If you want to know which photo scanners are most compatible with Macs, we’ve looked at the best photo scanners for Mac of 2023.
Although some all-in-one printers and document scanners can also scan photos, they often can’t scan in high resolution or support scanning of negatives and photographic film.
Using a photo scanner produces much better results and they also usually include software to remove imperfections from old photos and images.
Digitizing your precious photo memories is a great way to preserve them forever and also to share older photos that were taken before digital cameras and phones came along.
It’s also a great way to backup your photo collection by saving them to an external hard drive or printing them out to send to others.
Unlike document scanners, the photo scanners reviewed here have been selected because they’re specifically designed for producing high resolution quality scans of photos and work seamlessly with Macs.
All of the scanners reviewed here work with the latest Apple Silicon M1 Macs as well as the latest versions of macOS including macOS Monterey.
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What We Looked For In The Best Mac Photo Scanners
- Ability to scan not just photos but also negatives and films. All of the photo scanners reviewed here can be used to scan old negatives and photographic film.
- Photo enhancement technology. The best photo scanners include photo enhancement tools to remove blemishes such as scratches and dust from old photos.
- TWAIN driver support to allow them to work with any document management or OCR scanning software. This is especially important for offices or companies that want to integrate their own scan software with a photo scanner. It also means that they will work with Preview and Image Capture which are free in macOS so if the manufacturer scanning software is useless and bloated, you’ve always got something to fall back on.
- Support for Apple AirPrint so that your scanner is ready to go out of the box without the need to download or install the manufacturer software. Although AirPrint is designed for connecting printers wirelessly to a Mac, it also works for connecting photo scanners quickly and easily via USB.
- Support for the latest versions of macOS including Monterey and M1 Macs.
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With this in mind, here are the best Mac compatible photo scanners in order of ranking.
1. Epson Perfection V600 (Best Flatbed Scanner)
The Epson Perfection V600 is the best photo scanner for Mac thanks to a solid combination of value for money, high quality scans and reliability.
The V600 is the replacement for the V550 which is now discontinued by Epson.
The Epson Perfection V600 is designed specifically for scanning photos, images and negatives but it can also be used to scan documents, 35 millimeter slides, negatives and film.
The Epson Perfection V600 produces extremely sharp scan reproductions of 6400 dpi (optical) for enlargements of up to 17 x 22 inches with 48 bit color depth.
A nice touch is that the Epson Perfection V600 has Digital ICE technology that can even remove the appearance of dust and scratches on older films.
We also liked the fact that the Epson Perfection V600 doesn’t require warming-up and is ready to go as soon as you switch it on thanks to the ReadyScan LED technology.
There’s no photo feeder however so you can only scan one or two photos at a time (or however many you can fit on the flatbed).
Pros:
- Excellent value for money
- Scans photos, negatives and film
- Epson software removes blemishes from photos
- Up to 6400 dpi scans
Cons:
- No automatic photo feeder
- No wireless connectivity
2. Plustek Photo Scanner (Best For Multiple Photos)
The Plustek Photo Scanner is a versatile scanner supporting 3×5, 4×6, 5×7, and 8×10 photo dimensions but also letter and A4 size paper.
If you need to digitize thousands of photos, then the Plustek Photo Scanner allows you to do so very quickly compared to other photos scanners.
Unlike flatbed scanners, the Plustek Photo Scanner allows you to insert photos into a feeder one-by-one which is more efficient than having to manually open and close a flatbed scanner.
Be careful however that you don’t have any sellotape or glue attached to the photos as they will get stuck on the feeder and jam the scanner.
The optical resolution is only up to 600 dpi but scanning is extremely fast with 4×6 photos taking 2 seconds with the maximum 8×10 taking 5 seconds.
The Plustek Photo Scanner can also improve the quality of faded images and photos thanks to the ePhoto Z300 software that works on both Mac and Windows.
Unfortunately however, the Plustek Photo Scanner does not support TWAIN which means it won’t work with other scanning software.
If you want to use it with Image Capture or other scanning software, you can get the Plustek SmartOffice PS286 instead.
The driver software provided with the Plustek Photo scanner is also a poor translation of the Window version. It can also be unstable on macOS when scanning large numbers of photos.
Pros:
- Great for scanning big batches of photos
- Supports multiple photo sizes
- Photo feeder for automatic scanning
- Photo enhancement software
Cons:
- No TWAIN support
- Mac software is poor and can be unstable
- Low resolution scans
- No WiFi connectivity
3. Canon CanoScan Lide 300 Scanner (Best For PDFs)
Canon is one of the leading brands when it comes to digital cameras and the Canon CanoScan Lide 300 produces typically large high quality scans of up to 2400 x 2400 dpi resolution.
Scanning is a little slower than most taking up to 10 seconds depending on the size of the image. The CanoScan Lide 300 scanner is also a duplex photo scanner which means it can scan both sides of a photo or image.
