From:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,762972,00.asp
The HP ScanJet 5500C ($300) is a godsend for those who do a lot of photo scanning—or would, were it not for the tedium of loading dozens of prints onto the platen one at a time. On the lid of the 5500C is an automatic photo feeder (APF), which lets you stack up to 24 3-by-5 or 4-by-6 snapshots, scan them, and save them at the push of a button. And the excellent quality of the prints is nice too.
The stylish 5500C is a large, heavy, solidly built device. On the front panel are ten buttons plus an LCD number panel, all intelligently marked and logically placed. In addition to the usual one-touch buttons (scan, print, and number of copies) the 5500C has a button that lets you scan directly to the Web site of your choice. Another button saves scans to your hard drive or CD automatically, and yet another button scans and then launches HP's software for creating a slide show on CD. There's even a button to send scans directly to your printer, not to mention a handy cancel button.
Because of the APF on the lid, you must disconnect and remove the 5500C's cover and place the transparent materials adapter (TMA) directly on the glass platen to scan slides and negatives. It is inconvenient to attach and detach, but worth the effort for the auto feeder.
The HP scanning software's interface is clean and convenient, with nothing to distract novices. But it also affords quick access to more advanced controls. The separate slide show creation software walks you through the steps of choosing your photos, adding background music, and burning to a CD, which you can view on a PC or a set-top DVD player that supports video CD media. The software is not as advanced as a true video-editing package (for example, you can't insert fancy transitions between photos), but it's a welcome bonus.
On our tests, the 5500C displayed a preview in about 6 seconds, thanks to HP's dual cold-cathode lamps. It scanned our 5-by-7 test photo in about 15 seconds. The 5500C produced sharp, pleasing scans of prints with realistic color, great specular highlights, and good detail in the shadows.
The convenient APF feature is hands-down the best innovation in consumer scanning in years. Excellent image quality and ease of use make the 5500C even more of a winner.
(looks like it may be discontinued, though... may be able to find it on closeout/overstock somewhere)
