Best flatbed scanners according to redditors

It looks like the slide and negative attachment to my scanner.

See second picture.

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-3297B002-Color-Scanner/dp/B001R4BTI0

I used a Canon 9000F markII flatbed scanner
https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-MKII-Negative-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520995242&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+canoscan+9000f+mark+ii

I personally think the VSCO presets are great and I have a few reasons for this:

• The cost of film keeps rising and it's not easy to justify $8USD every time you want to shoot a roll of Portra 400 or $11USD every time you want to shoot 36 frames of Fuji Pro 400H.
  
  
• The stock of filming is depleting. As the demand for film decreases, the cost goes up. And long with that, the realization that this medium is not going to last forever. Can a person really justify the cost of a good film camera when we are worried about its future?
  
  
• Along with the cost of film, you have the cost of AND RISK of developing film. Mom and pop shops that develop film are scarce and as a result, the only place we can develop are the drug stores that are few and far between. Even these businesses don't see it in their best interest to keep their machines for long. The risk comes when you have some new hire at the store who is clueless about using the machine and can screw up the development of your film.
  
  
• The last part to sharing your film shots come when you have to scan them via a scanner. Film photos and prints are absolutely beautiful when done right but if you want to share them with friends, you need to have a scanner (good ones aren't that expensive) which uses a CCD sensor to scan the images. So when you digitize the images (unless you're using a high quality scanner), you run into the problem you had in the first place, which is wanting the feel of film. Because now you've used a DSLR or scanner sensor to digitize the film. Which does remove some of its aesthetic. So what's the solution? Buy a $500 scanner just for film? Who can justify the cost when, as I said above, the stock is dwindling and expensive.
  
  So let's concretize this:
  
  Decent quality camera at a trusted online source - $65
  
  Decent quality lens at a trusted online source - $47
  
  5-pack of Kodak Portra 400 at a popular online film photography website - $40 ($8 per roll)
  
  Average cost of developing at a drug store near me in Chicago - $5 per roll ($25 for the 5-pack (180 shots) you shot)
  
  Mid-level scanner for 35mm negatives - $150
  
  Total cost is $327 USD BEFORE tax.
  
  Now of course as you shoot more film, this cost will add up. $65 for every 180 frames. This is not cheap. Now imagine you go out and get yourself an entry level DSLR or M4/3 camera and lens w/ an SD card. You're talking $500-$600 and you don't have a medium that's fading away.
  
  What does VSCO have to do with this? It's simple. It is the first great piece of software that allows us to come close to the look of film. Maybe it's not perfect but rather than bash it as a tool for Lightroom, I would say we should advocate this type of idea and perfect it. Even have Kodak and Fujifilm create their own presets that they can sell for use.
  
  Some people have even created some examples comparing VSCO vs real film. So when done right, the results can be mind blowingly close (and overall worth it in my opinion) to film.
  
  That being said, I do still love to browse Flickr from time to time and just search specifically for film photos. And if I had the time and money, I might shoot film for fun. But I think in the long term VSCO and other apps like it, are how I will go.

I did 1500 so far, I used IDImager to catalog. Would really recommend it. Really the only solution I could find for cataloging large amounts of photos.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-9000F-Color-Scanner/dp/B003JQLHEA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1303811339&sr=1-1

Used that scanner, but it was a few years ago I bought it. Might be better now. Scans negatives great, which is what I mostly have. There are some auto negative scanners, but I couldn't see them working too well since you have to select the photo area.

I scanned into png since it was the best solution for lossless I could find. TIFF's were too big.

I hosted on smugmug since they would do pngs. Though their customer service has gone downhill in the 3 yrs I have had them, might not renew next year.

If you're already dragging around a computer, full sized flat beds are pretty light and will fit right in your backpack (if you've got a decent sized backpack) with the laptop. I use this one, and although it's not "portable" per se it's pretty portable to me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SSXQ7Q2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I scan all of my RGD drawings and primarily work in graphite. I use a canoscan 8600f but I believe they have updated the model to the 9000. It works pretty well. Sometimes the dark pencils (the ole' 9b) can get reflective, particularly when you mix media and they are drawn on a dark surface. The only way to avoid that is to make a whole elaborate setup. Black felt behind the art. Studio lighting. Then you can spread you light sources so wide they won't reflect as much.

