Need a new scanner

[milestogo]

Since the birthday festivities are over and I seem to have an abundance of amazon gift cards I am currently in the market for a brand new scanner. As of right now I have a wireless Printer, scanner combo and I love it. The problem becomes the bed size I am really just looking for a large scanner only. Preferably something that will not require a lot of Photoshop work to make my cels look even remotely the same color as they actually are. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

MTG

[cutiebunny]

I have an Epson 10000GT flatbed A3 scanner that I adore. Unless you have artwork larger than A3 size, it can accomodate all your needs. I've had mine for about four years and have really gotten a lot out of it.

The problem with the 10000GT model is that it and it's software is not compatible with Windows 7 or higher. There's some software that you can use to make it compatible, but I haven't bothered to buy it as I haven't upgraded that computer. I haven't looked at A3 scanner prices lately, but the 10000GT model may be really cheap now and worth looking at.

Good A3 scanners are expensive. There's a cheaper A3 scanner out there but I've heard mixed reviews, with it either making poor scans or the software being unreliable. There's such a big gap in prices between the B4 and A3 scanners.

[theultimatebrucelee]

I have a Mustek1200, Its the budget version A3. It can't scan sketch for crap, images often come out very light and require mild editing, sometimes the problem is too severe for my editing program. And also there are very few options where you could tweak around your scan, aside from resolution. A trick to semi counter it is to place white cardboard behind the sketch on the scanning bed, it'll make the image darker to a certain degree.

I rarely had any problem scanning cels with it, aside from the residue the scan would pick up from those multilayer cels, but that might be a common problem for other scanners as well. So if your main focus is cel and don't want to invest too much into scanner, then I would recommend it, I think the 2400 model has a higher optical resolution for the upcharge. Just make sure to have an image editing program handy at all times, though I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem for you.

[RePete]

Have a look into Brother printer / scanner combos. I got one with an A3 scanner for $1 off ebay, new it costs like $250-$400. The printer doesn't seem to work but to get a scanner of that quality for pretty much just a 20minute car drive, totally worth it. Keep an eye out on ebay and local shopping websites like gumtree (or your countries equivalent). Try and avoid A4 scanners, I would always struggle to properly scan sketches and cels and my cheap scanner would always come up with horrible dark marks.