19 replies to this topic

[malatekid]

Just read the latest thread on the "Digital Camera" and a responder (that's you, Frank!) mentioned about scanner. I am actually in need of a decent flatbed scanner. I have this plan of scanning old pictures (they were printed from negatives) and put them as slideshow and burn on DVD.

Any recommendation (not expensive but good quality scanner)? I don't want the 3-in-1 deal (printer/fax/scanner) that is almost always the offer of computer stores nowadays.

Jess

[Beerman]

malatekid, on Jun 8 2006, 02:52 PM, said:

Just read the latest thread on the "Digital Camera" and a responder (that's you, Frank!) mentioned about scanner. I am actually in need of a decent flatbed scanner. I have this plan of scanning old pictures (they were printed from negatives) and put them as slideshow and burn on DVD.

Any recommendation (not expensive but good quality scanner)? I don't want the 3-in-1 deal (printer/fax/scanner) that is almost always the offer of computer stores nowadays.

Jess

I had a Microtek at work that did me well but I still think the HP line is very good.  My current one is a Lexmark all in one which I have no problems with either.  They're competitively priced.

[malatekid]

pcostanza, on Jun 8 2006, 03:59 PM, said:

I had a Microtek at work that did me well but I still think the HP line is very good. My current one is a Lexmark all in one which I have no problems with either. They're competitively priced.

Paul,

I'll check it out.

Thank you.

[ggrussell]

Funny thing... my Epson just died. I've NEVER had a scanner go bad. It goes though the motion, but the image is blank.  I've tried everything. The CCD imaging sensor must have taken a dive.

I've been looking around.  I've always liked the Epson TWAIN driver and the Microtek's driver.  I was just reading Microtek's website.  They have the i300 model $99 with a $20 rebate.  It is 3200dpi optical resolution and includes Digital ICE and ColoRescue technology.  They do have better resolution models, but for this price, not bad.

HP makes good scanners, but I just don't like their software and drivers. eck!

Edited by ggrussell, 08 June 2006 - 12:17 PM.

[malatekid]

ggrussell, on Jun 8 2006, 04:05 PM, said:

Funny thing... my Epson just died. I've NEVER had a scanner go bad. It goes though the motion, but the image is blank. I've tried everything. The CCD imaging sensor must have taken a dive.

I've been looking around. I've always liked the Epson TWAIN driver and the Microtek's driver. I was just reading Microtek's website. They have the i300 model $99 with a $20 rebate. It is 3200dpi optical resolution and includes Digital ICE and ColoRescue technology. They do have better resolution models, but for this price, not bad.

HP makes good scanners, but I just don't like their software and drivers. eck!

Microtek appears to be a favorite. Anything under $100 is a good buy. I'll check that one out too.  
Thanks Gary.

[sknis]

Check the neon light.  That's what killed my SmartScan.  The same scanner is now Microtek.

malatekid
If you don't have tons of things to scan and want to save a few bucks, look at the Epson refurbished site for some good deals.  I bought one and the only problem is that the start button is stuck.   I disabled it (since I wasn't going to use it anyway).  Both Photoshop Essentials and PhotoSuite work fine with it.  It does have the Digital ICE.

Oh by the way, in my opinion, if you scan the negatives rather than the pictures, I think you get better results.  The scans seem to be more vibrant and have a better appearance of depth.  Hard to explain but easy to see.

ggrussell, on Jun 8 2006, 03:05 PM, said:

Funny thing... my Epson just died. I've NEVER had a scanner go bad. It goes though the motion, but the image is blank. I've tried everything. The CCD imaging sensor must have taken a dive.

I've been looking around. I've always liked the Epson TWAIN driver and the Microtek's driver. I was just reading Microtek's website. They have the i300 model $99 with a $20 rebate. It is 3200dpi optical resolution and includes Digital ICE and ColoRescue technology. They do have better resolution models, but for this price, not bad.

HP makes good scanners, but I just don't like their software and drivers. eck!

[REDWAGON]

Well Jess, I have been doing what you are wanting to do for a very long time now.I have had two different HP scanners and have always had the ones that can scan transparencies (negatives etc.). The one I have now is an HP scanjet 7400c (Not sure but I think either Bruce or Paul has the same one) but it's quite old now and I too have been looking around for a new one. I am planning on giving my old one to my sister.

I'm not sure yet what it costs, but I just got my new PC World computer magazine in the mail yesterday and it has an advertisement for a "Microtek ScanMaker i800 Pro" The advertisement sounds pretty good, so I'm going to check out al the spec's from Microtek and see what's what. The advertisement is on page 48 of the new July 2006 issue.

Another thing that I have done for a high school project I was asked to do was scan many old newspaper clips and get them into digital files so they could be shown at one of the schools functions. After scanning a few I learned very quickly that you need as an option on the scanner to set it for "DESCREEN". After that all the scans came out great. Those old newspapers were printed like Facsimily (sp?) which is just a lot of shades of black dots. When scanned without descreening, the scan looks horrable.

