I have also scanned documents with it. They are also quick and with good results. In short an excellent scanner for the price to do exactly the job that I wanted it to complete

Absolutely perfect for scanning old photos! Works so well. Super easy to install, and very intuitive to make it work. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes to set up, including the time it took to download the software. The default setting is the lowest quality, that is still a good quality scan and super quick (literally a couple of seconds to scan). If you increase the quality, it takes about 12 seconds to scan the photo so still very fast. All you have to do to make it work is plug in the machine; connect it to your computer via USB; and download the software. To scan the photos all you need to do is place the photo at the top, and it does it all automatically - no buttons to press, all automatic. It also crops the photo automatically. There are also features to edit photos which haven’t used a lot yet, but which look quite good. Can’t fault this product at all, absolutely amazing.

Simple, rápido y efectivo. Hace lo que dice. Que no es poco.

This little photo scanner works really well. It is easy to use and scans pictures fast (a few seconds per pic). It shipped very quickly. You can set the "prefix name" of pictures so if you are scanning from a trip or something you can set the initial name of the pictures and it will add a counter on the end so you don't have duplicate names. The scan resolution is 600dpi and it isn't perfect but the quality is decent and honestly absolutely worth it to get rid of the boxes of pictures we inherited from family. The scanner comes with a CD which is useless to most computers these days but the software can be downloaded from the Plustek website (last updated Apr 2021) and it has some nice features for cropping and optimizing image quality of the scanned images along with setting the scan location so pictures can be saved to cloud storage right away. Note a 600dpi 4x6 picture is between 5 and 13 MB (depending on colour and complexity of photo) Overall, extremely happy with this purchase, well worth the $ compared to an Epson Foto which is over twice the price!

Absolutely brilliant for the average photographer to scan old photos. Fast, easy to use, plug and play. Love this new gizmo.

Der Scanner ist sehr gut; speziell für den Preis. Ich habe mit der Weile einige hundert Fotos verschiedenster Formate und auch diverse Dokumente damit eingescannt. Die Qualität ist gut. Klar es ist kein Premium Gerät und mit einem Profiscanner könnte man wahrscheinlich mehr aus den Bildern rausholen. Aber dann liegt der Preis auch ganz schnell bei etlichen Hundert Euro. Das Gerät ist einfach zu bedienen und man kann mit der mitgelieferten Software die Bilder scannen und auch gleich bearbeiten. Die Auflösung lässt sich zwischen 300 und 600dpi umschalten. Bei 600 dpi geht diue Geschwindigkeit runter und das Ergebnis ist nicht so viel besser, dass die zusätzliche Zeit gerechtfertigt ist. Es lassen sich immer nur 50 Bilder einscannen. Dann muss einmal gespeichert werden. Aber damit kann ich leben. Generell ist die mitgelieferte Software recht einfach und intuitiv zu bedienen. Sie kommt nicht an gute Photobearbeitungssoftware ran, aber dafür ist sie ja auch nicht gemacht. Nachbearbeiten mit anderen Programmen geht immer. Aber die Ergebnisse sind recht gut. Ich habe recht alte Bilder aus den 70er und 80er Jahren gescannt und die Farben sind Teils schon stark verblichen. Mit der Funktion "Weißabgleich" kann man mit einem Klick die Farben wieder herstellen. Das Ergebnis kann sich sehen lassen. Auch hier gibt es bestimmt bessere Programme, aber man muss sich halt auch immer FRagen, was man mit den Bildern vorhat. Wenn man "nur" alte Aufnahmen sichern möchte kann man schnell und einfach große Mengen digitalisieren. Auch Dokumente kann man schnell und mit guter Qualität sichern. Bei allem hilft der automatische Einzug. Man muss zwar die Bilder einzeln einlegen und warten bis sie durch sind, aber das erleihtert die Arbeit deutlich im Vergleich zu einem Flachbettscanner wo man immer alles einzeln auflegen muss. Fazit: In der Preisklasse ein sehr gutes Gerät. Kann ich empfehlen.

Dovendo scannerizzare foto di famiglia in grande quantità erano anni che cercavo qualcosa di più veloce rispetto ad uno scanner piano dove devi mettere la foto, lanciare la scannerizzazione, alzare coperchio, togliere la foto ed inserirne un'altra etc etc........capite bene che scannerizzare così 1500 foto viene male!!! Mi sono imbattuto in questo scanner di un marchio Plustek che non è certo l'ultimo arrivato e di cui avevo già uno scanner per negativi e diapositive che funzionava molto bene. Appena l'ho visto ho subito fatto ricerche sul sito per capire le sue caratteristiche e per quello che dovevo fare io (scannerizzare 1500/2000 foto a 300 dpi) era perfetto. L'ho quindi acquistato e si è rivelato molto meglio di quello che pensavo....oltre ogni aspettativa. La scannerizzazione a 300 dpi è velocissima e in una serrimana ho già scannerizzato 800 foto. Oltre a questa velocità mi ha piacevolmente stupito anche il software di cattura perché consente molte funzioni di miglioramento della foto. Proprio quello che cercavo. È tutte queste funzionalità sono sempre molto intuitive e automatiche. Cercavo proprio questo. Non sto dicendo che sia lo scanner migliore del mondo ma è un ottimo mix tra qualità e velocità. Non volevo perdere mezz'ora a foto per correggerla.......volevo proprio qualcosa che sistemasse la foto al volo rendendola più che discreta. Pensate a foto del 1920 o 1930 o anche foto di solo 40 anni fa tutte ingiallite e virare. Perdere 30 minuti a foto........avrei finito fra 20 anni!!!! Con questo attrezzo in una sola settimana come dicevo ne ho fatte 800 e tutte corrette al volo e con ottimi risultati. Ho provato anche la scannerizzazione a 600 dpi giusto per provarla e funziona sicuramente bene ma a 600 la scannerizzazione diventa molto più lenta....cosa peraltro dichiarata anche nelle specifiche. Esegue scannerizzazione solo a 300 e 600 dpi e nella maggior parte delle volte è più che sufficiente. In soldoni un grandissimo strumento che mi sta salvando da un lavoro infinito. Unica nota negativa: avrei voluto che applicasse in automatico i miglioramenti software a tutte le foto e invece sono costretto a selezionare una alla volta ad applicargli le correzioni. Poco male......è una operazione molto veloce. Per me quindi consigliatissimo. Roberto.