What is an automatic feeder scanner?

 

AUTOMATIC FEEDER SCANNERS

 

The automatic feeder scanner saves the average genealogist a lot of space and time.  The scanner helps researchers digitize large swaths of documents.  These scanners unfortunately are not allowed at the National Archives  and Records Administrration due to the harm it may do to the already worn and fragile documents in their custody.

 

f you have a lot of copies of documents to scan, years and years of them, consider this type of scanner. The scanner is Inexpensive and it allows helps you to organize your research in a imely manner as you discover new facts through research.  An automatic feeder scanner  is the best tool if you plan to organize your research into a website or a book.  It also conserves space by allowing you to toss those binders and  binders of copies you have had sitting in your hallway closet for decades.  Not only that, you can make your work product keyword searchable.

 

Automatic feed scanners are not that expensive but they are only slightly faster than a good quality flatbed scanner. Unfortunately Automatic Feeder Scanners arenot cut out for field work, but is an invaluable resource if you are a veteran researcher and researching several family lines at a time. 

 

*Also, I would like to note, one downside of the high-end sheet-fed scanners is their poor photograph quality.. 

 

 

THE DIGITAL CAMERA

 

Unlike the Automatic Feeder Scanner, digital cameras can go anywhere.  They have over the years become better and more affordable and so their importance as a tool of a field genealogist can't be expressed enough.  You can find one of these in every serious genealogist's field kit.  So easy to use - you can document with speed and precision.  You can zoom in and you can zoom out and you also presented with the best quality.  They are best used by genealogists who need to scan very large and oversized documents. 

 

Scanners differ from digital cameras, which use available light or an electronic flash to illuminate the subject.

 

 

HAND-HELD SCANNERS

 

Hand-held scanners are the most commonly used type of scanning device at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. They are slower that is true but they protect the documents in ways that the other two scanning forms do not.  Hand-held scanners when they do not touch the actual document give you more versatility in size and resolution.  

 

 

Source:  https://www.familysearch.org/techtips/2011/03/genealogists-viewpoint-scanners.html

A description of modern-day digital scanning solutions for the average researcher.