There are also some useful tools for enhancing images such as fade correction and dust reduction for older photos.
The Canon CanoScan Lide 300 Scanner has 4 ‘EZ’ buttons to make scanning easier and faster.
There’s an Auto Scan button which automatically detects what you’re scanning and a built in PDF button that can scan and saves PDFs to make them editable and searchable.
Note that to make sure the Canon CanoScan Lide 300 Scanner works with your Mac, you need to unlock the travel lock setting on the bottom of the scanner which is activated by default out of the box.
You can also use Image Capture on your Mac with the Canon CanoScan Lide 300 Scanner which support TWAIN connections to other software.
Pros:
- High quality scans
- Supports TWAIN for other scanning software
- Built in PDF scanning button
- Duplex scanning
Cons:
- Slow scanning
- No WiFi connectivity
4. Epson Perfection V850 Pro (Highest Quality Scanner)
The Epson Perfection V850 Pro is the best photo scanner for Mac in terms of resolution with an incredible 6400 dpi resolution.
For those that need high control over the tone, the Epson Perfection V850 Pro features 4.0 Dmax for smooth gradations and fine shadow detail.
The Epson Perfection V850 Pro has an unusual dual lens system which allows you to select two lenses to achieve the high 6400 dpi resolution it’s capable of.
The Epson Perfection V850 Pro also scans slides and negatives and features a useful slide holder to help keep them flat in the scanner.
It comes with its own Silverfast software which works on both Mac and Windows although takes some learning since this is a high end scanner with a lot of settings to customize.
Silverfast includes an incredibly powerful scratch removal tool which also works with Kodachrome slides.
Since the Epson Perfection V850 Pro supports TWAIN, it works with Image Capture on a Mac but also OCR software such as Vuescan.
Pros:
- Incredibly high 6400 dpi scans
- Slide holder to help scan slides
- Powerful Silverfast software
- Supports TWAIN connections to other software
Cons:
- Silverfast scanning software takes some learning
- Price
5. EPSON FastFoto FF-680W (Best Photo Feeder)
If you’re looking for a non-flatbed image scanner for your Mac that has a convenient photo feeder, then the Epson FastFoto FF-680W is the best value photo scanner with photo feeder on the market.
The EPSON FastFoto FF-680W is incredibly fast allowing you to scan thousands of photos as fast as one photo per second at 300 dpi.
The convenient photo feeder allows you to batch-scan up to 36 photos at a time which is much quicker than a flatbed scanner.
The EPSON FastFoto FF-680W supports photos in sizes 4″x6″, 5″x7, 8″x10″ as well as panoramic prints.
It also includes its own Epson FastFoto software and app that allows you to add voice and text over your photos or create slideshows, right from your smartphone.
The EPSON FastFoto FF-680W includes an image improvement tool with auto enhancement, color restoration, red-eye reduction, de-skew, crop and rotate tools.
It can also scan both sides of a photo at once so if there’s anything handwritten on the back of a photo such as a signature or date, the EPSON FastFoto FF-680W will copy it.
You can choose to scan in a variety of resolutions on the FastFoto FF-680W including 300 dpi, archiving (600 dpi TIFF) and enlarging (1200) dpi. It can even handle multiple sizes in one batch.
The scanner includes Epson ScanSmart software which has optical character recognition (OCR) technology so that you can convert scanned images into readable text.
You can also connect the EPSON FastFoto FF-680W to cloud storage solutions such as Dropbox and Google Drive so that you can share them with family and friends immediately.
You can also choose to connect the EPSON FastFoto FF-680W via USB or WiFi.
Pros:
- Non flatbed photo feeder alternative
- Software allows to add voice and text to slideshows
- Double sided scanning
- Lots of image enhancement tools
Cons:
- Lower resolution than flatbed scanners
| Epson Perfection V600 | Plustek Photo Scanner | Canon CanoScan Lide 300 Scanner | Epson Perfection V850 Pro | EPSON FastFoto FF-680W | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto Photo Feeder Capacity | |||||
| Double Sided Duplex Scanning | |||||
| Scans Negatives & Photographic Film | |||||
| Max Scan Resolution dpi (optical) | 6400 | 600 | 2400 | 6400 | 600 |
| Easy To Use | |||||
| WiFi For Mobile Scanning | |||||
Buy Now | Buy Now | Buy Now | Buy Now | Buy Now |
Hello,
Can you explain how the Epson FastFoto FF-680W scans slides or negatives? That has been the only thing holding me back from buying it.
Thanks
No the FF-680W only scans photos and documents. You’d need the Epson V600.
Reviews from Mac users said the Plustek has poor software compatibility with Mac. Did you find that?
The macOS software for the Plustek isn’t great and can be unstable. It’s still one of the best photo scanners for scanning large batches of photos though.