By that point, if you aren't working to large, it's easier to just scan and use a white balance card. Just include that little guy into the scan and use the black, white, and grey eyedropper tools in the "levels" settings in Photoshop. Any reflections, you can edit out to make it match the real values of the drawing.

_Dead's suggestion with the shade is the best method for shooting on a larger scale and don't have the resources for a fancy pants setup. Cell phones won't have the best camera for shooting the art but you gotta use what you gotta use.

Just remember, even with a white balance card, the most important thing is making sure the lighting is EVEN. Try your best to make sure there are no hot-spots of light because that is the most difficult to adjust later.

I can go into more detail on fancy pants rigs if needed.

This works! Not sure how it compares to others in its price range, but I have an older version that does great. https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-MKII-Negative-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

Sure. Here's what I could pull from my orders and searching around. This is most of my gear. Not really "homelab" stuff. Have a crap ton of ethernet running around the house.

• Main router: ASUS RT-AC3100: https://www.amazon.ca/Asus-RT-AC3100-Dual-Band-Wi-Fi-Router/dp/B01707HPKS
  
• Two APs on the other levels of the house: ASUS RT-AC86U: https://www.amazon.ca/Asus-RT-AC86U-Dual-Wireless-Router/dp/B0752FD3XJ
  
• Switch: TP-Link TL-SG1024DE 24-Port Gigabit: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00CUG8ESM
  
• UPS: APC Back-UPS Pro 1500VA: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B003Y24DEU
  
• Synology DS412+: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B007JLE84C
  
• Synology DS1618+: https://www.amazon.ca/Synology-Bay-NAS-DiskStation-Diskless/dp/B07CR8RZYY
  
• Epson V550 Scanner: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00E1O74SW
  
• Black and White Laser Printer: Samsung ML-2851ND: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000XZ1LJG
  
• Colour Laser Printer: Samsung CLP-415N: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-CLP-415NW-Wireless-Printer/dp/B008HSIW20

Scan them, and if possible from the actual negatives. It's going to be a big job though, but I assure it's really satisfying knowing that you're preserving some history; specifically photos of those particular times that no-one else in the world may have ever seen before.


So do yourself a favour, and hook yourself up with a decent scanner - can I suggest the Canon Canoscan 9000F MkII. It's an affordable, quality scanner that I've used for thousands of negatives and prints.

Once you've done that, put your photos in some sleeves, inside a box and store in a cool (but dry!) place, away from harsh light.

This will do 4x5 for $700. It's not dedicated to MF and LF though.

Hello,

I want to scan my family pictures, I think I would like to do it myself rather than just sending the pictures somewhere.

The Epson FastFoto FF-680W is a bit pricey, but I've found that the Plustek Photo Scanner - ephoto Z300 can do 600dpi pics as well and is worth $200. Amazon

Do you have any recommendation? Should I buy the Plustek or is something more pricey really worth it ?

Thanks !

Hättest du zufällig eine Empfehlung für einen kleinen Scanner, der mit Linux keine Faxen macht? (pun intended)

EDIT: Hab jetzt einfach mal schnell auf eigene Faust recherchiert. So wies aussieht, wird dieser hier (no ref) über das SANE-Projekt unterstützt. Und mehr als scannen muss das Ding ja nicht.

>The issue is that we have no idea if a regular developer will be able to get them developed.

If you can see them, they're already developed.

As for digitizing them, you'll hae a couple options:

• Any decent photo lab would be able to scan them in for you, but it can take a bit of time and money (it would be $0.65 to $1 a frame in my neck of the woods).
  
  
• You can do it yourself with any decent camera and proper backlighting. I was able to get this from the sample image you posted. If you were to hold it flat, with even light all across from behind, and use a high resolution camera. Some simple tweaking in photoshop will get you pretty desirable results (if you can't work photoshop, and want to go this route, let me know and I can do the tweaking for you).
  
  
• My preferred route is through the use of a film scanner. You can find dedicated ones for different sizes, but for archival purposes, I always recommend a flatbed with appropriate inserts. An Epson V600 or CanoScan 9000F II would be good models to look at. They'll come with template inserts for various types of film and have appropriate backlighting built in. The nice thing about these is they'll work with most types of negatives, in addition to regular photos and documents (it's always nice to have a scanner).