Frank.....

[ggrussell]

sknis, on Jun 8 2006, 05:58 PM, said:

Check the neon light.

If you are talking about the florescent lamp, it is working fine. The lamp lights up, the carriage moves like it is scanning. I just get a blank image.  I've reinstalled the drivers.  Epson support gave me steps to try. Even tried on my laptop.  Just no image at all.

The only Epson model I see with Digital Ice is the 4490 ($249.99).  This Epson that went bad is barely two years old. I'll problaby go back to Microtek.

[sknis]

ggrussell, on Jun 8 2006, 05:36 PM, said:

If you are talking about the florescent lamp, it is working fine. The lamp lights up, the carriage moves like it is scanning. I just get a blank image. I've reinstalled the drivers. Epson support gave me steps to try. Even tried on my laptop. Just no image at all.
The only Epson model I see with Digital Ice is the 4490 ($249.99). This Epson that went bad is barely two years old. I'll probably go back to Microtek.

Not my day (or too much beer).  Yes, I meant florescent not neon.  Also, you are correct about Digital ICE, the software that I got with the scanner does color restore and descreening for color pictures and makes other corrections for slides. and negatives but it is not Digital ICE.  I get pretty good results using the scanner software and Photoshop Elements 2.  When using the noise filter in Photoshop Elements, I can get rid of a lot of the noise but at a loss of clarity.

[malatekid]

redwagon713, on Jun 8 2006, 06:17 PM, said:

Well Jess, I have been doing what you are wanting to do for a very long time now.I have had two different HP scanners and have always had the ones that can scan transparencies (negatives etc.). The one I have now is an HP scanjet 7400c (Not sure but I think either Bruce or Paul has the same one) but it's quite old now and I too have been looking around for a new one. I am planning on giving my old one to my sister.

I'm not sure yet what it costs, but I just got my new PC World computer magazine in the mail yesterday and it has an advertisement for a "Microtek ScanMaker i800 Pro" The advertisement sounds pretty good, so I'm going to check out al the spec's from Microtek and see what's what. The advertisement is on page 48 of the new July 2006 issue.

Another thing that I have done for a high school project I was asked to do was scan many old newspaper clips and get them into digital files so they could be shown at one of the schools functions. After scanning a few I learned very quickly that you need as an option on the scanner to set it for "DESCREEN". After that all the scans came out great. Those old newspapers were printed like Facsimily (sp?) which is just a lot of shades of black dots. When scanned without descreening, the scan looks horrable.

Frank.....

sknis, on Jun 8 2006, 05:58 PM, said:

Check the neon light. That's what killed my SmartScan. The same scanner is now Microtek.

malatekid
If you don't have tons of things to scan and want to save a few bucks, look at the Epson refurbished site for some good deals. I bought one and the only problem is that the start button is stuck. I disabled it (since I wasn't going to use it anyway). Both Photoshop Essentials and PhotoSuite work fine with it. It does have the Digital ICE.

Oh by the way, in my opinion, if you scan the negatives rather than the pictures, I think you get better results. The scans seem to be more vibrant and have a better appearance of depth. Hard to explain but easy to see.

Frank and Steve,

I only have the hard copies of the pictures (I just mentioned negative to say photos were taken using non-digital camera). Just want to preserve my childrens' photos in their younger days--they are now all teeners (how time flies!).

Thanks for the info about Descreen and Digital ICE -- first time to hear those words; I've never own a scanner.

Jess

ggrussell, on Jun 8 2006, 04:05 PM, said:

Funny thing... my Epson just died. I've NEVER had a scanner go bad. It goes though the motion, but the image is blank. I've tried everything. The CCD imaging sensor must have taken a dive.

I've been looking around. I've always liked the Epson TWAIN driver and the Microtek's driver. I was just reading Microtek's website. They have the i300       $99 with a $20 rebate. It is 3200dpi optical resolution and includes Digital ICE and ColoRescue technology. They do have better resolution      s, but for this price, not bad.

HP makes good scanners, but I just don't like their software and drivers. eck!

Thanks for the info about the i300.

Edited by malatekid, 08 June 2006 - 03:37 PM.

[ggrussell]

teeners?  My daugther will be 30 next year and on her second marriage. LOL  I'm still waiting to be a grandpa.

Digital ICE is great technology. Uses IR channel to detect scratches and dust. Then removes them. I'm not sure how it works on flatbeds, but according to their website, it can even fix fold marks. I've run into some seriously damaged photos in my genealogy research. Had one where a sibling had used a razor blade to scratch out one of the other siblings. LOL Took me about 3 months to fix it manually. I doubt it could fix soemthing like that, but maybe help the process.

