If you’re someone who enjoys looking back at photos from cherished family moments and any other photographed memories, then one of the best gadgets that you can get for yourself is a photo scanner. Whether it’s for personal use so that you can easily frame and display your best photos at home or even if it’s purely for professional reasons, having a photo scanner allows you to easily scan both new and old-school photos and then save them in digital format, which you can then visualize again whenever you’re looking to reminisce and relive old memories. Lastly, by utilizing a photo scanner, you can also make digital copies of any important paper documents, not only to keep secondary copies for yourself, but most importantly, to go paper-free with any of your receipts. So, if you’re looking for a photo scanner that’s both reliable and versatile, then the Epson FastFoto FF-680W is a great choice for you to go with.
The Epson FastFoto FF-680W is a wireless high-speed photo scanning system that can scan thousands of photos as fast as 1 photo per second at 300 dpi, batch-scan up to 35 photos at a time, scan documents, and even convert handwriting into digital text via OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, while also allowing you to restore, save, organize and share photos, postcards, panoramas, documents and more, all with support to multiple Output format options between 50 to 1200 dpi resolution, integrating a proprietary Single-Step Technology that makes it capable of capturing both the image and any handwritten notes on the back in a single scan, plus a Perfect Picture Imaging System that offers you multiple image-enhancement functions, as well as featuring both USB 3.0 and Wi-Fi Connectivity, compatibility with Dropbox and Google Drive, and users can also capture their voice or the voice of loved ones and create slideshows via the FastFoto App.
Thanks to all of its scanning, file-management, text-conversion, and image-enhancement functionalities, this wireless high-speed photo scanning system offers you a super-easy way of preserving all of your precious photos and documents.
Now, without any further ado, let’s have a closer look at the Epson FastFoto FF-680W, where we’ll check out all of its different functionalities with a bit more detail and talk about everything that this wireless high-speed photo scanning system has to offer you.
DESIGN & SPECS
Starting with the device’s size, the Epson FastFoto FF-680W has a reasonably compact size, measuring just 11.7 inches long by 6.7 inches wide by 6.9 inches tall, which means that it won’t take away much desk space for its installation. The device is also fairly lightweight, weighing just 8.2 lbs.
The scanner also features a fairly minimalist and modern design, which gives it a discreet and professional look. On top of that, the device also features a very high-end and sturdy construction throughout its entire body / outer shell.
We’d also like to note that this scanner is rated to be recyclable by the company (Epson), meaning that when its final days do come around, you can be assured that you can deliver it in any tech. shop to have it be disposed in a suitable recycling center.
On another side note, it’s also worth mentioning that this wireless high-speed photo scanning system is also rated to be ENERGY STAR qualified (which officially qualifies it to have a minimal power consumption), and is also rated to be RoHS compliant (meaning it was tested and verified that its construction does not contain any of the 10 most tested banned toxic / harmful substances by an independent authority, for which those tests confirmed the levels of those substances to be below the RoHS threshold).
Moving on to the device’s hardware specifications, meaning its scanning specs. First and foremost, note that the Epson FastFoto FF-680W works as a sheet-fed, one-pass duplex 600 dpi/1 line CIS photoelectric color scanner.
For its different scanning functions, the FastFoto FF-680W utilizes a high-end 3-color RGB LED Light Source, which allows it to scan photos, paper files, and documents with an average Optical Output Resolution of 600 dpi, a Color Bit Depth of 30-bit internal / 24-bit external, a Monochrome Bit Depth of 1-bit, and a Grayscale Bit Depth of 10-bit internal / 8-bit external.
When it comes to its main scanning capabilities, this wireless high-speed photo scanning system can scan thousands of photos as fast as 1 photo per second at a 300 dpi color resolution, as well as batch-scan up to thirty five (x 35) 4-inch by 6-inch photos at a time in landscape (i.e. horizontal) orientation with a scan speed that can go up to 80 ppm/160 ipm2 at a 300 dpi color resolution (with the capability of handling multiple paper-sizes in one batch, which range between A3 / Legal Document-size, A4, B5, A6, all the way down to A7 and even A8 (small paper notes from pocket-sized note pads), and also scan letter-sized documents with a scan speed that can go up to 45 ppm/90 ipm4 at a 300 dpi color resolution.
Moreover, the Epson FastFoto FF-680W also features support to multiple Output format options between 50 to 1200 dpi resolution for all of its scanning capabilities.
As an example, users can easily choose a small Output Resolution format of just 300 dpi for easy sharing, a medium Output Resolution format of 600 dpi TIFF for archiving their scanned photos, paper files and documents at a noticeably higher digital resolution, mobile-sized pictures with that same medium Output Resolution format of up to 600 dpi (in JPEG format), and even an image-enlarging Output Resolution format option that allows users to easily enlarge the resolution of their scanned items up to 1200 dpi (note that this Output Resolution format will be scanned with an interpolated resolution that consists of the doubling of your file’s original optical resolution by using a software algorithm to accurately increase that file’s original dpi resolution).
