Best scanner for batch scanning? (Need help ASAP!)

jmk396 wrote on 6/10/2007, 6:38 PM

I know this isn't directly related to Vegas Video, but I'm posting here because the pictures I'm going to be scanning will be used in a Vegas Video slideshow...

I need to purchase a scanner that is capable of [B]quickly[/B] scanning in a [B]bulk[/B] amount of photographs.

A friend of mine had an HP Photosmart C4280 ("All-In-One") but it is a piece of garbage and doesn't work well at all... (it keeps restarting, canceling scanning jobs, etc).

I need to purchase the scanner QUICKLY so I'll need to buy it locally from Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples, Office Depot, Walmart, Target, or K-Mart.

Can anybody help me out? I'd like to stay away from HP if possible and I'd like to stay under $250.

Any advice is greatly appriciated!

Thanks.

Comments

epirb wrote on 6/10/2007, 6:56 PM

Cant remember the model but Microtek seem to be very good for batch scanning costwise not too bad like 299-399 for a good one.
I think they sell tem at B&H but may find them online cheaper.

RalphM wrote on 6/10/2007, 7:52 PM

Are these are prints? If so, what do you mean by batch scanning?

There are flatbed scanners that doa very good job at scanning transparancies in batch, but if they are prints, not sure what you mean...

Assuming you are working with transparencies, Scanners like the Epson 4870 (newer models now avaiable) scan multiple slides or negatives at one time, assigning a unique file number to each image. They have Digital Ice, and do a very good job on transparencies. The Digital Ice feature works on prints too, but not as successfully.

These flatbeds are not up to the best dedicated slide scanners, but they do plenty well for video use.

farss wrote on 6/10/2007, 7:54 PM

Just another thought, why not pay a bureau to do this?
If you've got access to the negs you'll get better results than working from prints. Good neg / slide scanners are damn expensive so again get a bureau to do this unless you have ongoing work to justify the capital outlay.

Bob.

jmk396 wrote on 6/10/2007, 8:19 PM

Thanks for all of the replies!

I don't live near NYC (eg. BH Photo Video) and I don't think any of my local stores carry Microtek so that's probably out of the question.

I also don't have time to pay a bureau/store to scan these in for me.

Basically, my mother was going to have somebody create a video slideshow for my younger brothers college graduation party but something happened and now I have to create it. The party is this Saturday so I need to buy a scanner really quick and throw something together.

Has anybody used the Canon 8600F? It says it has a 2-second preview speed and batch scanning.

However, none of my pictures are 35mm or slides (eg. they are all 4x6 or 3x5 size) so I don't know if "batch scanning" will even work with these.

EDIT: The Epson 4490 looks nice as well but it looks like all of my local stores are out of it...

kentwolf wrote on 6/10/2007, 8:23 PM

>>...Microtek seem to be very good for batch scanning...

I second that. It needs to have a sheet feeder though.

I use a Microtek at work for scanning thosands of documents via the sheet feeder and it has proven very reliable.

RalphM wrote on 6/11/2007, 6:16 AM

For a price, B&H will ship very quickly....

The Epsons allow you to place several prints on the glass and make multiple selections. These scans are then given indivitdual file numbers. You still have to straighten and fine crop the results, but it is better than opening and closing the lide for every picture.

Another thought - if you have a digital camera or camcorder and the prints are reasonablly flat, you can mount the camera on a tripod and shoot down onto the prints. This is not an ideal way to do this, but you seem to have a time crunch. The results can be surprisingly good if you get a good focus setup. If using a camcorder for the stills you are going to be stuck with whatever native resolutio you have.

I'm in northern Virginia - are you anywhere near me?

TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/11/2007, 8:23 AM

I have a Microtek scanner I got for my birthday (or Christmas) in 1998. Still going! :D

But for "batch" jobs I scan in as many photos as I can fit on the scanner at once. A bigger bed helps (my microtek is 11x17).

Another possible solution: what if you put the images sitting against a wall & use your digital camera to get the shot & put it on the computer? As long as you don't use a flash & there's no strong light sources pointing at the pictures they should look good.

dragonseyewizard wrote on 6/14/2007, 12:34 PM

Canon CanoScan LiDE 60:
"Multi-Scan Mode lets you scan multiple images simultaneously, rather than one by one. Just arrange them on the glass and select "Multi-Scan"--that's it! For convenience, each image is automatically saved as an individual file."

vicmilt wrote on 6/14/2007, 12:44 PM

I don't know what you mean by "batch" scanning, but...

we did a huge amount of stills recently.

We "piled 'em on" scanning 4 to 6 at a time on a typical flatbed scanner, at the highest resolution it would allow - like maybe 300 dpi. Make sure all pictures line up, i.e. All horizontals together - all facing the right way. Same for all verticals - you don't want to have to rotate every shot.

We used photoshop to do the scans and saved each "master" in a master file.
Then we simply opened each master file, grabbed each photo and used an action to creat 72dpi sized pictures which we saved into another "processed file".
It's really pretty quick process - you select the photo from the master and hand click the action. We did about a hundred an hour.

Hope this workflow helps.

v

nolonemo wrote on 6/14/2007, 3:17 PM

Get a scanner like the Canon or Epson that will do "batch scans" by recogniziing individual photos on the glass and save them as separate images. Almost any one will do that these days, you can use an entry-level $100 or less scanner for what you want.

Line the photos up as straight as you can on the scanner be, and scan with auto levels and auto color balance on. If you are close to straight, you won't have to worry about cropping and rotating to make them perfect because the overscan on the TV display will take care of that. For best speed, scan at a low dpi that matches your video rez (this assumes you are not being fancy and zooming and panning on the photos in Vegas) -- that should be 120 dpi (see recent threads on the form).

A little pre-planning will go a long way. Figure out the order the scanner scans the stuff on the bed. Then order your photos the way you want on the timeline, and lay them out on the scanner bed so they will be given filenames that match that order. Then you can do a name sort in windows explorer, highlight them all, and drag them onto the timeline in that order.