Scanners?

[cjoe]

i am a pretty dedicated designer and am looking to add to the tools at my disposal. i want a scanner! the problem is; im not sure what specs i should be looking for in a scanner that will give me a high quality image and am unsure aboutany software that should be used in conjunction with the scanner. i'm a MAC user so compatability is a key and budget is around $200.
Until now its all been original or from a digital camera and but i really want to scan these world war II propaganda posters i have!

i hate shields.

[D-Frag]

scanning a poster on a $200 scanner is probably going to be unlikely unless you like stitching images together. At that price you are probably just looking for your average every day flatbed scanner. really its going to come down to personal preference, as to my knowledge their is nothing in the Pro market around that price.

http://img15.exs.cx/img15/7863/nufrag2nk6zq.jpg

digitalcamwhore (http://digitalcamwhore.deviantart.com/gallery/)

Thanks to vend3r (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/profile.aspx?f=35&m=97279&p=4762) for the sig

[PrintDriver]

^what D-Frag said^

And stitching that poster together means you may have to fold it to get it into the scanner.

You may, and I said 'may', be able to get it scanned at a place that does architectural scans. They have feed thru scanners that will take poster size pieces. Some of them may get sticky about copyright permission.......

For $200 you are definitely not going to get a feed thru scanner of any size. Most of them start at $10K. Even a really good 11x17 is $1K or 2K. Though you can get a decent production machine for $200. Just don't expect to do large stuff or fine art. Check out www.flaar.org.

PD is a grande format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

Post Edited (PD) : 1/11/2005 12:19:03 AM GMT

[cjoe]

cheers guys. thanks for the tips, i think i can stretch the budget a bit, maybe get a loan then!

i hate shields.