A Second Look at the FlipPal Mobile Scanner

I really really really wanted to LOVE the FlipPal Mobile Scanner I purchased last year, but was a bit disillusioned with our relationship after a first date with some old photos from Arline's Archive. The FlipPal seemed like the perfect genealogy partner -- not tied down to anything, always ready to go... The downside was the extra time required to correct the purplish color cast of the aged photos.

Lately I've been working with my aunt's old photographs and albums, and thought it might be time to give the FlipPal another chance. Aunt Frances' photos are more recent then Arline's, dating mostly from the 1930's to 1950's. Some, however, are the same era, and even from the same events.

The color can be corrected with the Auto Correct feature of my photo editing software, or during scanning by my Epson V500 Photo Scanner.

I looked at the photo again and noticed that the scan doesn't add or change the original; it just doesn't correct the color cast during the scanning process. The scanned image is actually a good representation of the original photo's damaged color. I was looking for short-cuts, so I opted to use my Epson flatbed scanner and correct the color during scanning.

My Aunt's photos are in better condition, crisp black and white with little fading. I tried scanning these images with the FlipPal and was very pleased with the result. The mobile scanner closely replicates the original images, including the scrapbook page from Auntie's album.

I can scan the images at the higher 600 dpi resolution and then convert the JPG files to TIFF images for archiving. The resulting files will be larger but more stable than JPGs that lose quality when editing and saving.

Now that I've figured out how my FlipPal fits in my scanning workflow I'll be using it more often. Time to charge my extra batteries and clear off the chip.

Disclosure: I bought my own FlipPal Mobile Scanner, tested it, and reviewed it without input or direction from the company. I like it so well that I am now a FlipPal Affiliate which means -- if you click on a banner or link on my site and decide to purchase the item, I receive a small commission. It helps keep the power running and doesn't cost you anything extra. Win-Win. Thanks for reading.