Scanner Advice

[Phuz]

I haven't done any drawing for 12 months, so my only New Years Resolution this year is to really get back into producing finished artwork.

One immediate problem is my scanner died a while back. So can anyone recommend a good, reliable, reasonably price scanner, preferably A3.

Tar.

[Jim_Campbell]

A quick look at Amazon's offerings (notwithstanding their search engine's inability to stick to A3 scanners) suggests that you might be as well off with a multi-function device like this Brother model as with a dedicated scanner which will cost more and do less.

There's a lot of crap talked about scanners, scanning and resolution. The simple fact is that a skilled scanner operator will get better results from a £99 scanner than an unskilled one will with a £1,500 model. If you're scanning oversize artwork (ie: it will be reduced in size for final presentation/printing) then you genuinely don't need to scan higher than 600dpi and pretty much any scanning device on the market will deliver acceptable results.

Cheers

Jim

[Phuz]

There's a lot of crap talked about scanners, scanning and resolution.

I've always suspected that, Jim. Which is one of the reasons I asked, to get different options. I once read a forum discussion on scanners, one well know artist said that if you spend under £1500 on an A3 scanner you're wasting your money. I was more than slightly skeptical.

Also the techniques you use after scanning plays a big part, I find. My art's done in pencil and slightly sketchy. When using Photoshop I used to darkened the lines using the brightness/contrast slider but found some of the lighter lines disappeared and the whites became grey. So now I duplicate the scanned image layer and set the duplicate to multiply:

- If the artwork is too dark I play with the opacity slider on the duplicated layer

- If the artwork is too light I add another duplicated layer and carry on duplicating till the artwork looks right.

Even when the original scan is barely visible this technique can produce some excellent results

[Jim_Campbell]

When using Photoshop I used to darkened the lines using the brightness/contrast slider but found some of the lighter lines disappeared and the whites became grey.

Don't use Brightness/Contrast, which is something of a blunt instrument for this purpose, use Levels instead:



If you use Layers -> New Adjustment Layer -> Levels then you can apply the level adjustment non-destructively and go back and tweak it later if you find you need to.

You can get finder control still using Curves, but I've always found them a bit fiddly and rarely deliver a visibly better result than using Levels.

Cheers

Jim

[Jim_Campbell]

Which is one of the reasons I asked, to get different options. I once read a forum discussion on scanners, one well know artist said that if you spend under £1500 on an A3 scanner you're wasting your money. I was more than slightly skeptical.

I should probably mention that, prior to my rock 'n' roll lifestyle as a comic book letterer, I worked in print design and repro for about ten years, most of that in newspapers, and I've scanned literally tens of thousands of images during that time, so I promise I'm not just flapping my gums on this subject...!

Cheers

Jim

[Phuz]

Thanks Jim

As I said above, the brightness/contrast slider was abandoned many years ago. I'll try your technique later on and see what the result are.

[Banners]

That Brother printer is shit. My father-in-law has one and I had the misfortune of relying on it over Xmas. In printing one 20 regular A4 page document, it suffered 11 paper jams (or rather it reported 11 paper jams - the paper wasn't jammed at all). There are quite a few user reports of similar problems online, although most reviews seem quite positive.

I had a similar one which was awful as well. The thing was huge, inelegant and slow. The wifi prevents Windows PCs going into sleep mode (granted, that may be a Windows issue) and the duplex and borderless functions just did not work to any acceptable standard. It had always been something of a geeky ambtion to get an A3 printer, but I could not get rid of it fast enough.

Finally, in the case of both models (in my experience) not using them for several weeks caused the ink to dry and, with cleaning being in vain, required all the cartridges to be replaced. My father-in-law is soldiering on, but when this happened to me, I just sold the fucker.

[Jim_Campbell]

That Brother printer is shit. My father-in-law has one and I had the misfortune of relying on it over Xmas.

Fair enough. I should have been clear that I haven't actually used one, so your experience clearly is obviously more relevant!

My point was more that — even if it's a rubbish printer — as long as it works as an acceptable scanner, it's cheaper than buying an actual A3 scanner...

My father-in-law is soldiering on, but when this happened to me, I just sold the fucker.

I think my impressions may have been coloured by PJ's recommendation of a Brother multi-function jobbie, which I remembered as being more recent than four (!) years ago...

Cheers

Jim

[Banners]

Fair cop - I can't speak for the quality of the scanning. Just the mere mention of that printer caused me to go into a fit of rage. I feel better now!

[chris_askham]

I've got that Brother multifunction machine, and while i've had no problems so far with paper jams, the print quality is pretty awful (unless i'm seriously missing something with my settings).

I did notice however, that PC World currently have an hp model in the exact same price range, and as i've always been fairly happy with hp models in the past, i wonder if this would be a better model to go for.

[markofthedead]

Hi, I've got an Epson A4 scanner that works pretty well. I can imagine A3 would be really useful but if budget is an issue you can use an A4 scanner to scan bigger work. I usually draw on A3 but scan it in two halves, they halves overlap slightly. Then I combine them in PhotoShop etc. as two layers, blending out the overlap. Usually the finished scan looks fine.

[Phuz]

I've had a lifetime of scanning A3 artwork on a A4 scanner then digitally stitching the two halves together. Although it feels like several long lifetimes. 

Now I've got 300 plus A3 sketchbook pages to scan (which will be compiled into a book). The thought of doing all those on an A4 scanner is beyond depressing.

eBay is probably the answer.