A Petite Photo Scanner

Heather Morra

Want to keep your e-mail correspondents up-to-date with digital images of a newborn baby's progress or your latest world tour? In a hurry to digitize a photograph so you can get an image to a business client? HP's inexpensive and space-efficient Photo Scanner 1000 is perfect for users who value scanning convenience.

The easy setup for this 6.5-by-9.5-inch device is a major plus. After spending 5 minutes installing software and connecting the single included USB 2.0 cable to my PC, I started scanning my favorite pictures. It took only about 15 seconds to scan a photo, convert that photo into a.jpg file, and store it as a thumbnail in a dated folder.

The quality of my photos remained fairly accurate at 300-dpi resolution and 30-bit color, although some pictures lost detail in darker areas. Playing with the photo enhancer tool that comes with the included ACDSee software allowed me to adjust images' color and sharpness for more precision. (It also let me get creative and make a photograph of myself sepia-toned with purple hair.) With the HP Photo Printing software that is also bundled, I was able to create a digital photo-album documenting my travels, and then print it out with a photo printer.

The $100 HP Photo Scanner 1000 is not for users who need the higher resolution of typical flatbed scanners or the ability to scan areas larger than 4 by 6 inches. But it's extremely easy to use, and it's great for sharing and archiving digital images and for sending pictures to keep in touch.

Buying Information

Hewlett-Packard: Photo Scanner 1000 4 stars (10/01/2001) Price, ease of use, and portable size are perfect for beginners, but more-advanced digital imaging options are limited. List: $100