Before I start this review, proper, I need to give credit where credit is due, to Shadow Kisuragi, a fellow RF Generation member. He's the one who brought this item to my attention, via the RF Generation Discord (shameless plug). The image you see at the top of this article is a scanner bin, that allows you to use your smartphone as a scanner. I had been looking for a solution to take good pictures of items in my game collection, as a way to start submitting items to the RF Generation database. I had been hesitant to do so before, because I haven't had a flatbed scanner for years, and I've never had a good lighting setup for taking pictures, not to mention a way to stabilize my phone to take good pictures. This scanner bin has finally put me in a position to do just that!



First, a quick review on the build process. In short, it's easy! This came packaged along with a couple other things I ordered, and the cardboard frame was folded down, with the various pieces wrapped in plastic, and a small instruction sheet to direct me how to put it together. The most complicated portion, in all honesty, was getting the strip of LED lights attached to the right piece, and in a way that was even. Aside from that minor issue, this took me no more than 15 minutes to unpack and put together. If you like simple solutions, this fits the bill.

Here are a few photos I took with the scanner bin:

[img width=700 height=933]https://i.imgur.com/txe33Ii.jpg?1[/img]

[img width=700 height=933]https://i.imgur.com/mWSDKFm.jpg?1[/img]

[img width=700 height=502]https://i.imgur.com/c4hPro7.jpg?2[/img]

[img width=700 height=487]https://i.imgur.com/tmUensn.jpg?2[/img]

Obviously, your mileage will vary, depending on the quality of your smartphone's camera. However, I think this is a solid solution for those of us without a real scanner (or space for a good one!), and I look forward to using it to begin getting scans and photos of items that aren't yet in the database, as well as contributing images to those entries that are missing them, when I have the games in good enough condition to do so! If this is of interest to you, have a look at the link below. At the time of this writing, it's just over $15 USD, so it's a small investment to make, and well worth trying out. Happy scanning!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HGDSG1D/ref=cm_sw_r_u_apa_fabc_VMABH5AW6K6MTB541DBZ?psc=1&pldnSite=1

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