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Best flatbed scanner under $450
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: KC, MO
Status:
Offline
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What are some great scanners under $450?
My main task: scan a few hundred 4x5's to archive, make prints with, send photo CDs to family, and other freelance work.
I really do not want to buy a cheap scanner cuz I want to make sure the quality of my scans are good. But I have no idea what to look for.
I'm willing to accept 8.5 x 11 scannable area if the quality/resolution of pic is good. What are the pro and con of buying one with 600x1200 vs. one with 1200 x 2400? How about USB vs. FireWire? Do the transparency adaptors really work?
It's confusing cuz right when I think I've got a good one, I find a few that are a lot less expensive but with seemingly better specs.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
France
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2000
Status:
Offline
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It's easy to get a great scanner for under $450. For your purposes, you don't need to spend more than $200. Check www.pcworld.com and www.pcmagazine.com for recent reviews, then shop around for prices. I have an Epson and from everything I've read they're still the leading machines in this class. The 1240U and 1640U are great machines and are under $200. They're also faster than most other machines. Both have true 42-bit external output. A lot of machines say they are 42-bit but it's only internal - they only send 24 bits to the computer.
As for resolution, for comparison purposes only pay attention to the optical resolution, not the interpolated resolution. The Epson 1640U has true 1600 resolution for under $200.
Firewire would be nice but they aren't very common yet - I don't think the average consumer needs it.
Another machine I like is the Canon 1220U - compact and nice-looking and said to have an excellent Mac interface. But slower than the Epsons.
No matter which machine I bought, I'd spend an extra $69 to upgrade to Photoshop Elements.
[ 07-02-2001: Message edited by: zigzag ]
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<my 2 cents>
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I just bought a Canon CanoScan D1230U - $299.
It scans up to 1200x2400, built in film scanner(so you can archive/print from negatives etc.)and it is USB.
No problems and I can't see why Firewire would improve my scanning by much more than seconds.
The only real gripe I have is NO POWER BUTTON! (You have to plug/unplug it...which is not so bad for me since my printer shares the port...but when I get a hub!?)
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Florida
Status:
Offline
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Epson Perfection 12000 at $199. Very nice, very quiet, USB, single pass, 36 bit can't remember the rez, but it's up there with most home business scanners. Nice software for it as well.
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All Your Signature Are Belong To Us!
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<nana3>
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Agfa e50, 1200*2400 optical res. USB, with integrated transparency option for 35mm negatives/slides. And it comes with 4 different translucent colour snapin's if you care about that crap.
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