Recommended Scanner?

[NintendoPower91]

I'm considering scanning things for this site.  But I was just wondering what is recommended for scanning for the site?  All I could tell from the guides was a flatbed scanner, but nothing specific.  Any input would be helpful!

[Areala]

All of the guides for the site are woefully out of date and need to be updated.

Speaking as someone who personally uses a flatbed scanner because it's all I have access to, I would not recommend using a flatbed unless you love hand-placing and flipping every page. This is fine for de-bound books like I scan, but thin magazine pages are a colossal pain in the butt. Again, speaking from personal experience here, but this is probably not the route you want to take. 

@E-Day uses a scanner with a document feeder, so he's probably the best to answer this one.

*huggles*
Areala

[MigJmz]

for serious magazine scans a ADF is what you'll need

 Those tend to be pricey. So it depends how serious you are about scanning.

[NintendoPower91]

I'm willing to spend a little more on it.   I have a scanner, but it's only really good for pictures, it does not scan print well.  It does text alright, but it leaves a lot of streak lines on printed images from books, as I tried scanning strategy guides with it before.  I really would like to try and contribute to this site by scanning, but I just want to do it right and not waste money on a scanner that's not going to work.  

[justanotherscan]

I personally recommend a flatbed and an ADF scanner, if you can afford both and have enough physical space.

If just a flatbed, find a unit that connects over USB of course. Go within your budget. Canon and Epson are good brands, and find a unit that is LED based for the light source.

For ADF, good brands are Fujitsu, Epson, Brother. Make sure you buy a unit with duplex (both side scanning). Same thing, LED based light.

I also say to always check that the scanner you want will work with Linux. You may not use Linux right now, or not intentions to, but Windows has a habit of dropping support for older hardware and drivers, whereas Linux has really good hardware compatibility even with older hardware.

Check Ebay because often you will find awesome ADF units at really good pricing. Try to look for stuff made within the last 5 or so years, maybe even 7-8 to keep pricing lower.

Check your local classifieds (Kijiji, Craigslist. European countries have their own regional stuff, same with Asia I've found)

[NintendoPower91]

On 3/18/2022 at 3:50 PM, justanotherscan said:

I personally recommend a flatbed and an ADF scanner, if you can afford both and have enough physical space.

If just a flatbed, find a unit that connects over USB of course. Go within your budget. Canon and Epson are good brands, and find a unit that is LED based for the light source.

For ADF, good brands are Fujitsu, Epson, Brother. Make sure you buy a unit with duplex (both side scanning). Same thing, LED based light.

I also say to always check that the scanner you want will work with Linux. You may not use Linux right now, or not intentions to, but Windows has a habit of dropping support for older hardware and drivers, whereas Linux has really good hardware compatibility even with older hardware.

Check eBay because often you will find awesome ADF units at really good pricing. Try to look for stuff made within the last 5 or so years, maybe even 7-8 to keep pricing lower.

Check your local classifieds (Kijiji, Craigslist. European countries have their own regional stuff, same with Asia I've found)

Thanks for all the info!  I already have a flatbed scanner, so my only issue is space.

[hardcorehubz]

Epson V600 is what i recommend for flatbed if you can swing the cost. ADF the best are Fujitsu imo... 7140 work for debinded/cut magazines under A3 and can be won on Ebay for not too bad a price. A3 or stapled mags without cutting will required a 7460 which is what I personally use but they go for about $1k used.

Unfortunately looks like the 7000 series is about to be dropped as the 8000 is coming out now and they don't seem to have an A3 model announced yet and they are CIS instead of CCD. Supposedly the tech in them will be "better" than CCD but I want to test it myself first.

There are other options you can buy used as well, some are recommended on the guide I helped write at - https://scanning.guide/

If you have any questions just DM me, i'll try to remember to check the thread too.

 

[NintendoPower91]

22 hours ago, hardcorehubz said:

If you have any questions just DM me, i'll try to remember to check the thread too.

Thank you!  At the moment I don't, my priorities have changed since I started this thread, but when I get back around to this, I will!

[E-Day]

On 3/24/2022 at 1:55 PM, hardcorehubz said:

Epson V600 is what i recommend for flatbed if you can swing the cost.

 

Funnily enough this is the flatbed I use now. I bought one used last summer to scan some 35mm negatives I have as well as a bunch of projector slides. It turns out this scanner is really good for magazine scans. I was using a Canon LiDE 400 before that  but it's pretty much retired now along with my LiDE 200.

What settings do you use on the V600? I found that selecting Office Mode gave me the best scans straight out of the scanner but I am always looking to make them even better. The better they come out of the scanner the less tweaking they need in Photoshop.

[hardcorehubz]

Since i calibrated with an IT8 card i turn off basically everything like this -

https://scanning.guide/epsonscan

Honestly though it gives really good results without any calibration. And it being CCD vs CIS gives better results imo than the LiDE series.

I think if you want things to pop you'll always have to do some adjusting in Photoshop unfortunately.

[E-Day]

I already do adjustments in Photoshop. Not to get things to pop but to get the image on my (uncalibrated) screen to look as close to the physical page as possible. I'll fiddle with the settings some more and try the pro mode on the scanner.

[matrixman]

On 2/2/2022 at 12:25 PM, NintendoPower91 said:

I'm considering scanning things for this site.  But I was just wondering what is recommended for scanning for the site?  All I could tell from the guides was a flatbed scanner, but nothing specific.  Any input would be helpful!

What did you end up getting and what settings are working out (Office, Pro mode, etc).

