Thinking about picking up a new flatbed scanner...

[Mao]

I've been drawing again lately and don't really have many ways of getting the drawings onto digital media.  I've been sneaking into work early and using the office scanners but I don't really like doing that.  So I've been looking at a few options.

So far I'm kinda liking the Canon CanoScan Scanner (LiDE90), but it's the only I've found and I don't really know if it's all that great (not being too familiar with scanners).  Does anyone else have any suggestions or recommendations?  Even some good resources on what I should be looking for in one?

[Jairus]

While I don't really know much about scanners, I've got myself a 3 in 1 HP scanner/copier/printer. So, in short maybe something that does more than scanning would be good. But you might wanna go to someone else for advice on models and such.

[Mao]

I'll think about it.  I'm not terribly interested in a 3 in 1 because my main machine is a laptop, so if it's possible I'd like to be able to carry it.  That's not a requirement though.  Also, I don't have much need for a printer as any document I need printed out at any point is generally work related.... and a fax doesn't do anything for me since I have e-mail.   Cost is a bit of an issue, as I'm still paying off the repairs on my bike, so the $90 + tax of the first one is a selling point for sure, and 3 in 1's tend to cost more I think .   USB connection is preferable, but not necessary as well. required it seems.

[rt]

Carry .. how far? and how often? It's not like scanners are heavy, but I think most are bulky enough you won't want to cart it around on a regular basis.

And yes all scanners should be usb now, and complient with most scanning software.

For specifics I can't think of anything in particular, last time I shopped for a scanner most were very similar, other than some slide/film scanning addons. (Especially once a price range was set). As a thought if you use "fancy sized" or large paper it would be nice if it fit in the scanner without having to scan in pieces. If your happy with the results of the office scanner google it's stats and use that as a base for comparison so you can watch out for the el-chepo.

[thegayhare]

well if you want I've got an epson perfection 1250 I'm not usingit's a little large and bulky but it works great

[Jack McSlay]

USB connection is preferable, but not necessary as well. required it seems.

do they even make non-USB scanners?

For arting, I think the best choice is A3-sized scanners, but they're really tough to find. From what I know there generally isn't a large difference from scanner to scanner in terms of picture quality, considered you're not planning to work at over 1200dpi. altough I heard those 3-in-1 suck both as a scanner and as a printer (unless for some reason you plan to shell out a lot of money on a professional grade 3-in-1).
Then again, if your goal is to take hand-drawn pictures and color them on the computer, you shoudn't be much concerned about the quality of the scanner, mostly any scanner you find will be able to scan black-white drawings

[Myxini]

I had a CanoScan LiDE50 before I upgraded to my current 3-in-one Epson.  It's a great family of scanners.  The only thing I noticed is that the light wasn't quite as bright as a bigger scanner.  It works wonderfully when your image is flat on the glass, but if you're working with paper larger than the bed size, the image near the overhang will darken more than it would on a 'normal' scanner.  If you're scanning lineart, or small art, this is no problem at all, and can be cleaned up afterwards.  I was scanning mostly oversized colored art, so it was more difficult to fix.  color issues like that can be minimized by putting a book or something on top of the scanner while it's scanning, to get the best image-glass contact.

[Mao]

Cool.  Thanks for your responses so far folks.  I am really leaning towards the cannoScan family now mainly due to their portability (they seem awful small and since I'm already lugging around a 17" laptop a little more weight in my backpack isn't going to upset me).  Most of the art I do isn't colored and it will be done on regular lined paper (maybe unlined of the same size, (that's 8.5x11 right?) if I feel fancy.).  I'm still just getting started to so mostly it will be pencil with occasional forays with ink.  Are there any other families of scanners that aren't bad for this?

[Myxini]

yeah, notebook paper is the 8.5x11, same as standard letter-size.  the one i had was a bit less than an inch thick, and very light.  It also gets power through the USB, so that's one less cord to worry about.

[gh0st]

personally i got a high grade three in one inkjet printer, but that's just because my mom is starting a book. personally though i never found much use in scanners but whenever i needed something scanned  just cleaned it up in something like photoshop or gimp. which really was once in a never.

[Lysander]

My HP Scanjet 4600 does good work. The scanner section is even removable so you can scan large or thick things with relative ease. It's allso about as big as my laptop, only a little wider. 

Hope you can find something decent to work out for ya. 

[Tapewolf]

One important thing which has not been mentioned is what you're intending to plug the thing into, in terms of operating system and processor type.
If you're using Windows XP on a 386-type processor, it'll probably work.  If it's Windows XP or 2008 on a 64-bit processor, or MacOS on something else again, make sure it's likely to work first.
To be sure, the thing doesn't seem to have Linux or BSD support at present.

[Mao]

I can use most any os available currently in one form or another, most of them on my laptop even.  If I need to get a hold of the mac os, I'm not really sure how to go about it, but I'm sure I can manage.  I'll compare the scanjet and the CanoScan in the am.  Thank you all very much for your input.