Need to digitize thousands of old family photos without spending hours hunched over a flatbed? We recently put the Epson FastFoto FF-680W through its paces and started to see why it’s become the go-to for folks with mountains of prints to scan.
This wireless scanner moves fast—no kidding, it’s billed as the world’s fastest personal photo scanner. It churns through batches of up to 36 photos at a time, and it keeps the quality surprisingly high for the speed.
- HIGH-SPEED PERSONAL PHOTO SCANNER¹ — Scan thousands of photos as quickly as 1 photo per second at 300 dpi ²; Further increasing your efficiency, this Epson picture scanner also allows you to batch-scan up to 36 photos at a time
- PRESERVE YOUR PRICELESS PHOTOS — Photo scanner for transforming old pictures to digital fast; Restore, organize, protect, and share your special photos; Scan Polaroid photos, panoramas, postcards, and photos up to 8 x 10 in
- SHARE STORES FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS — After scanning your photos with this Epson FastFoto scanner, use the Epson FastFoto app³ to add voice and text over your photos, or create slideshows right from your smartphone
What stood out most? The scanning quality. Auto enhancement is genuinely useful—it perks up faded colors, and the color restoration handles those old, yellowed prints better than I expected. The single-step scan even grabs the photo’s back, so you don’t lose grandma’s scribbled notes.
Setup is mostly painless, with both wireless and USB options. The mobile app is a nice touch—being able to add voice notes or make slideshows right from your phone feels pretty modern.
A few caveats: it’s happiest with standard photo sizes, and really fragile or warped pictures need the included carrier sheet. It’s not cheap either, but if you’ve got boxes of photos to tackle, the speed is hard to beat.
Bottom Line
The FastFoto FF-680W is a lifesaver for anyone staring down a mountain of family photos. It’s fast, the results look great, and the restoration features are genuinely helpful.
Click here to purchase the Epson FastFoto FF-680W and start preserving your memories today!
Overview: Epson FastFoto FF-680W Wireless High-Speed Photo and Document Scanning System
After a few weeks of scanning, the FF-680W really does deliver on speed without trashing image quality. You can load up to 36 photos at once, and it’ll whip through them at about one per second at 300 dpi.
Key Performance Areas:
| Feature | Performance |
|---|---|
| Batch scanning | Up to 36 photos simultaneously |
| Speed | 1 photo per second at 300 dpi |
| Photo sizes | Up to 8″ x 10″ including Polaroids |
| Connectivity | Both wireless and USB options |
Automatic enhancement works well on faded family photos, and the one-pass, front-and-back scan is great for preserving handwritten notes.
Mobile app setup is quick (about five minutes, give or take), and wireless means you don’t have to park the scanner next to your computer. At 8.2 pounds, it’s not a burden to move to another room or even to a family member’s house.
It is pricier than entry-level models, but if you’re serious about digitizing a big collection, the time saved is worth considering.
Blazing Scan Speeds
Speed is where the FF-680W earns its reputation. Digitizing a lifetime of photos suddenly feels doable.
During testing, it kept pace even with mixed sizes—standard 4x6s zip through, and larger prints don’t slow it down much.
| Photo Size | Processing Speed |
|---|---|
| 4×6 inches | Very fast |
| 5×7 inches | Fast |
| 8×10 inches | Moderate |
Even over Wi-Fi, there wasn’t much lag. Transfers to a computer or phone happened smoothly.
It’s not just for photos—documents of various sizes feed through reliably, though extremely thin or damaged pieces might need some extra attention.
Startup time is a bit sluggish, but once it’s running, the pace stays steady.
Seamless Photo Restoration
The built-in restoration is better than expected. The Perfect Picture Imaging System fixes up color loss, red-eye, and crooked scans, all without you having to fiddle with settings.
Color restoration is especially solid on prints from the ‘70s and ‘80s—faded yellows and blues actually come back to life. Auto enhancement helps recover details lost to overexposure, too.
Key Restoration Features:
- Auto color correction for faded prints
- Red-eye reduction for flash photography
- De-skew and crop functions
- Rotate capabilities for proper orientation
SafeTouch Technology keeps delicate photos from getting chewed up. Even Polaroids and thin prints make it through in one piece.
