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Legal Size Scanner thread.
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There may be a lot of folks who don't own a legal size scanner like myself. I have been on the lookout for one on craigslist and the thrift shops for a few weeks to no avail. Today, I found a HP 3310 All-in-one brand new for $14.00 at Goodwill, why it was there I have no idea. The glass/ scan area is off course smaller than legal, but I was surprised I could fit as much of the slab as I could. This is a cheap alternative until you can get a legal sized scanner. You can see the glare on the bottom, but overall it's not that bad. This is with the photosmart 3.5 software and vista. All settings were set to auto adjust.

 

scan0002-2.jpg

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You're probably right I will have to try it. I really would like a legal size scanner. I wanted to see how much of the slab would fit on this scanner The slab was actually raised a 1/4" above the glass to fit as much as possible in the scan.

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Thanks guys for the help. I haven't bought a legal sizes scanner yet as I wanted to know if someone knows for sure if any one of the scanners available right now are compatible with Windows 7. Best thing I can do is to call the manufacturer and ask them if they have any scanners that are compatible with that software. I just don't want to pay crazy money for a scanner. I'm hoping $200 tops

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Love the idea!

 

I just bought an OfficeJet 8500 over the weekend. It can do a fair job at scanning the slabs but it comes out a bit blurry. When I get home I'll try posting a pic. Any suggestions to help make it clearer would be helpful.

 

That was the first one that I had tried myself. Nothing made the images clearer :(

I took it right back to costco.

 

+1

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Thanks guys for the help. I haven't bought a legal sizes scanner yet as I wanted to know if someone knows for sure if any one of the scanners available right now are compatible with Windows 7. Best thing I can do is to call the manufacturer and ask them if they have any scanners that are compatible with that software. I just don't want to pay crazy money for a scanner. I'm hoping $200 tops

 

I am in the market for a LEGAL SIZE SCANNER and I was wondering how your search went and if you ended up buying one, how were the results?

 

 

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Thanks guys for the help. I haven't bought a legal sizes scanner yet as I wanted to know if someone knows for sure if any one of the scanners available right now are compatible with Windows 7. Best thing I can do is to call the manufacturer and ask them if they have any scanners that are compatible with that software. I just don't want to pay crazy money for a scanner. I'm hoping $200 tops

 

I am in the market for a LEGAL SIZE SCANNER and I was wondering how your search went and if you ended up buying one, how were the results?

 

 

 

 

:popcorn:

 

 

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This thread should be stickied. It could be regularly updated as new scanners come available and the question comes up soooo much. Anyone who has sold a lot of comics knows how valuable a good scanner situation can be. Time savings alone is huge and I think the tutorial video (page 4) by comicwiz alone is super valuable. Therefore, I :bump:

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I picked up a few scanners on Amazon and had the Win 7 compatibility issue and sent them back one after the other. Even if it's Vista compatible it wasn't Win 7.

 

I gave up this weekend and just took photos of my slabs and put them up on Ebay. A scanner would have looked a lot better. The difference between the scanner and a photo is no matter what you do you will get glare that washes out the comic.

 

Another issue you'll have with cheaper scanners is the dept of field. That's why some people may be getting blur on their scans. The 1/8-1/4 inch from the glass is enough for the scan to be out of focus.

 

Those nicer A3 scanners are EXPENSIVE! Their depth of field is good too from what I've read.

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I recently bought the HP8500 legal size printer scanner etc at Staples. So far my scans are blurry .... so I'm underwhelmed, but because I am a novice at scanning will continue to tinker, but right now I get a much sharper picture from my digital Kodak camera than I do my scanner.

 

I bought the scanner new on sale for less than 300 ... and it was the only Legal Size scanner they sold.

 

If anybody uses this is there a way to sharpen the scan? Maybe it's the field or depth issue mentioned earlier in this thread, but it maybe there are things I can do to get a better scan and I don't know what they are.

 

 

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I have an Epson gt-20000 that scans a up to 11.7x17" documents. Not cheap but you can pick them up on new egg on occasion for $800. Quality costs. Period. And yes , it works fine with win7 via USB and has rj45 for network scanning..

 

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&sku=B11B195011

 

I tend to scan just above 72 dpi for the reasons mentioned previously, and also being in the professional art field (making video games) for the last 15 years, I've sort of learned to fight the urge and to leave scans as is withou much color correction or mucking with the scanner settings. A good scanner setup properly will give an accurate and vibrant image as seen below or in my sig line; all out of the box default settings..

 

Another tip is to scan with the top open. The dark background (as opposed to the white when its closed) can often enhance the contrast on tougher images...

 

8104f.jpg4510f.jpg

Edited by sl4ppy
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Forgot to mention that the real issue is peoples monitors. That vast majority of people have the color and temps of their monitors so far out of whack that it doesn't really matter how good your scan is. ;)

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I recently bought the HP8500 legal size printer scanner etc at Staples. So far my scans are blurry .... so I'm underwhelmed, but because I am a novice at scanning will continue to tinker, but right now I get a much sharper picture from my digital Kodak camera than I do my scanner.

 

I bought the scanner new on sale for less than 300 ... and it was the only Legal Size scanner they sold.

 

If anybody uses this is there a way to sharpen the scan? Maybe it's the field or depth issue mentioned earlier in this thread, but it maybe there are things I can do to get a better scan and I don't know what they are.

 

 

I could be wrong but i am pretty sure that if your scans are blurry there is nothing you can do. It's the type of bulb and the focus point of the scanner that is the problem and that is something mechanical designed into the scanner...not a software problem.

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I have an Epson gt-20000 that scans a up to 11.7x17" documents. Not cheap but you can pick them up on new egg on occasion for $800. Quality costs. Period. And yes , it works fine with win7 via USB and has rj45 for network scanning..

 

Where both of those scans made with the same scanner? The top scan (the Air Boy book) looks spectacular and that is what I am used to with an Epson scanner. The bottom scan is a bit blurry. The Kinko's that I used to scan my books at used Epson scanners. The only thing that I found with them was that tanning and foxing was not well represented...it was a little too dark compared to how the book actually looked in hand but the rest of the books looked terrific.

 

 

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I have an Epson gt-20000 that scans a up to 11.7x17" documents. Not cheap but you can pick them up on new egg on occasion for $800. Quality costs. Period. And yes , it works fine with win7 via USB and has rj45 for network scanning..

 

Where both of those scans made with the same scanner? The top scan (the Air Boy book) looks spectacular and that is what I am used to with an Epson scanner. The bottom scan is a bit blurry. The Kinko's that I used to scan my books at used Epson scanners. The only thing that I found with them was that tanning and foxing was not well represented...it was a little too dark compared to how the book actually looked in hand but the rest of the books looked terrific.

 

 

same scanner, but the DD was down sized from its original scan size at 300dpi to fit in a forum post a long time ago.. That will cause blurriness every time...

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