[ndepoorter]

I am a graphic design student and I am looking for a good scanner to use with my mac. The last scanner I bought was an hp scanner and it didn't work properly, but worked fine on my brothers pc. Can anyone recommend a good scanner that has high resolution and has great quality that will work well on a mac? And that you have used before? I am not to great with looking at all the jargon on the stores website, so I would like an opinion from someone who knows!

Thank you in advance!

Nicole

 

[mac java]

I use a Epson perfection 1240U photo scanner with excellent results. 42 bit color, 1200x2400 dpi. works well with both mac OS9 or OSx. Its big brother the 1640 or 1650U photo has 48 bit color with 1600x3200 dpi. Good luck.

 

[Neil Yates]

Well, first, we need to know what your budget is for the scanner, since that will play a large part in our recommendation to you. Secondly, will you ever want to scan-in 35mm slides or negative strips? Lastly, Is speed, cost, or size of any concern? Oh, and are you designing for print or web?

Epson makes some great inkjets and high-end scanners (for Mac and PC), but the low-end to mid-range, IMHO, is dominated by Canon.

Canon's LiDE 20 and LiDE 30 scanners for example are excellent USB 1.1 sub-$150 CDN scanners that are very small, light, and totally Mac compatible. Best of all, they use a high-intensity white LED for scanning and not a bulb; you'll never ever need to replace the bulb. These two LiDE's are just that though - low-end. I have a LiDE 20 and it works great. Got it for $89 CDN at Wal-Mart.

Ultimately, as a graphic designer, you'll want a combination of NATIVE (not interpolated) high-resolution scanning and bit-depth recognition, the ability to scan negatives and 35mm slides, a USB 2.0 and/or FireWire hi-speed connection protocol, etc. However, those will cost you an arm and a leg. And a kidney or two.

 

[Dr.G.]

Neil, on Macdoc's advice, I have been focusing in on the Epson Perfection 3200 and 2400 scanners, in that I have 35mm slides that I would like to scan and eventually print off on my Canon i950 printer.

 

[ram55]

I recentley purchased the epson 3200 photo scan and I've done over 200 scans with it. Not being a very technical person I found it simple and straight forward to use and it outputs very good scans. I've used these scans to print 8x10 portfolio pieces and they look amazing. At $600+ its a little pricey but it does 35mm strips-medium format and 4x5 format plus of course reflective work. Hope this helps.

Rick

 

[The Doug]

A buddy of mine got an Epson scanner last Fall (I don't know the model number, sorry) and he raves about it. I've read good reviews of Epson scanners on various sites. I intend to get a scanner before September & will look at Epson models with 35mm slide adapters.

I have a lot slides of a trip I took to France years ago & want to digitize them - hence my desire to get a scanner with a slide adapter. I visited the town of Sceaux, to see the famed Parc de Sceaux. There was nobody else there... the early morning mist was shot through with brilliant sunshine - and I got some terrific images of the park...

 

[avalonian]

don't discount an older scanner either. Agfa has now discontinued its scanner line, but their optics have long made them a fave of DTP uses.

The Duoscan line allows reflective and transparent scans. Trannies are loaded via a drawer-like plate. The scans therefore are unmediated by the glass layer you'll find in the newer (and very good mind you - except for the cheap ones) Epson scanners. (The Agfas are SCSI-based).

I was going to get an Epson, but a used Agfa set me back WAAAY less, which I am sure you can appreciate as a student.

 

[Chealion]

Neil - Personally I plan on purchasing a scanner for my dad's birthday, and it needs to be able to scan slides and negatives, any suggestions. I'm really lost on this. Would the Epson 3200 work? But the resolution is higher then it needs to be, so does anyone know of a cheaper scanner that would do the same (at say 2400dpi resolution?)

 

[MacNutt]

I've used several scanners in the past ...but I am currently running an Epson Perfection and am very happy with it.

Works great with OS9.2.2 (my Pismo) or OSX (my PowerMac)

Good resolution, no problems or conflicts.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I use a relatively inexpensive Epson 1660. It comes with an adapter for negatives and slides but I've never used it; it's not great, from what I've read. However, the scanner is excellent for prints and documents.

I don't know a thing about the Agfa scanners or how long ago they were discontinued. Could they be SCSI? I had a SCSI scanner with my previous computer, but I didn't want to bother switching the SCSI card or going through that SCSI daisy-chain hell again — even if the chain would consist of only one peripheral. I misplaced the only terminator I had, and the thing wouldn't work without it. I gave it away.

The 1660 mated to my Epson 740 printer makes amazing prints. The largest blowup I've made is an 8 X 11 of a two- or three-inch-square piece of a 90-year-old wallet-size print, to read the printing on a wooden packing box. Incredible results. That pic is black and white. Colour is even better.

