Scanner/Scanning: What scanner you recommend? The printers that come with scanners, do not seem to cut it. Also, does anyone recommend any particular software for scanning?

mjmgka

What scanner you recommend?
The printers that come with scanners, do not seem to cut it.
Also, does anyone recommend any particular software for scanning?

MBW66 Loc: NH, USA

I have had no difficulty with B&W and color scanning with the Epson 610/640 all-in-one printers. No special software was needed.

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

For a dedicated film/slide/negative/print scanner it's hard to beat the Epson V600 (or later) series. You can get them "refurbished" from Epson at a very reasonable price. It will handle 35mm slides/negatives; 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" slides and negatives; prints up to 8"x10". I've had my refurbished V600 for 6 years and it's still going strong.

therwol Loc: USA

mjmgka wrote:

What scanner you recommend?
The printers that come with scanners, do not seem to cut it.
Also, does anyone recommend any particular software for scanning?

What are you scanning? Photos? Negatives? Slides? Documents?

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

therwol wrote:

What are you scanning? Photos? Negatives? Slides? Documents?

This is essential information before making any recommendation.

John Maher Loc: Northern Virginia

I have a refurbished Epson V550 Photo and it is working great so far.

Digitizing color and B&W photos at 300 dpi (a few at 600 dpi).

I used a regular scanner at 300 dpi to scan most documents to .pdf.

First lesson (start over) save to an uncompressed format (e.g. TIFF) -- not .jpeg.

Epson software has worked fine for photos so far including auto color restoration for old color photos.

I did one color negative (trial) and it was good.

I do not know the difference, but the later models (e.g., V600) are probably better. Will let them explain. If it was not, they would still be making V550s.

Quixdraw Loc: x

You might tale a look at the Canoscan 9000F MarkII Does a very good job, relatively inexpensive. If you are planning to scan a lot of 35mm slides, go on line and buy an extra slide holder - really speeds up the workflow.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

quixdraw wrote:

You might tale a look at the Canoscan 9000F MarkII Does a very good job, relatively inexpensive. If you are planning to scan a lot of 35mm slides, go on line and buy an extra slide holder - really speeds up the workflow.

We still don't know what he is scanning.

Quixdraw Loc: x

rehess wrote:

We still don't know what he is scanning.

True enough - I have scanned just about everything except large transparencies (bigger than 2 1/4) successfully with the Canoscan. If he has specialized needs, he will likely need special equipment.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

quixdraw wrote:

True enough - I have scanned just about everything except large transparencies (bigger than 2 1/4) successfully with the Canoscan. If he has specialized needs, he will likely need special equipment.

My experience has been that scanners built purposefully for 35mm media do that much better than Epson scanners do - I'm guessing that Canon scanners will have the same weaknesses that Epson do.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

mjmgka wrote:

What scanner you recommend?
The printers that come with scanners, do not seem to cut it.
Also, does anyone recommend any particular software for scanning?

The most practical scanner is one of the larger Epson flat bed film scanners. I have a V750 and use the Epson software that came with it as well as SilverFast and VueScan.

I also have a Nikon CoolScan 9000 dedicated film scanner but it is no longer made and costs more used that what I paid for it new ten years ago.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

selmslie wrote:

The most practical scanner is one of the larger Epson flat bed film scanners. I have a V750 and use the Epson software that came with it as well as SilverFast and VueScan.

I also have a Nikon CoolScan 9000 dedicated film scanner but it is no longer made and costs more used that what I paid for it new ten years ago.

Both my Nikon Coolscan and my Plustek work much better than my Epson flatbed scanner does - saving me many many hours of "PP" ...... but we still don't know what OP needs, or even whether s/he is still with us.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

mjmgka wrote:

What scanner you recommend?
The printers that come with scanners, do not seem to cut it.
Also, does anyone recommend any particular software for scanning?

Plustek makes some very nice scanners, SilverFast is pretty much the best software for scanning!

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

speters wrote:

Plustek makes some very nice scanners, SilverFast is pretty much the best software for scanning!

We still don't know what kind of media the OP is scanning.

mjmgka

Ok, since everyone is asking what I would like to scan.
Mostly photos that were taken with both 35mm and 2.25 format.
Sizes from 3x5 to 8x10.