With really damaged photos—big tears or deep scratches—you’ll still need editing software after scanning. The auto tools are more for moderate wear and tear.
Effortless Voice and Story Sharing
Recording family stories is a breeze with the app. You can add voice notes right over a scanned photo—makes the memories feel more personal than just a digital image.
Making slideshows is quick, too. The app lets you combine photos and narration for easy sharing with relatives.
| Feature | Functionality |
|---|---|
| Voice Recording | Direct audio capture over photos |
| Slideshow Creation | Combine photos with narration |
| Mobile Integration | Works through smartphone app |
You do have to download the separate FastFoto app, which is a bit of a nuisance. Voice recording quality is only as good as your phone’s mic, so results vary.
Story sharing is pretty much instant once you’re done. You can send these photo collections to family, so the stories don’t get lost along the way.
Versatile Document and Media Handling
The FF-680W isn’t just for snapshots. It scans anything from letters to Polaroids, panoramas, and postcards up to 8×10 inches.
Document Capabilities:
- Scans documents up to 24 inches long
- Processes up to 45 pages per minute
- Includes OCR software for text conversion
Batch scanning is a real time saver—just stack up to 36 photos, and it’ll process them all in one go, even if they’re different sizes.
For documents, the ScanSmart software and OCR work decently, turning scanned pages into editable text. It’s fast, too, at up to 45 pages per minute.
Thick or oddly shaped items can be tricky—they don’t always feed smoothly. The carrier sheet helps with fragile pieces, but it’s an extra step.
Intuitive Wireless Connectivity
Getting the FF-680W on Wi-Fi is pretty painless—just a few minutes in the FastFoto app, and you’re set. No need to fuss with complicated setup.
Once it’s on your network, you can put the scanner wherever you want—no more being chained to your desk by a USB cable.
If Wi-Fi’s acting up, you can always fall back on the USB connection. Nice to have options.
Scanning directly to your phone or tablet works well, with up to 600 dpi JPEGs for mobile. That’s plenty for sharing and most archiving.
Wireless performance stays steady, even during long scanning sessions. Didn’t notice any annoying dropouts.
Batch Scanning Made Simple
Batch scanning is where this thing earns its keep. Load up to 36 photos, hit go, and let it rip—no need to feed them one at a time like with a flatbed.
Key batch capabilities:
- Mixed sizes: Handles different photo sizes in a single batch
- Speed consistency: Keeps up the pace through the whole stack
- Automatic separation: Saves each photo as its own file
The auto-feeder is reliable, though really thin or warped photos sometimes need a little help. SafeTouch Technology keeps fragile prints intact.
It’s handy that it detects orientation—portrait and landscape get sorted out automatically.
Batching works best with standard sizes like 4×6. Bigger prints (up to 8×10) can go through, but you’ll want to double-check placement.
Pros and Cons
After running thousands of family photos through the FF-680W, here’s what’s clear.
Pros
Speed is the headline. Nearly one photo per second is a game changer, and handling up to 36 at once makes big projects feel manageable.
Photo enhancement features are genuinely helpful. Auto color restoration revives tired prints, and red-eye reduction plus cropping save time later. Scanning both sides at once is a smart touch.
Connectivity is flexible—Wi-Fi and USB both work well, and automatic uploads to cloud services like Dropbox are a bonus. The app makes it easy to organize and whip up slideshows on the fly.
SafeTouch tech means even fragile photos make it through unscathed. Carrier sheets help with the really delicate stuff.
Cons
Size limits are a pain—anything bigger than 8″ x 10″ is a no-go without workarounds. Annoying if you have panoramas or large portraits.
It’s not cheap. The price will put off anyone with just a shoebox or two of photos.
Document scanning is more of an add-on than a core feature. OCR works, but it’s not the main attraction, and the interface is clearly photo-focused.
Setup can be fiddly for the less tech-savvy. Wireless configuration and resolution settings might trip up some users.
Customer Reviews
Most buyers rave about the FF-680W’s speed. People mention digitizing thousands of photos in a weekend, which is wild compared to flatbeds.
Common Positive Feedback:
- Speed: Eats through big photo piles
- Auto-feed functionality: No more one-at-a-time scanning
- Portability: Small enough to move around easily
- Ease of use: Simple enough for most folks
It’s especially popular with folks handling estates—scanning a lifetime of family photos fast is a real relief. Plenty say it’s worth every penny, even with the higher price tag.
