Recommended scanners.

Most graphics studios, design and advertising studios, and pre-press service bureaus have more than one scanner. Different needs require different scanner solutions. Whereas a drum scanner is needed to create a billboard sized print, a high-end 35mm film scanner provides enough dpi for a point-of-sale poster. A high-end flatbed and certainly a vertical Imacon can provide enough dpi to result in a professional looking banner or display for a trade show.

Low-bid is one way to buy scanners. Except that eventually you will be disappointed. The recommended way to buy a scanner is based on the class of work needed to be achieved and what level of professionalism is desired. Once you have a good scanner you can potentially earn a better income and pay for the superior equipment with new earnings from happier clients.

If you ask 100 graphics experts you will get at least a dozen different groupings of recommendations. Some consistencies will be universal (no low-dpi consumer-level film scanners, for example; no low-end flatbed scanners). But even professional digital design graphics artists will split into different groupings on whether a drum scanner is needed or whether a high-end flatbed can cover the situations of the coming millennium.

The following table, therefore, does its best to be flexible, but the products tend to be mid-range to introductory high-end. If you are looking for a scanner for home and family, you can't go wrong with a Linotype-Hell Saphir Ultra 2 for a flatbed and a Nikon or Polaroid SprintScan 4000 for 35mm slides (you need one flatbed and one film scanner because no mid-range flatbed can provide enough dpi for a 35mm slide). You can indeed do 35mm on a flatbed, but not on an entry-level flatbed, you need the high end to get a reliable scan of something as small as a 35mm slide (or the Imacon upright).

If you are opening a digital imaging company, then you need a scanner which is more versatile. For example, the C-550 Lanovia from Fuji can handle books, flat art up to tabloid oversize, 4x5 chromes, 40 35mm slides in a single batch, and even 3-D objects, all at up to 5000 true optical dpi. If you are doing signs, posters, banners, and billboards, then a drum scanner comes into consideration. If you wish to be able to cover entire buildings with wide format images (yes, draping buildings and store fronts is frequently done), then rather obviously you need one of the better drum scanners, not an entry level model.

This list will be updated every time we receive additional scanners to test, as we attend more trade shows, as we visit headquarters of other scanner companies, as we visit and interview graphics specialists in their studios, and as we get feedback via e-mail (CustomerService@FLAAR.org). All of the above are the sources for our information, as well as the trade press and the Internet.

Activity	Tight Budget, professional level	Large Budget, high end
Scanning 35mm film or slides, dedicated	Nikon CoolScan (top model), Polaroid 4000 or Imacon	Creo EverSmart, Fuji C-550 Lanovia, or ICG drum scanner
Scanning 35mm, flatbed	flatbed offering more than 4000 dpi at size of 35mm slide or film strip, Fuji	a good drum scanner (several are available)
Scanning 35mm slides en masse	Kodak Photo CD is best known system but we do not recommend it at all. We are still searching for the ideal means to scan masses of 35mm (mounted) slides. High-end scanners such as the Linotype-Hell Topaz II and the Fuji C-550 Lanovia offer the ability to focus past the mount onto the actual image plane.	Fuji Graphic Systems' C-550 Multi-Purpose Flatbed Scanner (Lanovia) can easily handle 40 slides at a time on its oversize bed. Topaz II Robat can scan 225 slides overnight. Creo EverSmart.
Scanning 120 or 220 film*	Heidelberg	Fuji Lanovia, Creo , or good drum scanner
Scanning 4x5	Heidelberg	Fuji Lanovia, Creo , or good drum scanner
Scanning film (to 6x6b cm to 8x10 in) on a flatbed	flatbed 3000 dpi or above	or Fuji flatbed or high-end drum scanner (but not entry level drum which tend to be CCD and not true PMT technology)
Scanning old drawings	This is a key problem in art, art history, architecture. Probably needs a sheet fed scanner (see next row) but if the drawings are fragile then you need a Cruse reprographic copy stand scanner system	Architectural history, archaeology, etc, so we are doing plenty of research before we listed the Cruse as the one we prefer
Wide format sheet fed scanning	See an entire section on wide format sheet or roll fed	Contex brand can be found worldwide
Wide format flatbed scanning	no large format flatbeds in this price range	this class of scanner is a rare bird so we are undertaking more study before we recommend one.
Scanning 3D objects	Linotype-Hell Saphir Ultra 2, Heidelberg Prepress Topaz	or Fuji Graphic Systems' C-550 Multi-Purpose Flatbed Scanner (Lanovia)
Turnkey solutions for scanning 3D objects	I inspected several systems at Photokina trade	Cruse overhead scanner with synchron lighting is by far the best
alternative for scanning 3D objects	Leica digital on copy stand, 6x6 format digital on copy stand	BetterLight 4x5 format on a tti copy stand
Scanning panoramas for virtual reality (seamless, not stitching individual photos)	other systems at Photokina were non-functioning experiments, far from proven or production models	BetterLight is the only fully functioning system that has proven itself and is under development for actual production.
Scanning circumference of a round object (on rotating turntable)	the non-digital Seitz system is no longer made (Seitz is no relation to Leitz).	BetterLight is the only fully functioning system that has proven itself and is under development for actual production.
Scanning of virtual objects	Kaidan turntable with VR Toolbox ObjectWorx software would be entry level system	PhaseOne makes the only production model automatic QTVR object movie rotating 3D system that I know of, but the new BetterLight system may add this capability.

* we have yet to test or read about a dedicated 4x5 or even 6x6 cm dedicated scanner that can match the quality of an Imacon (vertical) or a high-end flatbed scanner (or of course a drum scanner). The Leaf 45 is legacy hardware and software; the Nikon 4x5 scanner is 3-pass and almost 3 years old (dinasaur-aged in computers development time). Same with the Minolta dual-format scanner...it simply does not provide enough dpi for professional use and certainly not compared with the Imacon or any high-end flatbed. Thus no dedicated 4x5 scanners are included (other than the Imacon, whose quality and technology put it in a class of its own).

Creo makes flatbed scanners of professional quality. Until it is possible to use one and find out its many capabilities, however, we tend to recommend the other scanners where we have either visited the company's headquarters in person (such as ScanView) or actually seen the scanner in action with our own transparencies (such as Fuji C-550 Lanovia).

If you can afford only one scanner and hence need that single scanner to be able to handle everything, then you need a Creo EverSmart from Creo or C-550 Lanovia from Fujifilm Electronic Imaging. Get a demo at their nearest office, because merely peeking at this scanner on their web site does not do it justice. Once you see the difference in the actual resulting quality this machine can obtain from your slides and prints, you will see why this scanner is tops.