If your like most people you probably have boxes or albums with photos laying around that you have been meaning to scan into your computer someday. You quickly realize that it is a major pain in the ass and push off the project for some other time.

I did a little research and found that the HP ScanJet 5530 Scanner had an autofeed feature, but the reviews are kind of crappy.

I went to the Epson web site saw they have a photo feeder that can be adapted to fit on a scanner. You simply remove the cover of the scanner and replace it with the auto feeder. It works with the Epson Perfection 2480 or 2580 scanners. I think it may also work with the 3490 & 3590 Scanners.

These scanners are no longer in retail stores but they can be found on ebay.

So for about $240 I was able to assemble an automatic photo scanner.

It works really well ! You can load about 25 pictures into the tray. It takes about 15-20 minutes to scan 25 pics. It isn’t terribly fast but you can do other things while the pics are scanning. You can scan hundreds of pictures in a day no problem.

The Canon PowerShot SD1000 in one of the most popular digital cameras right now. The SD1000 looks and feels like a piece of art, takes 7MP pictures and is priced just over $200.

Although the SD1000 may not be the best digital camera to take videos with it has some compelling modes not usually found on other cameras. Naturally it can take 30fps movies at 640 x 480 pixels. In addition there is something Canon calls the “Fast Frame Rate” which is a 60fps 320 x 240 mode. This mode would be great for slowing down high speed action. For example taking videos of a baseball hitter or a golf swing and then slowing them down to analyze the swing. It’s just a shame it’s not offered in 640 x 480 at the higher rate.

Another cool mode (though technically not video) is the time lapse mode. It will take 640 x 480 shots at 1 or 2 second intervals.

One reason I said the PowerShot SD100 may not be the best for video is that it stores videos in the motion JPEG format. The better would have been to use MPEG4 H.264.