Suggestions for a good flat scanner to scan slides and pictures.?

Question

I am not a pro, but still want good quality without spending too much.

Answer 1

Best value for your needs is the scanner I have, the HP scanjet 4850 it will cost you around £90NEW plus delivery if memory serves me correctly. but I have not had any problems with it yet.
I see today that dabs have used models of this scanner from under £50 delivered (if you take a look at the website you will see what i mean).
this scanner allows you to do a range of tasks (once correctly installed) from the buttons directly on the scanner.

Scan and edit: Documents with Iris text recognition software,
scan and edit: pictures (magazine/ newspaper articles etc), photo negatives and slides (photo positives) (four slides or negative pics at a time in the adapter).

Four buttons that can be customised allow you to make your scanning life easier, this makes scanning, editing printing and sharing easier than ever with your finished pictures.
so you can set the buttons up once and your settings will remain the same until you change them or you can press the button each time and be presented with a list of options to choose from.
You have the option to use the scanner with your printer to turn any printer you own into a photocopier or fax. (so if you simply wanted to you could scan a negative or a slide and then print it directly to any type of paper your printer supports. Remembering to set your printer to the desired paper type and quality level.
Don't forget to select the image quality you need for your scanned work. do you want or need a high file size high quality, if the picture is only going to be used in or on a website? but if you want a photo real print then the highest quality may be your best option (only you know what you will want from each item you scan.
This allows you to turn your basic scanner from a simple scanner into a fax machine when used with both your fax modem and optional printer of your choice.
You may wonder why I said optional printer with a fax machine, that is simply because the faxes (when used with the microsoft fax (in windows xp)) can be saved to a file on your computer rather than waste paper which means you will save money in the long run (should that be a concern), it also means that you have less paper to either, file, recycle or throw out (your choice again).
see the link, the price today is £89.30 plus delivery here in the UK. you may be able to get the scanner locally cheaper if you are lucky.
trust me, the suplied software allows you to do a whole range of tasks with both your scanned work and any other picture file you may have.
full technical details can be found on the dabs.com website take a look.
I know you won't regret it if you buy this scanner.

Good luck, i hope this helps you to choose the right scanner for your needs.

Answer 2

If these are heirloom photos, buy a dedicated scanner. You'll be MUCH happier by buying a scanner designed to take slides than you will with a flatbed scanner with attachments. Flatbed scanners simply don't have what it takes. They are lower resolution than the dedicated scanners, the film/slide adapters are flimsy, and the software is not exactly cutting edge. Those 'multi-purpose' flatbeds are better than nothing, I guess, but you can get a VERY GOOD slide/film scanner for less than $1000 USD. Also, if you have any photos of special significance, you may want to consider having them professionally scanned anyway. It takes practice to lean to scan photos well. And if any of the special slides are in a delicate state, they may not hold up to excessive handling. So I would target them for special consideration

Answer 3

Cannon

Answer 4

good point thebestnamesarealreadytaken! :)

the checkspelling suggested to change your name )))