The Sassy Starfish: Scan and Save: Favorite Technology to Capture Family Moments

After a few projects around our home, my next big project is to digitalize both my immediate family photographs as well as the photographs of my grandparents. I already have found my favorite tools to do that. Since Christmas is around the corner here are some of my favorite items along with my MacBook Pro that may inspire your genealogy Christmas list.

I chose to purchase a printer/scanner in the Epson Artisan series a few years ago. It is based on reviews about the scanner quality. It also has the convenience of being wirelessly linked to my computer and iPad. My first printer was an Epson, and it lasted over five years!

Since the Artisan is not exactly portable, I also chose to invest in a portable photo scanner. The Kodak P811 Personal Photo & Negative Scanner was the perfect choice. I purchased mine in red off of Amazon. It scans photos up to 8x10" and saves them onto a memory card. If the photo is below 4X6, it will auto crop if you use the photo sleeve that comes with the scanner. I was able to scan over six photos in a matter of minutes. I have also been happy with the quality of the scans. See the sample at the beginning of this post.

You need somewhere to store all those photos after they are scanned. Although I love the idea of the wireless hard drives, I chose a Passport compatible with Mac computers. My husband gave me mine as a gift, and he found it refurbished at a reasonable price. I do not have to worry about running out of space, and it made a seamless transition when I changed computers last month.

Here is a shot of my handy 8 GB USB Flash Drive. I purchased this one at Target just to carry my writing and research projects. It is handy for trips to the library, and to keep my research easily accessible.