Looking for a scanner

Blasted

Blasted

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Hi there,

I have a bunch of photographs that I would like to get scanned onto the computer. Having had bit of a look around there doesn't seem to be much up to date information regarding scanners.

Basically I am asking what sort of scanner I should be looking for (assuming a flat bed) and what sort of specs I should be looking at for scanning photographs. Scanner recommendations are also welcomed.

Thanks
 
Blasted said:
Hi there,

I have a bunch of photographs that I would like to get scanned onto the computer. Having had bit of a look around there doesn't seem to be much up to date information regarding scanners.

Basically I am asking what sort of scanner I should be looking for (assuming a flat bed) and what sort of specs I should be looking at for scanning photographs. Scanner recommendations are also welcomed.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Negatives, slides or prints? The answer will depend on what you are scanning!
 
I've moved this thread into the Film and Conventional section - the inhabitants of the "analog ghetto" are probably much more regular users of scanning kit, so hopefully you'll get your answer in here.

Oh - and I'd echo Jim - to recommend something suitable, we really need to know the media you want to scan to give a properly informed opinion.
 
Blasted said:
Hi there,

Having had bit of a look around there doesn't seem to be much up to date information regarding scanners.


Thanks
Click to expand...

Well nothing changes much because a new scanner only comes out in leap years.....if you are lucky :| ;)
 
Its going to be for prints only as I don't shoot any film. The idea is to digitise a lot of family photographs. Budget wise would be £150 tops but would prefer decent second hand to keep costs down.
 
Since you aren't shooting any film you don't need to spend anywhere near £150, i would say second hand but getting modern software drivers can be an issue these days so i'd go and get an Epson V33 Scanner from Amazon for £68 + shipping. It's document only scanner so will be much thinner than one that can do film, the specs for it looks pretty much identical to my Epson V500 (if it didn't do film as well), so you should be fine it should be easily able to handle prints.
 
Blasted said:
Its going to be for prints only as I don't shoot any film. The idea is to digitise a lot of family photographs. Budget wise would be £150 tops but would prefer decent second hand to keep costs down.
Click to expand...

How many is "a lot"?
 
I would have thought just about any recent colour flatbed scanner would be fine, I mean its not like your looking for the very best reproduction possible from the picture because otherwise you'd be scanning the negs the prints were made from.
Scanning prints ought to save loads of edit time too..:)
 
Epson v500
Very good for the job you wish
If you need quality and have the budget go for the v700
Good luck
 
TBH for just scanning prints you don't need a massively expensive scanner, as long as it can scan at 600 dpi then thats generally fine for prints.

Obviously the more recent the scanner is, the likely it will be better but your scanning a hugh thing in comparison to a negative so massive DPI's etc are not required and the dynamic range of a print is much less.
 
s162216 said:
...Obviously the more recent the scanner is, the likely it will be better...
Click to expand...

And of course, if it's a current scanner, it's more likely to work "out of the box" with current PC's... some older machines aren't always supported in subsequent OS's, leaving excellent machines unusable (without 3rd party software in some cases)
 
It is possible to pick up an 'old' scanner, that is no longer supported by the latest OS's for a song.

Then get a copy of Vuescan, http://www.hamrick.com/ which supports many old scanners and will work in on many OS's. Check out the list of supported scanners.
 
hence my "without 3rd party software...." comment John ;) - I just got the impression that the OP wanted a nice simple "buy this box, plug it in and get a result" option tbh...
 
You could be right, but sometimes it's worth giving the options.

It annoys me to see perfectly good kit scrapped because the drivers are not available.

However, if you can afford it, current kit is always the best bet because it should be supported - at least until the next OS comes out :)
 
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