I just got this scanner too, but most pages I will scan with my ix-1500 ADF since I am going to debind but for some of the nicer hi-res graphic game preview sections and cover, I am using the V600.

[NintendoPower91]

Quote

What did you end up getting and what settings are working out (Office, Pro mode, etc).

I didn't.  My priorities have changed since I started this thread.  I still check it for responses, as I am still interested in scanning for this site in the future but have not gotten anything new yet.  

I do have a CanoScan 9000F Mark II flatbed that I use for scanning pictures, but I have not used it for RM.  And it is kind of old.  

[TimBisley]

Researching scanners is pretty frustrating. There is no standard for specifications, hardly any reviews, and nobody is using them to scan magazines. Theres very little difference between many models and even between multiple generations from what I've read. There is a consensus that CCD is better but you'll see manufacturers publish papers stating that CIS is superior. Probably because its cheaper and smaller. I have no idea if the newest scanners today which are mostly CIS are superior to a CCD from ten years ago. I have my doubts.

 

My recommendation would be to try and obtain scanners through government and institutional surplus. Prices can be more reasonable but you have to keep an eye out for the condition of the scanner which can be difficult especially if its not local to you.

If anyone is interested I thought I'd share a spreadsheet I made about ADF, A3, and A4 scanner models (mostly Fujitsu) from my own personal research. Not sure if its of any use but feel free to use it however you like.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tLAGi9QU1QxKWyIklt0QEUmlEKVMu7P55uP_6e42txo/edit?usp=sharing

[NintendoPower91]

11 hours ago, TimBisley said:

Researching scanners is pretty frustrating. There is no standard for specifications, hardly any reviews, and nobody is using them to scan magazines. There's very little difference between many models and even between multiple generations from what I've read.

That's why I started this thread.  I know nothing about scanners.  And I hate comparing products (my friend had to pick out my own laptop for me because I couldn't).  So, every time I go to look at scanners online, I quit after a few minutes.  Honestly, when I started this thread, I was hoping to get responses along the lines of "this is what I use and it works great!" But, if it's not that, I get discouraged easily and don't look into it any further.  

[TimBisley]

I'm the complete opposite I research things to death. I mean honestly from what I've seen you can get just about any Fujitsu ADF within the last 15 years that has a CCD sensor and ultrasonic detection (for detecting multiple pages going through the feeder at once). Only the cheapest bottom of the line scanners don't have the feed detection. I'd avoid multi function scanner/printers as they are all CIS as far as I know.

https://www.scantastik.com/ was a great resource for me when researching specs.

Alternatively I know I'm new to this but I just bought a flatbed and an ADF and don't actually have a whole lot to scan so I thought I'd throw out there I can scan stuff for you if thats something you'd consider.

[hardcorehubz]

CanoScan 9000F Mark II is a solid flatbed honestly. I had one til it croaked and miss it!

[NintendoPower91]

20 hours ago, TimBisley said:

Alternatively I know I'm new to this but I just bought a flatbed and an ADF and don't actually have a whole lot to scan so I thought I'd throw out there I can scan stuff for you if thats something you'd consider.

I don't have anything right now, my priorities changed since I started this thread, but I will keep you in mind, thanks!

[NintendoPower91]

18 hours ago, hardcorehubz said:

CanoScan 9000F Mark II is a solid flatbed honestly. I had one til it croaked and miss it!

Funny enough, that's exactly what I have currently.  I use it for scanning photos and trading cards.  But it does not seem to do well with magazine pages.  I may try it again now that it's been praised though. 

 

I would miss mine too if it croaked...  

[E-Day]

11 hours ago, NintendoPower91 said:

Funny enough, that's exactly what I have currently.  I use it for scanning photos and trading cards.  But it does not seem to do well with magazine pages.  I may try it again now that it's been praised though. 

How it it scanning the magazine pages? What in particular doesn't it handle? Curious

[NintendoPower91]

13 hours ago, E-Day said:

How it it scanning the magazine pages? What in particular doesn't it handle? Curious

It leaves streaks in the pictures.  I tried scanning the Pokemon Battle Revolution guide a few years ago when I first got it and if left streaks in the images of the Pokemon that are not present in the physical guide.  

[E-Day]

Streaks are normally something you see in an ADF scanner. I would say it sounds like there is dust on the actual scanning head but if you don't get streaks on photos and trading cards that seems unlikely. Photos and cards are smaller than magazine pages though. Do the streaks appear in areas where you normally don't put the photos and cards for scanning?

[NintendoPower91]

Alright, my scanner is toying with me.  I did some test scans to demonstrate the difference between the guide and card scans.  But it does not do it anymore...  There is still some distortion in the page image compared to the one on the card, but not nearly as bad as before. 

 

I'm glad I checked, because this changes everything for me.

[matrixman]

This weekend I will be working with my new V600 and compare that to ScanSnap ADF scanners and provide some examples.  I had a Canon 9000 that died on me but it was fantastic in quality of scans, but it just would not power up one day.

[E-Day]

1 hour ago, matrixman said:

This weekend I will be working with my new V600 and compare that to ScanSnap ADF scanners and provide some examples.  I had a Canon 9000 that died on me but it was fantastic in quality of scans, but it just would not power up one day.

I have the V600 and a Fujitsu fi-7160 which I use the ScanSnap scanning software with. I prefer the scans from the Fujitsu. They are more true to the actual page than the V600. I only use the V600 for posters, foldouts, and stapled issues I don't want to destroy.