Want cheap, fast, only 35mm or slides and don't want to go much bigger then 5x7?

https://www.amazon.ca/Wolverine-Data-F2DSUPER-Digital-Converter/dp/B00GIDADP0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1465255988&sr=8-3&keywords=film+scanner


Want bigger, better but slow as all hell?

https://www.amazon.ca/Epson-Canada-Perfection-Scanner-V550/dp/B00E1O74SW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465256034&sr=8-1&keywords=epson+550

Some of the flatbed scanners with film holders work well, as dtanist suggested. If you're looking for a "dedicated" film scanner, you can occasionally find the Plustek OpticFilm 7400 or even 7600i SE for under $200 on sale. I picked up a 7400 in October of 2012 for $170; it had very solid reviews on B&H, and fair (i.e. - "It's good-- for the price") reviews from various tech / photo blogs.

My thoughts on the 7400: It lacks hardware dust & scratch removal, and it definitely isn't fast, but if your negatives are clean and you aren't in a rush, its image quality is good.

Actually, though, it looks like those two models were replaced earlier this year. There may be some still lingering around; the replacements are the OpticFilm 8100 and 8200i SE. I'd recommend the SE models over the 7400 / 8100, simply for the addition of infrared for dust & scratch removal (unless you take great care of your negatives and clean them before scanning; then it's not as much of an issue).

If you aren't in a rush, I'd recommend setting up price trackers at camelcamelcamel for Amazon, and camelegg for NewEgg (that's where I got my 7400), and perhaps a deal alert at SlickDeals (and that's where I FOUND the deal on the 7400).

EDIT: The Canoscan 9000F MkII that dtanist mentioned is ~$160 at Amazon right now.

Efficient? Nah. But I'm in a field where we use a lot of old, rare literature (hooray biology) and to bring the literature out of the library, I have had to digitize documents. Here's what I've used.

However you scan your books, ScanTailor will clean them up really nicely for you. It even has a feature to remove the center black seam and split the pages apart for flatbed scans. Check out this before and after! (I cut off the text at the bottom of the image... derp.) Price: Fuh-fuh-free! Woohoo!

There are some flatbed scanners designed with a zero-bevel edge to optimize book scanning, like this one here, that can pull double duty as a conventional flatbed scanner and take up slightly more room than a conventional flatbed. Scans still take a while, but they do have software built in that will rotate every other page, so you can scan the left side, turn the book 180, scan the right side, flip the page, and continue on your merry way. Price: $250 or so, or check your local libraries and colleges or universities.

You can also make your own smartphone scanner as shown here or buy one (StandScan is popular) though that's really better for just a few pages at a time rather than a whole book. Price: $5 or a cardboard box, depending on what you've got lying around.

Depends on how much time you have and how many photos/negatives you have. If its only a few, try your local photo print house (preferably a nice professional non-chain shop). If it is more than a few, try an online place like ScanCafe. If we are talking boxes and boxes and you have time on your hands and are tech savvy, consider a film scanner with infrared channel ($400), a flatbed scanner with touchup software ($150), and scanning software ($80). If you know nothing about photo restoration/touchup, you'd be best to just pay ScanCafe to do it.

I bought this handheld scanner and it works great. It's light, easy to pack, and scans very quickly. Like another poster said slight movements can be aggravating, but most of the time the scanner auto corrected the movement and the rescan I did was unnecessary.

No need for a computer as it uses a microSD card for storage, some would see this as a pro or a con since they can't view the image on a monitor. You can however inspect it on the small display of the scanner, it will at least help determine if it scanned at an angle or if anything was cut off. The quality is top notch and it saves in either PDF or JPG at Lo (300dpi), Medium (600dpi), or Hi (1050dpi). ($89.95)

Additionally, it works perfect when I need to scan large media, but don't want to use a camera capture. Take multiple swipes of the piece, a poster say, and then stitch the multiple files in Photoshop later. Viola, high resolution scan. The scans are limited to 8.5" wide, but can go on indefinitely as far as I can tell.

TaoTronics® 1050 DPI 1.44'TFT Color Display Colour & Mono Handheld Scanner for Document, Photo, Reciepts, Books + JPG/PDF Format Selection

.

I've also used Genius Scan+ through all of college and genealogy work in a pinch. It does a great job of preserving a book page, screen cap, or board, but I wouldn't count on it to preserve photos unless I had nothing else. (Free/$6.99)

Genius Scan+ by Grizzy Labs

.

