Need scanner advice

kishankishan
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I am looking for a scanner to digitize photos taken on film cameras. Also to digitize documents no larger than legal size. I am not opposed to an all-in-one (in fact the HP C6180 has caught my eye). I do not need slide or 35mm film scanning ability. I would prefer HP just because I am familiar with their devices, but I am not averse to using another brand. I would love to be able to use Apple's image capture to get the scan, but I understand that a lot of these scanners will push their own software at you.



My dad uses an HP flatbed with his windows machine, but I have read conflicting things about HP's software and OS X. Can anyone offer advice? I am really lost here.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    kishankishan Posts: 732member
    <bump>
  • Reply 2 of 10
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kishan


    I am looking for a scanner to digitize photos taken on film cameras. Also to digitize documents no larger than legal size. I am not opposed to an all-in-one (in fact the HP C6180 has caught my eye). I do not need slide or 35mm film scanning ability. I would prefer HP just because I am familiar with their devices, but I am not averse to using another brand. I would love to be able to use Apple's image capture to get the scan, but I understand that a lot of these scanners will push their own software at you.



    My dad uses an HP flatbed with his windows machine, but I have read conflicting things about HP's software and OS X. Can anyone offer advice? I am really lost here.



    Borrow the scanner and see how well it works for you.



    I have an Epson Perfection 2480 Photo scanner and it seems to work fine. I don't know if it is still sold new, there may be newer models that replaced it, It seems to be a good unit and does more than I need. It connects to the Image Capture software included with OS X without requiring other software, but I use the included software's TWAIN driver so I can scan from Photoshop Elements because it's a lot more reliable.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Are you looking for a negative scanner? If you have negatives to scan, it does a much nice job and is easier to work with than "transparency adapters" on flatbeds.



    I actually have two scanners, a Fujitsu ScanSnap 5110 and and Epson 2580. The Epson is a typical flatbed, but the Fujitsu is a paper-eating, duplex sheet-fed job. It rips through important documents and magazine clippings, but the quality of the flatbed is much higher for those times when I need a high quality scan. Scanners are pretty cheap these days and it's worth having the right tool for the job.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    kishankishan Posts: 732member
    No need for negative, I am looking to digitize photos only and also to have a scanner around for the occasional document. I am not a graphics artist or anything like that. For this reason, the all in ones are really attractive to me. The C5180 in particular since it looks so Mac-like.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    I recommend the Epson 3490 because it produces top-quality scans and has excellent drivers. $99 retail.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    kishankishan Posts: 732member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galley


    I recommend the Epson 3490 because it produces top-quality scans and has excellent drivers. $99 retail.



    What can you tell me about the software that it comes with? The Amazon reviews of the Mac Software don't have much good to say. Does Image capture do a good job getting images from the machine?
  • Reply 7 of 10
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    The all-in-ones should be fine. A cheap scanner from 2006 can already scan well beyond the resolution of the grain in your prints.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    macvaultmacvault Posts: 323member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kishan


    What can you tell me about the software that it comes with? The Amazon reviews of the Mac Software don't have much good to say. Does Image capture do a good job getting images from the machine?



    Kishan, I have a Fujitsu ScanSnap for sale on eBay...

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330045882199



    ...not sure how well it does photographs but I know it does color, and it's the best thing for digitizing documents to PDF or JPEG.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    kishankishan Posts: 732member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Macvault


    Kishan, I have a Fujitsu ScanSnap for sale on eBay...

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330045882199



    ...not sure how well it does photographs but I know it does color, and it's the best thing for digitizing documents to PDF or JPEG.



    thanks for pointing it out, but I am sure that I want a flatbed type scanner for scanning the occasional page out of a book or magazine.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    As far as the all-in-ones go, all I can say is that my HP sucks. It scans OK but the drivers are a mess of about 10 different files and it gets hung up all the time.



    I have heard good things about Epson as far as working smoothly with OS X goes.



    For a scanner app, if the software that comes with the scanner is not satisfactory, just buy VueScan from Hamrick Software.
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