Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Scanning images

Really quick question for you guys: what scanner do you use to scan your images? I have such a hard time with my scanner, since it puts a pink line in the middle of my drawings and I usually have to scan it multiple times so I can piece it together in photoshop.

Also, I plan on working in pastels and quite possibly on big paper. Will taking pictures of these works suffice, or should I look for oversized scanners?

Advanced thanks for your help :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a ScanMaker 6800 from Microtek and I've been very happy with it.

Your pink line sounds like a diode needs to be replaced. Depending on how much you spent on the scanner originally, it may be just cheaper to buy a replacement rather than repair the thing.

I would NOT use a scanner to digitize pastels, all that dust will do horrible things to the glass and the gears. Better have them professionally photographed if it's for reproduction.

YMMV

Christy/Tiddly Inks Digitals said...

I am looking at an Epson Perfection V500. It is about $200. Mine HP doesn't reproduce dark or light colors well, so I am glad you asked. I was wondering the same thing. I will watch with interest what others say.
Christy

kris fulk said...

Christy, I have the same problem. I have two scanners, but see, one doesn't pick up light/dark values very well, especially when I air brush with my markers, while the other one that does (in the first example) has that pink line - which you can't see since I kind of already fixed it:

Example 1
Example 2

Anyway, $200 is about my budget as well. I'm going to check out that Microtek 6800, Wendy, though it doesn't look promising in Amazon. Ebay has it for $150ish, used though. Thanks for the advice!

sara.b said...

I use an Epson Perfection 2480 Photo and it's done me good until recently. I've had it for about 5 years. The only problem I'm having with it is if the paper isn't flat against the glass then it gets slightly blurred or have hot spots (over exposed). Granted...I work on watercolor paper that loves to buckle. :P

I second not using the scanner with your pastels. The best thing to do is photograph the piece.

Carmen Medlin said...

I have an aging Mikrotek Scanmaker X12 -- it did fine until my big giant computer crash, but I'm using it on my dad's computer now and it tends to wash everything out and I have to do a lot of fixing later.
Now I must find one that is Linux-compatible! As that is what my computer is now.
For big paper I would just stitch the scans together, but I think everyone is right about the pastels being photographed. I'd worry about the artwork itself getting scuffed if it was scanned.