I think ColoRescue is from the same company and it is suppose to color correct images like old faded photos.  My mom has tons of old color pics from 50s, 60s and 70s that have faded or turned yellowish. Some image editors have color correction. I'm just hoping that ColoRescue does a better job.  I'm seriously thinking about the Microtek i300 for myself.

[malatekid]

ggrussell, on Jun 8 2006, 07:47 PM, said:

teeners? My daugther will be 30 next year and on her second marriage. LOL I'm still waiting to be a grandpa.

Digital ICE is great technology. Uses IR channel to detect scratches and dust. Then removes them. I'm not sure how it works on flatbeds, but according to their website, it can even fix fold marks. I've run into some seriously damaged photos in my genealogy research. Had one where a sibling had used a razor blade to scratch out one of the other siblings. LOL Took me about 3 months to fix it manually. I doubt it could fix soemthing like that, but maybe help the process.

I think ColoRescue is from the same company and it is suppose to color correct images like old faded photos. My mom has tons of old color pics from 50s, 60s and 70s that have faded or turned yellowish. Some image editors have color correction. I'm just hoping that ColoRescue does a better job. I'm seriously thinking about the Microtek i300 for myself.

Yep, teeners!

Beside photos, I have accumulated about 40 Hi8 tapes of vacation days, school activities, birthdays, holidays and what have you of the kids and the family since I picked up my first and current Sony TRV95 analog camera in 1998. That's another project that's been put into back burner for now.

Never a dull moment!

Jess

Edited by malatekid, 08 June 2006 - 04:14 PM.

[ggrussell]

Correction on that Microtek. It's the i320. LOL

[malatekid]

ggrussell, on Jun 8 2006, 08:10 PM, said:

Correction on that Microtek. It's the i320. LOL

Gary,

The same model (i320) is $69.99 after the $20 rebate at Buy.com. It also qualifies for free shipping. A great buy.

I've purchased a couple of items from Buy.com before and it is pretty reliable and delivery doesn't take long.

Jess

[REDWAGON]

I checked out the Microtek i800 Pro Jess and that little baby is a little expensive ! The best price I could find on the internet was $495.95 with a $50 rebate at Buycom. It comes with all the whistles and bells including all the software you will ever need. I also checked several other places and found the Microtek I800 (not the Pro model) for around the mid $350's. So there must be a difference there somewhere.

Frank...(And Gary, your daughter at 30 is still just a youngster compared to my oldest) OMG !!!

[ggrussell]

malatekid, on Jun 8 2006, 08:29 PM, said:

The same model (i320) is $69.99 after the $20 rebate at Buy.com. It also qualifies for free shipping. A great buy.

Great buy.... thanks.  I've shopped  at buy.com a few times.

[malatekid]

redwagon713, on Jun 8 2006, 08:41 PM, said:

I checked out the Microtek i800 Pro Jess and that little baby is a little expensive ! The best price I could find on the internet was $495.95 with a $50 rebate at Buycom. It comes with all the whistles and bells including all the software you will ever need. I also checked several other places and found the Microtek I800 (not the Pro model) for around the mid $350's. So there must be a difference there somewhere.

Frank...(And Gary, your daughter at 30 is still just a youngster compared to my oldest) OMG !!!

Frank,
The price is quite hefty for me (I'm a cheapskate, you know ) and for the purpose that I am buying the scanner (scan old photos), I'm likely to get the Microtek i320 that Gary suggested.

Thanks to all for the feedback!

Jess

[malatekid]

ggrussell, on Jun 8 2006, 07:47 PM, said:

teeners? My daugther will be 30 next year and on her second marriage. LOL I'm still waiting to be a grandpa.

Digital ICE is great technology. Uses IR channel to detect scratches and dust. Then removes them. I'm not sure how it works on flatbeds, but according to their website, it can even fix fold marks. I've run into some seriously damaged photos in my genealogy research. Had one where a sibling had used a razor blade to scratch out one of the other siblings. LOL Took me about 3 months to fix it manually. I doubt it could fix soemthing like that, but maybe help the process.

I think ColoRescue is from the same company and it is suppose to color correct images like old faded photos. My mom has tons of old color pics from 50s, 60s and 70s that have faded or turned yellowish. Some image editors have color correction. I'm just hoping that ColoRescue does a better job. I'm seriously thinking about the Microtek i300 for myself.

Gary,

Just curious if you already bought this scanner: how is it? I'm planning to order one by the end of June.

Thanks.

Jess

[ggrussell]

Haven't gotten it yet. I keep hoping my Epson hadn't died.   Actually, just have been really busy. I've had a Microtek before and I really like their TWAIN drivers.

Edited by ggrussell, 16 June 2006 - 06:02 AM.

[malatekid]

ggrussell, on Jun 16 2006, 10:02 AM, said:

Haven't gotten it yet. I keep hoping my Epson hadn't died. Actually, just have been really busy. I've had a Microtek before and I really like their TWAIN drivers.

Thanks for the response.