Desperately Seeking a Fast Flatbed Scanner

[Norm Dresner]

I have potentially several thousand pages of magazine text I want to scan
before tossing several decades worth of hobby magazines. I can't use
anything with a feeder because the pages are just too thin so I need a
flatbed. I have a Canon 9950F which I use for film but for page scanning
it's just too slow. What's a reasonably priced flatbed that's fast for
scanning at no more than, say, 300 PPI?

TIA
Norm

 

[CSM1]

I have potentially several thousand pages of magazine text I want to scan
before tossing several decades worth of hobby magazines. I can't use
anything with a feeder because the pages are just too thin so I need a
flatbed. I have a Canon 9950F which I use for film but for page scanning
it's just too slow. What's a reasonably priced flatbed that's fast for
scanning at no more than, say, 300 PPI?

TIA
Norm

Check out the Canon flatbeds.
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ConsumerHomePageAct

My Canon 8400F that does letter size documents in color at 300 DPI in about
16 seconds after the preview.

The 8400F is in the Film and Negative scanners section.

I don't know why the 9950 would be so slow. It should be just as fast as the
8400F. Unless you have it connected to USB 1.1 instead of USB 2.0.

You did not say anything about your computer, how fast or how old or if it
has USB 2.0.

 

[Rick]

I have potentially several thousand pages of magazine text I want to scan
before tossing several decades worth of hobby magazines. I can't use
anything with a feeder because the pages are just too thin so I need a
flatbed. I have a Canon 9950F which I use for film but for page scanning
it's just too slow. What's a reasonably priced flatbed that's fast for
scanning at no more than, say, 300 PPI?

TIA
Norm

Remember that you possibly will have a problem unless you UNinstall the
original scanner before installing a new one. At least, that is the
problem I'm having. I had a Visioneer flatbed, installed a Brother sheet
fed AIO and it wouldn't work. I had to uninstall the Visioneer and
reinstall the Brother to get the Brother to work. Then, I couldn't get
the Visioneer to work. I wish there was a solution, as I really need
both types.

Rick

 

[Colin_D]

I have potentially several thousand pages of magazine text I want to scan
before tossing several decades worth of hobby magazines. I can't use
anything with a feeder because the pages are just too thin so I need a
flatbed. I have a Canon 9950F which I use for film but for page scanning
it's just too slow. What's a reasonably priced flatbed that's fast for
scanning at no more than, say, 300 PPI?

TIA
Norm

My 9950F scans an A4 (8.25x11.7) in color at 300 dpi in about 20 seconds
via a usb 2.0 connection. Firewire may be a little faster if you have it.

How about using a digital camera on a copy stand? Much faster, and
quality from a 5+ megapixel camera is plenty good enough to render text
and pictures adequately.

Alternatively, for thousands of pages, why not keep the mags? Jpegs from
scans or a good camera will be at least 2 or 3 MB each, so 1,000 images
will chew up 2 or 3 gigs of storage, and 'several thousand' will take
anything up to 15 or 20 gigs. I suppose if you use DVDs that's
handleable, Indexing alone will be a major undertaking, and the whole
job would daunt me {:-(

Colin D.

 

[Brendan R. Wehrung]

Remember that you possibly will have a problem unless you UNinstall the
original scanner before installing a new one. At least, that is the
problem I'm having. I had a Visioneer flatbed, installed a Brother sheet
fed AIO and it wouldn't work. I had to uninstall the Visioneer and
reinstall the Brother to get the Brother to work. Then, I couldn't get
the Visioneer to work. I wish there was a solution, as I really need
both types.

Rick

I have a Visioneer and an HP on the same computer, so things must depend...

Both are technically flatbeds.

Brendan

 

[Norm Dresner]

| Norm Dresner wrote:
| > I have potentially several thousand pages of magazine text I want to
scan
| > before tossing several decades worth of hobby magazines. I can't use
| > anything with a feeder because the pages are just too thin so I need a
| > flatbed. I have a Canon 9950F which I use for film but for page
scanning
| > it's just too slow. What's a reasonably priced flatbed that's fast for
| > scanning at no more than, say, 300 PPI?
| >
| > TIA
| > Norm
| >
| >
| Remember that you possibly will have a problem unless you UNinstall the
| original scanner before installing a new one. At least, that is the
| problem I'm having. I had a Visioneer flatbed, installed a Brother sheet
| fed AIO and it wouldn't work. I had to uninstall the Visioneer and
| reinstall the Brother to get the Brother to work. Then, I couldn't get
| the Visioneer to work. I wish there was a solution, as I really need
| both types.
|
| Rick

Thanks for the warning, but I have more than one computer here to which a
scanner can be attached so it's not really a problem for me.
Norm

 

[Norm Dresner]

| Norm Dresner wrote:
| > I have potentially several thousand pages of magazine text I want to
scan
| > before tossing several decades worth of hobby magazines. I can't use
| > anything with a feeder because the pages are just too thin so I need a
| > flatbed. I have a Canon 9950F which I use for film but for page
scanning
| > it's just too slow. What's a reasonably priced flatbed that's fast for
| > scanning at no more than, say, 300 PPI?
| >
| > TIA
| > Norm
| >
| My 9950F scans an A4 (8.25x11.7) in color at 300 dpi in about 20 seconds
| via a usb 2.0 connection. Firewire may be a little faster if you have it.
|
| How about using a digital camera on a copy stand? Much faster, and
| quality from a 5+ megapixel camera is plenty good enough to render text
| and pictures adequately.
|
| Alternatively, for thousands of pages, why not keep the mags? Jpegs from
| scans or a good camera will be at least 2 or 3 MB each, so 1,000 images
| will chew up 2 or 3 gigs of storage, and 'several thousand' will take
| anything up to 15 or 20 gigs. I suppose if you use DVDs that's
| handleable, Indexing alone will be a major undertaking, and the whole
| job would daunt me {:-(

Well ... I've kept the magazines for year now and finally decided that I
really need the space for something I use more often. But I'm not willing
to surrender the contents yet. I have more than one 5+ MP camera and could
theoretically photograph everything but flatbeds keep pages flatter and when
you're looking for mechanical drawings of trains, airplanes, and furniture
the flatness of the pages matters more.
Norm

 

[tomm42]

Well ... I've kept the magazines for year now and finally decided that I
really need the space for something I use more often. But I'm not willing
to surrender the contents yet. I have more than one 5+ MP camera and could
theoretically photograph everything but flatbeds keep pages flatter and when
you're looking for mechanical drawings of trains, airplanes, and furniture
the flatness of the pages matters more.
Norm

If you have a copy stand, a piece of plate glass, and a black paper
backing on the pages. you can do alot. Just light it properly and you'd
be fine with the 5mp camera.

Tom

 

[Rick]

I have a Visioneer and an HP on the same computer, so things must depend...

Both are technically flatbeds.

Brendan

Wish I knew how you did it. Maybe it's the Paperport software. Maybe I
can't use 2 scanners with Paperport. I might try getting a scanner that
uses something else. Any suggestions? (I hate HP stuff. It leaves SO
much stuff in Start Up)

Rick