scanner help!

[spikey27]

Hi all,
I've been wanting to get an new scanner for some time now, the one I have now is just awful! My photo scans are horrible! I just don't know what to get......HP, Epson, Canon?

I really want something "all-in-one" because space is an issue. I have a lot of old photos and even slides/negatives that I would like to scan, (more so the photos, the slides/negs aren't as important). I don't even know what resolution to look for because I don't know what's good.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Mahalo, Carrie

[digigrandma]

I have a new Canon Pixma MP610 Photo (purchased in January '08) all in one scanner, printer, copy machine. I am very happy with the ease of use and the quality of the scans and the quality of the photos or layouts I print using it. I really like having more desk space because it is an all in one.

I also have an Epson scanner which I bought a few years ago that scans negatives and slides and photos. The quality is very good, but, it is now on a shelf in the closet, only to be brought out when I'm in the mood to scan slides. (A never ending project because we have 1,000's of slides.)

[AllynD]

I bought a dedicated photo scanner, Epson V500, for about $199 (on sale) at Best Buy, because I have a lot of old family photos to scan and I felt that a photo scanner would give me better results than an all in one. I have been very happy with the scans-- far better than I expected, and the color correction is just amazing-- instantaneous and far better than I could do with PSE.

I have an EHD where I store my scans (as well as periodically making multiple back up CDs), and I scan old photos at a very high, 800 DPI, resolution with 48 bit color. I know that is overkill, but I swear I see things now in the scans that I NEVER saw in the old originals! I figure the more detail the better, since I have plenty of space on the EHD. That lets me enlarge things as much as I want and I can still resize the photo to 300 DPI for a layout.

After I had scanned about 700 old B&W photos, I read that even B&W should be scanned in color. I am not sure why, and have been trying to track down a reliable source and reason for that statement. My B&W scans are just fine, and I can always apply a sepia filter.

[spikey27]

thanks for the info!!!!