buying a Scanner, what do i look for?

[davi]

I decided what to do with my spare change, i'm going to buy a scanner instead of a new stylus... i think the scanner would all me to be more creative then another digital pen.

so... what do i look for besides size?

is there anyway i could buy a bad scanner?

[golgari]

Well, i guess you cannot go that wrong - most of the newer scanners already have the capability to scan at resolutions that are far bigger then you'd ever want them to scan in....
So I guess what you might want to look at are things like speed (how fast does it scan? how fast does it transfer the data to the computer?) , usability (how is the handling? does it need an additional voltage line? can i place it easily in my room or is it too big/clumsy?)

Plus, there are some scanners which offer the possibility to scan in filmstrips...but those are usually about 60-70 bucks more expensive than the "normal" scanners, so if you're not really into photography, it's maybe not the thing to go for.


I bought a new scanner yesterday, too. i went for the Canon CanoScan LiDE 50 (->amazon... (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000A995A/qid=1073410521/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3_etk-photo/104-6667937-8855136?v=glance&s=electronics&n=508048) )
and i'm quite satisfied with it. the only thing which bothers me about it is that the scan doesnt seem to work properly when i use the button on the scanner instead of using the software on the computer for scanning in. but it seems like i'm the only one who's got this problem. probably did something wrong when i scanned the very first document...

[davi]

that scanner looks pretty perfect actually.

thanks for the tips

[friedegg]

I usually do a lot of research before I drop down a bunch of money. If you're the same you probably already have been looking up some info. I'd start here http://peripherals.about.com/library/ref/blscannerfaq.htm as a primer. I currently use a Canon CanoScan LiDE 50 as well. I mostly scan in black and white, destroying my vision with a light box to lay down inks and whatnot. I used to use an old Umax Astra (I can't remember the exact model) for over 6 years that I retired last year. At work I use a HP PSC 750 for associate producer work scanning in various artwork (so a lot of color scanning). All of these have been reliable in my experiences and I have never really pushed a scanner to its limits. Scanning for the web keeps me at 300 dpi so I haven't really gone that much higher. Actually scratch that, for photos I have... close to 1200 but it wasn't necessary. If you are paranoid about getting a bad scanner just google the models you are interested in and see what pops up in a review.

Happy hunting davi!

golgari: I usually never use the button to scan, though it does work since I tested it out before. I think its just my throwback from the days when the scanners I used didn't even come with buttons. heh...

[skrubbles]

I'm in the market for a new scanner as well. My current one is a Mustek and its atleast 6 years old and is dying... my pencils never really showed up that well in the first place but now my details barely show up at all. So lately I've been using my digital camera to just take pix of my artin' but the problem there are a bunch of problems with this including the angle I take pix at seem to skew the drawings ang give end up giving them weird proportions.

This Canon model seems pretty sweet, does it scan greyscale well? This is a big thing for me, because I'd love to do more shading in pencil again but I've been restraining myself because I know I'm not able to scan 'em with my current situation.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions for scanners that have atleast a 11X14" scan area? its not mandatory, but that's the size I mainly work on and I find it annoying to scan in two haves and paste 'em together in ps... then again, that's mainly due to that fact that it literally takes 5-8 mintues to scan one page with my scanner (even at just 100dpi)

[friedegg]

I normally use the Canon for Ink, but I have scanned pencil before without a problem. Although I am heavy handed with graphite and don't usually use light blending techniques often. The HP at work has scanned pencil fine as well. I really can't suggest an 11 x 14 bed scanner since I don't usually don't use those though, sorry. I might be able to post some pencil scans samples for you later tonight if you want to see for yourself.

[skrubbles]

thanks friedegg, that'd be very much appreciated :)

[Rockhead]

I just saw this really cool scanner today, I don't know how well it works or anything so I wouldn't know whether to recommend it or not. It was just a really cool design and it seemed very practical for scanning a wider variety of sizes and objects. Apparently you can easily scan things in sections, scan the wall or table or anything. The link is http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/ho/WF06b/15179-64195-215155-15202-f25-303640-303642-303643.html and then click on the "take a tour" button to the right. If that link doesn't work it is the HP Scanjet 4670. I'ld like to hear if anyone has used this and if its as great as it seems?

[endregan]

hahahaha mlessard thats funny i have the exact same scanner. got it for christmas!

[Fipse]

In my experience - I´ve had professional scanner-training and do this partly for a living ;) - most modern scanners do the job. As someone said the resolutions are bigger than most people here need. For me at home a cheap Mustek is doing the job very well but you will look for speed and of course size (my next private one will be an A3, ´cause I prefer lifedrawing in A3 and bigger). The rest you can do with a bit of tweaking the gradients in Photoshop - you can even build baseactions if you do some calibration.

More important imo is a sensible colourmanagement. That means you have to have at least at home some calibration working with scanner/monitor/printer (I haven´t done this yet but I´m lazy in my sparetime :D). If you´ve got money left better spend it on a good monitor instead of an expensive scanner this will help you much more.

Some ramblings of a prepress man ...

Fipse

[friedegg]

Ok skrubbles here's some scans of some pencil work on the Canoscan. The first is scanned as grayscale at 300 dpi.

http://www.geocities.com/coffee_ring/journal/gray.txt

The second is color also at 300 dpi.

http://www.geocities.com/coffee_ring/journal/color.txt

as promised...

(oh and yes, the artwork is by me if anyone is wondering... cheers)