Name: Steve Kennedy
Email: steve@pacair.com
Subject: Scanner for photos and schematics
Thread: 12
Time: Mon, 10 Dec 2001 00:49:47 UTC
Like anything else, choosing a scanner is a matter of personal need and pocketbook.
Personally, I have other needs so I couldn't go too cheap. I wound up with a 600 x 1200dpi Epson scanner with transparency adapter and paid about $200 a year ago.
You can get 600dpi scanners for about $50-$75 nowdays. Pick one you can connect to your computer. Some are USB, some come with a SCSI card.
Some good spots to shop for these would be:
http://www.ecost.com
http://www.buy.com
http://www.amazon/egghead.com
There are quite a few places you can find decent deals on color scanners. Just remember that the photos you see on screen are presented at 72dpi.
Submitting a finished image at a resolution any higher than 150dpi is usually a waste of bandwidth.
Many people are investing the money they would have bought a scanner with into a digital camera. Then you can eliminate the film and developing steps. However, a cheap scanner will create a higher quality image from a normal photo than most cheap digital cameras can do by themselves.
Steve