Areas for Improvement:
Some users bump into issues with certain documents, especially credentials or odd sizes.
Overall, people seem happy with their purchase—lots of “can’t live without it now” comments.
Protecting Your Memories for Generations
Digitizing old photos is a must if you want them to survive the next few decades. The FF-680W does a solid job creating digital archives that’ll outlast the paper originals. Scanning at up to 600 dpi gives you files good enough for reprints down the line.
Auto-enhancement is a big help for old, faded shots. Color restoration and auto-fix for skewed or poorly lit photos mean you spend less time editing.
Key preservation features:
- Multiple resolution choices for different needs
- Automatic cloud backup (Google Drive, Dropbox)
- Single-pass scanning for both front and back
- SafeTouch keeps fragile photos safe
The app’s ability to record voice notes over photos adds a nice personal touch—turns a digital archive into a family time capsule.
Frequently Asked Questions
Many photo digitization enthusiasts have common questions about this high-speed scanner. These inquiries typically focus on performance, capabilities, and value considerations.
How does the Epson FastFoto FF-680W scanning speed compare to other photo scanners on the market?
The FF-680W can scan a photo every second at 300 dpi—yeah, that’s pretty quick compared to most consumer photo scanners out there. Flatbed models usually take half a minute or more per photo, which means the FF-680W is an absolute time-saver if you’ve got boxes of old prints to digitize.
You can load up to 36 photos at once, so you’re not stuck placing each one by hand. If you’re dealing with a massive family archive, this thing chews through piles of pictures in hours, not weeks. That’s a relief for anyone who’s ever tried to scan hundreds of prints one by one.
Among dedicated photo scanners under $1000, the FF-680W is tough to beat on speed. Some document scanners keep up in terms of throughput, but they don’t have the same photo-focused features.
What are the key features and specifications of the Epson FastFoto FF-680W?
You get a 600 dpi optical resolution (with software interpolation up to 1200 dpi if you need to go bigger). It’ll handle photos up to 8″ x 10″, and the SafeTouch Technology is designed to keep fragile originals from getting roughed up.
Specs at a glance:
- Dimensions: 11.7″ x 11.7″ x 6.9″
- Weight: 8.2 pounds
- Color depth: 24-bit
- Connectivity: USB and Wi-Fi
The Perfect Picture Imaging System does the heavy lifting for color restoration, red-eye fix, and cropping. It can also scan both sides of a photo in one go, so if there’s a note or a date scribbled on the back, you won’t miss it.
Auto-upload hooks up straight to Dropbox or Google Drive—no need to shuffle files manually. And with Wi-Fi, you’re not tethered to your desk.
Can the Epson FastFoto FF-680W scan documents as well as photos, and how does it handle different paper sizes?
It’s not just for photos—the FF-680W is a solid document scanner too. You can feed in papers up to 240 inches long, and it’ll churn through up to 45 pages per minute (single-sided) or 90 images per minute (duplex). That’s more than enough for most home offices or small businesses.
Epson ScanSmart comes with OCR, so you can turn scanned text into editable files. That’s handy if you’re digitizing old letters, recipes, or random notes you find tucked in with your photos.
Mixing photo sizes in one batch? No problem. It’ll handle everything from 3″ x 5″ up to 8″ x 10″ without you having to fiddle with settings. Standard letter-size documents slide through just fine.
You’ll want to be careful with fragile papers
What are some common alternatives to the Epson FastFoto FF-680W and their advantages?
Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II delivers impressive photo quality for less, but you’ll be placing each photo by hand. It’s a flatbed—great for smaller batches, and for folks who care more about crisp scans than speed.
Plustek ePhoto Z300 feeds photos automatically and is much more affordable, though it’s not exactly speedy and skips the fancy enhancement options you get with the FF-680W.
Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 is a champ with documents and keeps up in terms of speed, but doesn’t really shine with photo-specific tweaks. It’s probably better for people who mostly want to digitize paperwork, not old family photos.
Professional scanning services charge by the photo and generally deliver top-notch results, especially if your images are damaged or delicate. If your collection is under 1,000 photos, it might actually make sense—saves you the hassle, honestly.
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