Flatbed Scanners

Best flatbed scanners for documents, photos

Flatbed scanners -- which are the most common type of scanner for documents and photos -- vary greatly in scanning features and accessories. Experts indicate that the relative value and performance of a scanner largely depends on a user's requirements. Unlike some other technologies, selecting the right scanner is not simply a matter of "you pay for what you get." In fact, reviewers report that many lower-cost scanners rival their more expensive counterparts when it comes to scan quality, while some of the priciest models have features that exceed what most users will realistically need.

A case in point is the top-rated Canon CanoScan 8800F (*Est. $180). The 8800F replaces the highly regarded 8600F, which still reigns as a PC Magazine's Editors' Choice (the 8800F has yet to be reviewed by the magazine). Photo-gear enthusiast site StockholmReviews.com pits the new 8800F scanner against the 8600F in a head-to-head that focuses primarily on slide scanning, finding that the 8800F, though it has a lot to live up to, outperforms its predecessor.

In his review for UK's PC Pro, Dave Stevenson raves about the Canon CanoScan 8800F in a review that ultimately tags the scanner with Recommended status. It is feature-rich and includes a generous software bundle with easy-to-use driver interfaces. He is particularly enthralled with the 8800F scanner's "tremendous flexibility," which includes well-designed adapters for 35mm slides, 35mm filmstrips and medium-format slides. He also appreciates its nice print scans, fast scanning for both prints and text documents and nicely featured OCR and document management programs. The LED light source requires virtually no warm-up time, augmenting respectable scan speeds (fast on prints; slower with slides). And armed with a 4800-dpi optical resolution and 48-bit color depth, the Canon CanoScan 8800F, Stevenson writes, produces scans with good color reproduction and a "pleasing" lack of grain.

Users at Amazon.com couldn't agree more with Stevenson's praise. The Canon scanner scores highly following lots of contributed reviews. The vast majority share that the scanner exceeds their expectations, and go on to laud the intuitive control options and sharp scans; the very few negative reviews include some non-quality-related quirks, such as a rant against Amazon.com's shipping rates.

The CanoScan 8800F scanner includes Adobe Photoshop Elements and ArcSoft PhotoStudio for image editing, Presto PageManager document manager and ScanSoft OmniPage for OCR, as well as dust and scratch removal tools. Dust and scratch removal are handled by Canon's proprietary FARE technology. It is PC and Mac compatible, but comes with only a USB 2.0 cable (no FireWire).

If you are on a tight budget and have less demanding needs, there are some less expensive scanners that fare quite well with reviewers.

The most highly regarded scanner at the sub-$100 price point is Epson's Perfection V200 Photo (*Est. $90). PC World and IT Reviews both praise the V200 as a low-cost scanner with solid performance. PC World's Richard Jantz notes that this Epson scanner is twice as fast as the similarly priced HP Scanjet G3010 (*Est. $90) and Microtek ScanMaker s450 .

The Epson V200 scanner scans 35mm slides and filmstrips, as well as prints, and can accommodate up to four slides or six filmstrips at a time. Experts say that the 4800-dpi optical resolution and 48-bit color depth produce good scans with accurate color reproduction, including the often-tricky skin tones. The dust-removal program and software bundle, which includes Epson Easy Photo Fix and ArcSoft Photo Impression for photo editing and ABBYY FineReader OCR program, also receive praise.

Jantz summarizes, "If you want the biggest bang for your buck from a scanner, you would be hard-pressed to do better" than the Perfection V200. We didn't find a huge number of user reviews for this scanner so far, but feedback at Amazon.com and Newegg.com is largely positive.

Reviewers say that the Epson Perfection V700 (*Est. $500) and its upgraded linemate, the Epson Perfection V750-M Pro (*Est. $750) are the best choices for professional photographers and advanced amateurs looking for the ultimate in photo, slide and film scanning performance. The Epson V700 comes with a dual lens system -- one scans at 4800 dpi, but the other scans up to 6400 dpi for larger files. The V750-M Pro scanner's upgrades include a more sensitive optics system, an anti-reflective coating on the scanbed glass, a high-reflectivity mirror and a fluid mount kit that manually fills dust and scratches, even on monochrome film (a feat that's out of reach for the oft-praised Digital ICE technology).

Most critics place the Epson V700 and V750-M Pro's scan output at the top of its class, competitive even with dedicated slide scanners. The exception is Macworld's James Galbraith, whose tests found scans skewing toward red, and then appearing "muted" when adjusted to correct the tint. Galbraith also refers to the 6400-dpi scanbed as "overkill," and encourages shoppers to consider whether they will legitimately need such high optical resolution when other able scanners with 4800-dpi resolution are available for hundreds of dollars less.

These complaints are not echoed by any other reviewers, however; CNet.com calls the Epson Perfection V700's scan output "excellent," with "decent color accuracy," and PC Magazine dubs scan quality "among the best we've seen." The Epson V750-M Pro was awarded a coveted spot on the Editors Choice 2007 List at Popular Photography & Imaging. Amazon.com users are consistently pleased; even the lowest-scoring review concedes that the Epson scanner "is pretty good." The Perfection V700 and V750-M Pro scanners offer 48-bit color depth, legal-size scanbeds, and USB and FireWire connectivity. Each has an 8 x 10 inch transparency adapter built into the lid and four film holders accommodating a variety of film and transparency formats, including 35mm slides, 35mm film strips, medium format film strips and 4 x 5-inch film.