Last but not least, the Epson FastFoto FF-680W also comes together with a dedicated carrier sheet included in its package to safely carry around any delicate photos and/or important old documents that you’re looking to scan, plus an included microfiber cloth that can be used to lightly dust photos.
INTERFACE / CONTROL PANEL
Then, for its interface (meaning its User Controls), the FastFoto FF-680W features a very user-friendly interface that makes it both simple and straightforward for users to operate this high-speed scanner.
Starting with the scanner’s User Controls, which are integrated in a Vertical Layout at the far-right side of the scanner’s body, we have its dedicated Power Button, followed by a Wi-Fi Connect Button and a Wi-Fi On/Off Button, a Double-feed Detect Skip Button, a Slow Mode Button, a Stop Button, and a Start Button.
Below the scanner’s Control Buttons, there’s also a set of LED Status Lights, which, going from left to right, consist of a Wi-Fi AP Connection Light (if the device is already connected to a wireless network, it enters peer-to-peer mode and disconnects from any other networks, which also disables other functions that require Internet access), a Wi-Fi Connection Light (display whether or not the scanner is already connected to Wi-Fi), an Error Light, an Automatic Feeding Mode Light, and a Ready Light.
OTHER NOTABLE SMART FEATURES
Multiple File-Management Functions
On top of all of its main scanning capabilities, the Epson FastFoto FF-680W also allows you to restore, save, organize and share photos (including Polaroid photos), as well as postcards, panoramas, documents and more, as long those photos, paper files, and/or documents measure up to 8-inches by 10-inches.
Dual-Side Image Scanning via Single-Step Technology
Furthermore, this high-speed scanner also integrates a proprietary 2-sided Single-Step Scanning Technology that makes it capable of capturing both the image and any handwritten notes on the back of that photo and/or paper-file / document in a single scan.
High-End Text-Document Scanning with Handwriting Recognition via OCR Technology
Additionally, the FastFoto FF-680W is also capable of accurately converting handwriting that’s detected on any paper document or photo into digital text, which is saved either in an editable text document such as .docx (WORD) or .pdf (PDF) via the use of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology for highly accurate results.
Multiple Image-Enhancement Functions
Finally, this high-speed scanner also integrates a Perfect Picture Imaging System that offers you multiple image-enhancement functions, including Auto enhancement, Color restoration, Red-eye reduction, De-skew, Crop, and also Rotate.
CONNECTIVITY
For its connectivity methods, this high-speed scanner supports both USB 3.0 and Wi-Fi Connectivity.
Moreover, it also features compatibility with Dropbox as well as with Google Drive, which essentially provides you with two easy automatic upload and backup-saving methods for all of your scanned photos and documents.
THE DESKTOP APP – The Epson ScanSmart Software
For all of its picture-management and picture-adjustment functions, users are required to use the scanner’s proprietary Desktop App, called the Epson ScanSmart Software, which is free to download for pretty much any Operative System, including Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows 8/8.1 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows 10 (32-bit, 64-bit), and also Mac OS (from Mac OS X 10.11.x up to macOS 10.13.x).
THE SMARTPHONE COMPANION APP – The FastFoto App
Lastly, users can also download and install the scanner’s dedicated Smartphone Companion App on their Smartphone (called the FastFoto App), which is available to download for free for both iOS and Android devices.
Via the FastFoto App, users can capture their voice or the voice of loved ones and create slideshows with any of their scanned photos.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
Inside their package, users will find: their Epson FastFoto FF-680W Scanner, the scanner’s dedicated AC Adapter and Power Connection Cable, as well as its SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Connection Cable, an included microfiber cleaning cloth together with the scanner’s carrier sheet (used for protecting photos or documents), a Start Here poster, and also the scanner’s User Manual.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Epson FastFoto FF-680W is a wireless high-speed photo scanning system that can scan thousands of photos as fast as 1 photo per second at 300 dpi, batch-scan up to 35 photos at a time, scan documents, and even convert handwriting into digital text via OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, while also allowing you to restore, save, organize and share photos, postcards, panoramas, documents and more, all with support to multiple Output format options between 50 to 1200 dpi resolution, integrating a proprietary Single-Step Technology that makes it capable of capturing both the image and any handwritten notes on the back in a single scan, plus a Perfect Picture Imaging System that offers you multiple image-enhancement functions, as well as featuring both USB 3.0 and Wi-Fi Connectivity, compatibility with Dropbox and Google Drive, and users can also capture their voice or the voice of loved ones and create slideshows via the FastFoto App.
All in all, this wireless high-speed photo scanning system offers you a super-easy way of preserving all of your precious photos and documents. It’s super-reliable, easy to operate, and most importantly, quite affordable when accounting for all of its scanning, file-management, text-conversion, and image-enhancement functionalities.
If you’re interested in buying it, each unit is currently discounted from its standard price of $599.99, and is now going for just $499.99 (saves you $100), and each purchase also comes accompanied by a 1-Year Limited Warranty. You can order yours online right now, either directly from Epson’s official shopping page, or alternatively, you can get it from Amazon instead, if you’d prefer.
 at 300 dpi, batch-scan 35 photos, documents, and convert handwriting into digital text.){kind=link}