 

[Moscool]

Chealion

I am currently looking at buying a film scanner (or as per Dr G.'s thoughts an Epson 3200 with adapter).

The film range I have my eyes on is Microtek. They have a 1800 dpi and two 2700 dpi models that look like they would do the job well.

I have also heard good things about Minolta but have not investigated.

Finally, there is always the possibility of picking up a 'cheap' Nikon scanner on eBay. Many people buy scanners as a one-off effort to digitise their collection, so there are a few floating around.

The trick for me, as ever, is that I need to see/handle the goodies before I purchase. Talk about an impossible task... (did you know for example that HP doesn't have a single showroom?)

 

[Dr.G.]

I think that my issue for a scanner is the driver compatibility situation. I don't plan on using OS 9, and if I am going to get hardware/software, I might as well get everything that will work with Jaguar/Panther. I have no old programs or hardware to have to try and work in to the new G5, so I guess I am lucky in that sense. However, I have been reading in Macworld magazine of the problems that scanners have with the lack of driver support for the latest OS X. Any thoughts/comments, in that I still would like the Epson 3200 or 2400 scanner?

 

[Moscool]

Dr G.

A mystery quote from Epson Europe: "some applications may only work with OS X Classic". This tells me that not all apps have been upgraded. Here is the relevant page from this side of the pond.

 

[old dawg]

I am currently awaiting the arrival of my new Epson Perfection 3200 which I ordered from the Apple store. I have a Microtek ScanMaker X6 which was okay until I switched from OS 9. There are no OS X drivers for this machine and it appears as though Microtek has no plans for creating any. Okay, it was a budget machine but together with my Scanmaker E6, an old SCSI unit, I now have two machines from this company that collect dust.
This time I took advice from reviews in MacDesign , in MacWorld, and in MacAddict. Although none of these reviews cover the machine I purchased, they do give a pretty clear picture of the Epson Perfection line and in the case of the MacAddict and the MacWorld articles, the machines are placed in the context of other brands at about the same price.
A final selling point for me was the convenience of using The Apple Store. I was in the process of replacing my old but well-loved G4 and there under third party products were the Perfection 1660 and the 3200, the only scanners that Apple is pushing. The prices seem very competitive and the shipping is free.
This is not the first hand account you're looking for but I thought you might be interested in how I made my decision. Good luck.

[ July 16, 2003, 09:43 AM: Message edited by: old dawg ]

 

[Dr.G.]

Moscool, I know that Macworld magazine has provided a "caveat emptor" re OS X drivers for the Epson line. I am not in a rush for this scanner, since I haven't a clue when the G5 will arrive, and I am just now deciding upon a monitor for this system. We shall see.

 

[Dr.G.]

One question about the Epson and Canon scanner -- what if one is not utilizing Photoshop? I might consider Photoshop Elements 2, but I have no real need for Photoshop 7. Will this inhibit the downloading of scans? I have read in Macworld of the difficulties with a TWAIN connection between computer and scanner when utilizing OS X.

 

[Dr.G.]

Epson made an announcement, according to MacNN, that there would be two new scanners available next month -- the 3170 and the 1670. The 3170 is a new scanner that fits in well between the 2400 and 3600. Mac OS X support????? We shall see.

 

[Britnell]

Agfa for sure. I have an Agfa scanner that I bought from Carbon Computing here in toronto. It was a referb unit, so it was very affordable.

 

[live4ever]

From what I've read the Epson 3200 is great scanner (one of the few with Firewire support). MacHome reviewed it in April and gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

http://my.tbaytel.net/shewchuk/STUFF/epson3200_MacHome.pdf

I just picked up a Canon LIDE 30 but haven't tried it out with OS X as I don't have a Mac yet (gonna get a Pbook by the end of the summer). But I would scan directly into Photoshop in Native mode so wouldn't have too much of a problem (I assume). I know Canon updates its drivers and software regularly (they have a support page dedicated to OS X) so their products are or will eventually become fully compatibile in the future.

Also for anyone new to scanning should check out www.scantips.com for lots of easy to understand info.

By the way the forum is great and this is the best Mac community by far.
-L4F

 

[old dawg]

My Epson Perfection 3200 arrived today and it is a revelation. I was using a budget Microtek machine which was slow, noisy and required rebooting into OS 9. By comparison the new machine with a FireWire connection is blazingly fast, well pretty darn rapid at least. Slide imports are quite a bit slower as they benefit enormously from high resolution scanning.
By the way, I'm presently awaiting a new power mac with much faster chips. Would that affect my scanning speed? I'm guessing the process is limited by the FireWire and the scanner rather than the CPU, but I can dream.
Anyway, after months of frustration I can rely on scanning again.