Scanners for the Photo and Art Enthusiast

If you’re a freelancer involved in marketing, advertising, any kind of photo or art-related work, Computer Scanners are essential in order to facilitate image reproduction. You might think you’ll need an expensive, high end scanner. But to paraphrase the Gershwins, it ain’t necessarily so. Many moderately priced scanners available on the market and online provide sufficient resolution and reproduction capabilities.

The three top brands of scanners are generally recognized to be Canon Scanners, Epson Scanners, and HP Scanners. As a result there is a wide selection available on the market. Each scanner has many features that are perfect for photo and art reproduction. Epson scanners have long been at the top of the industry. If large format scanning is what you need -- if you want to reproduce Leonardo DaVinci’s Last Supper in an ad, for example -- the Epson GT-20000 High Performance Flatbed Scanner is a perfect professional photo scanner. It retails for just under $1,300. It reads photos at 48-bit color for crystal clear detail. You’ll see every freckle on a face and petal on a flower. Size-wise, it scans up to 11.7x 17 inches, which is also large enough for double-page magazine format spreads.

HP scanners are another well known name when it comes to high-quality image reproduction. The HP Scanjet 8300 Professional Image Scanner is a versatile tool. It can send scans directly to your printer and is capable of creating its own PDFs. The resolution goes as high as 4800dpi, which is sufficient for the clearest quality artwork. The HP Scanjet can also function as a reader of negatives and slides. This is especially handy for the photo enthusiast who still works in a non-digital format -- or for someone who has old slides that need to be incorporated into a digital format. These scanners also include Adobe Elements software that can remove red eye, do restoration to old photos and documents and generally make the image appear crisp, clean and new. Whatever brand or style you need, from Epson Scanners to Canon Scanners, you can find a large selection available online or at any good office or electronics store.