And I use this scanner for when I have no carry restrictions. A computer is required and I need multiple power outlets, but it has the best scan quality by far. A huge plus is that it can neatly scan negative strips with an included accessory. ($174.84)

Canon CanoScan 9000F MKII Color Image Scanner

You're basically limited to flatbed scanners at that price range. I don't know why, but in Europe the Reflecta Proscan 10T is about £400, while the US version is only US$299.

In your price range, I'd recommend the Canon 9000F Mk II. It's not mind-blowing in achievable resolution, but it does well enough, especially with a light touch of sharpening after the fact.

Some examples, all 35mm:

• Film: HP5+
  
• Film: HP5+
  
• Film: Agfa Vista+ 200
  
• Film: Agfa Vista+ 200
  
• Film: Agfa Vista+ 200
  
• Film: Kodak Ultramax 400
  
• Film: Kodak Ultramax 400
  
• Film: Portra 400
  
  It has the added benefit of scanning 12 frames simultaneously, and it does it quicker (about 45 seconds per frame, give or take depending on your computer) than most dedicated scanners in the lower price ranges.

seems a little steep - it's $169 at Amazon and Adorama right now.

How would you feel about $100 shipped to California ?

I still shoot quite a bit of film and develop my own black and white.

I use Ilford developer and fixer.
Find development times for any brand of developer here.

Decent scanners are fairly inexpensive.
This one will do.
Having a lab develop film and scan images to a cd cost around $10 a roll, so the scanner will pay for itself soon.

I don't deal with a darkroom for prints anymore. I like film and still use it, but for me, photoshop is so much easier.

heres the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/Epson-Perfection-V550-Negative-B11B210201/dp/B00E1O74SW?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s02

It was on sale when I got it.

I got a Canon 9000F MKII and I love it. It's super fast and you can do 35mm, slide and medium format film.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-9000F-MKII-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG/

Epson V500 is a good cheap scanner to get started with. I started with that one before upgrading to the V800 for 4x5 wet scanning.

Did you get a lot of people asking for the actual image? I had that problem at events, its a tricking balance of being polite saying no but thanking them for either posing or yada yada yada.

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00400OK4I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001AZRCT6/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all&sr=8-1&qid=1408339512

Yup. Epson Perfection V39, a paid copy of VueScan to bypass copy protection that regular scanner software has, and GIMP to handle editing the scanned images if my other software rejects the images (because of the copy protection).

VueScan is try-before-you-buy. Will leave watermarks everywhere until it's paid for. I scan at 800 dpi, getting ready to use 1,000 dpi.

Hello, Goodbye~

I could really use a scanner to archive and share my family's old photo albums.

Tip o' the hat to you for such a generous contest!

Oh, I see :)

I guess that rules out Canon CanoScan LiDE 220 too? The small size would be very convenient for (And I liked the price as well ;) )
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-CanoScan-LiDE-Compact-Scanner/dp/B00MWLHV2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525258263&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+canoscan+lide+220+compact+scanner

Unfortunately Epson doesn't sell refurbished scanners here in Denmark.

What about the Epson V370? I know it has a lower DPI, but how much does that really matter, when I primarily is going to use it with my grainy Lomography pictures? ;)

I also saw that there is wide range of "standalone" film scanners. Are they worth considering?
Something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072KKDL3N/ref=psdc_430591031_t2_B01HZQZLXW

FYI if you have "hundreds" to do, you should think about spending a little more -- what's your time worth, anyway -- and get something like the CanoScan 9000 which does several at a time and would have muuuuuuch higher quality.

I have an Epson V500 that I used to scan in film negatives, slides and printed pictures. I've had it for the past couple years and it has done a good job scanning in all the old family slides and some film negatives that I found.

Though since I've gotten the 500, the 550 and 600 have come out. I don't know what extra features (if any) the 550 has, but it is on Amazon for $169 for prime members.

Epson Perfection V850 Pro scanner https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OCEJMG8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Mgj2DbESVWW6G

I scanned ~50,000 35mm negative frames and nearly 2,000 slides with three of these. I was very happy with the results, and they’re still running!

They have several different transparency adapters, including slides, 35mm strips, medium format film, and oversized film. They’re also great for scanning paper documents under 8.5”x14”.

Good luck!

