Want to work on watercolour originals. Scanner?

[Guest]

Hi folk,

Following some excellent advice I got yesterday, I am now thinking of
getting a new scanner.

Basically I want it for scanning in watercolour paintings, sketches etc.
that I've done, to finish them off in the computer.

I would have to get them printed professionally I guess (I don't think my
old HP Deskjet 870 Cxi wouldn't be up to the job, let alone be able cope with
specialist papers.) Or maybe in the future I could get a suitable printer.

In a photography forum I belong to people often say it is pointless getting
a high res. scanner for images (the human eye can only read up to about 200
dpi?) But I may well have got the wrong end of the stick here.

Given what I want to use the scanner for (pix, pix and more pix), does
anyone have any advice about what I should be looking for?

all best wishes,
Canna

 

[Jim Macklin]

size of the scanned area. You'll want high color accuracy.
You can always set a high res scanner to a lower resolution.

Have you looked at getting a WACOM tablet to do your
graphics painting? www.wacom.com


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


message
| Hi folk,
|
| Following some excellent advice I got yesterday, I am now
thinking of
| getting a new scanner.
|
| Basically I want it for scanning in watercolour paintings,
sketches etc.
| that I've done, to finish them off in the computer.
|
| I would have to get them printed professionally I guess (I
don't think my
| old HP Deskjet 870 Cxi wouldn't be up to the job, let
alone be able cope with
| specialist papers.) Or maybe in the future I could get a
suitable printer.
|
| In a photography forum I belong to people often say it is
pointless getting
| a high res. scanner for images (the human eye can only
read up to about 200
| dpi?) But I may well have got the wrong end of the stick
here.
|
| Given what I want to use the scanner for (pix, pix and
more pix), does
| anyone have any advice about what I should be looking for?
|
| all best wishes,
| Canna
|

 

[Leythos]

Hi folk,

Following some excellent advice I got yesterday, I am now thinking of
getting a new scanner.

Basically I want it for scanning in watercolour paintings, sketches etc.
that I've done, to finish them off in the computer.

I would have to get them printed professionally I guess (I don't think my
old HP Deskjet 870 Cxi wouldn't be up to the job, let alone be able cope with
specialist papers.) Or maybe in the future I could get a suitable printer.

In a photography forum I belong to people often say it is pointless getting
a high res. scanner for images (the human eye can only read up to about 200
dpi?) But I may well have got the wrong end of the stick here.

Yea, that's why they are just into Photography. If you scan an image at
200 DPI, print it on a printer that does 1200 DPI, then scan the same
image at 600 DPI and print it at 1200 DPI, you will see the difference.

You need a flat-bed scanner, one that is as large as you can afford, then
you need a LOT of memory (1+GB) and PhotoShop (full version), and then a
good Color Matched screen and then a good printer. I use a WAX Thermal
printer - the Xerox 8400B printer ($965) for printing out color images I
care about.

Given what I want to use the scanner for (pix, pix and more pix), does
anyone have any advice about what I should be looking for?

Get one that scans at least at 600DPI and has a Color calibration process
with the monitor and printer or you're wasting your money.

 

[Guest]

Good morning Jim and Leythos,

Thank you very much for responding. It is much appreciated.

To be honest I don't have the facilities nor finances for big pix..an A4
area would suit me fine. I like working small too.

My RAM memory is 320 MB, and I guess I have about 2 GB at most to play with
on hard disk (total from 2 hard drives = 19 GB) - but I would store images on
a cd.

I only have Photoshop Elements 2 - but I can see that this may well have to
change in future. There must be loads of people selling CS on Ebay as
unwanted (head-banging!) Christmas presents.

The calibration thing is a bit worrying. The place where I currently have
photographs printed does an excellent job, so the camera/monitor connection
is okay, but maybe the scanner/monitor connection might not be?

I think getting into home printing at this level would be way more than I
could afford, plus I'd get utterly obsessional about it and do at least 20
copies of everything in the heat of the moment! If possible I should get
the stuff printed elsewhere.

Sooo - now I am looking for a scanner that will record at 600 dpi, that
seems to be the nub of it I think. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Jim, I shall check out your tablet suggestion. I have a small Serif one,
but somehow have not got round to using it.... I really like the idea of
being able to finish off paper-based stuff in the computer.


All best wishes,
Canna.