I purchased mine on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-9000F-MKII-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

I think I paid $130 at a point when it was on sale

The Canon 9000F MKII is an excellent, highly-rated scanner and will handle your 35mm film easily. The 110 negatives might be more difficult as few scanners exist that will handle this old film format. The 9000F does not have a film holder designed to hold strips of 110 film for scanning, and the scanner will attempt to detect the presence of the film holder during scanning.

Some users have been able to work around this by placing strips of 110 film inside the larger 35mm holder, and turning OFF the thumbnail view mode in the scanning software and cropping the resulting preview manually prior to scanning. There is some additional information at the link below. Hope this helps.

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan-MKII-Negative-Scanner/dp/B00AGV7TQG

http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/General-Printer-Discussion/Can-I-scan-110-film-negatives-on-the-canoscan-9000f/td-p/4421 (Scroll to the middle of the page and read the post by "smaricic".)

There is also a non-Canon 110 film holder for this scanner that can be used:

https://www.amazon.com/Film-Holder-CanoScan-Flatbed-Scanners/dp/B00MLN195O

What's the problem with this? (not rhetorical question)

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-2168B002-Canon-CanoScan-8800F-Color-Film-Negative-Photo-Scanner/dp/B000V2QCQI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290773971&sr=8-1

Cheap, does 12 at a time... time consuming, but you have control over the process.

This is a good one.

You really need to get a scanner that can handle slides, like the Canon 9000F. It's only $150 and you can digitize that entire collection.

The only thing I have experience with and can recommend is either scanning with your dslr or getting a flatbed scanner like this one. Go for either Canon or Epson ones. You may find some used or refurbished ones for less if you're okay with buying used stuff.

This is the one I’m currently using. It’s $170, which I think is a fairly good price.

I got very good results with that Minolta scanner from Vuescan, but after giving the scanner back I ended up buying a Canon flatbed. Its film scans are decent, if not razor sharp, and the price was right.

I did it with one of these, did about 1000 photos over week.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plustek-Photo-Scanner-Sensor-Support/dp/B01LZJH63M/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=photo+feed+scanner&qid=1572960373&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyRVRWRTBaMUVFTTBIJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDQ3ODk0TlhPNDNYOURBNVdVJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0MjMzNjIySlFWNTFCWVc1WDNWJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Penso di aver usato il termine portatile a sproposito. Per me portatile è già questo https://www.amazon.it/Canon-CanoScan-LiDe220-Scanner-Documenti/dp/B00MWLHV2U/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1499778756&sr=1-2&keywords=scanner nel senso che andando solo ad USB puoi portarlo in giro e collegarlo ad un laptop/tablet.

O puoi prendere una prolunga usb e portarlo in giro per casa, magari mettendotelo sulle gambe sul divano mentre guardi un film.

Quelli propriamente portatili non li ho mai provati, mi spiace.

https://www.amazon.ca/Epson-Canada-Perfection-Photo-Scanner/dp/B00E1O74SW/


"Effective pixels: 54,400 x 74,880 (6400 dpi), color bit depth: 48-bit internal/external"
Wow. That's a HUGE image resolution! The scanner looks nice, lots of stuff I don't understand.
Looks like the max paper size I can scan is 8.5 x 11 basically. How thick of paper/ Could I fit a small sketchbook in the scanner or do I have to remove pages from my book?

If you have a computer and a printer/copier/scanner combo, (here's one for sub $100 or if you feel like spending $800+ for one I'd recommend this one). But if you have to take them on your phone then try and make sure you have good light and a stable hand. Also, if you plan on making more art to post here (Which, by the way, yours was great) and have to use your phone you could look into something like this. It's (somewhat) cheap, but it makes it so much easier to scan good quality pictures and documents.

I assume you mean US$, what you get depends on what film types you intend to scan.

If you only ever plan to shoot and scan 35mm i would recommend going for a dedicated 35mm scanner like a Plustek 7200 (3250DPI) for $200, or if you wanted the absolute best scanner short of drum scanning then the $400 Pacific Image Prime Film XA (4300DPI) is reckoned to have the highest DPI scan.

If you just want a general purpose scanner for 35mm and 120 (and documents) then something like an Epson V550 (1600DPI) for $160 is fine.

DPI numbers pulled from this page on the wiki.

I use an Epson V500 with third party film holders for 120 and have no problems. Looks like they've added a half decent 120 holder with the V550 so you shouldn't have to spend more for third party ones.