Need a printer and a scanner

[cats4jan]

I have had both Canon i950 and Epson R800 and have been very satisfied with photo quality from both.

I want to purchase a new printer by the end of the year - and I need a scanner.

Will I need to sacrifice the quality in either the printer or the scanner, if I get a 3 in 1?

What specs should I look for in a scanner. I want the best quality scanner under $400 - I don't have any negatives to scan, but it probably should be able to do them if the need arises. I only have a few slides - so if it did those, that would be a bonus. But, what I'm prmarily concerned with is compatibility with PSE.

Any personal viewpoints on photo printers. I do not want an HP.
__________________
Janice

[KentC]

Janice,

Take a look at Photo-i, there are some incredibly detailed reviews of the Epson 4990 scanner, about $375

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Epson%204990/Page%201.htm

and the Canon 9950F scanner which is in the same price range.

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Scanners/Canon_9950F/page_1.htm

Both of these scanners do docs, negatives, slides, etc. They both sound impressive and Vincent Oliver, the author at Photo-i does impressive reviews. He also has several printer reviews that are just as detailed.

Kent

[Codebreaker]

The only concern I ever had about All in 1 devices was that if something common, such as the interface, dies then both your printer and scanner are dead. However, the mechanical bits usually go first.

In which case if the scanner part dies then you'll be replacing more than you perhaps needs.

As usual it's a balance of cost versus convience. :)

Colin

[John L Gray]

Hi Janice,


I would agree with Colin. The 3 in 1 machine I had the scanner died.:(

I currently have an Epson 4990 that I use to scan 30+ old photos on a weekly average and the results are great. I have purchased several items from the Epson Clearance store and have been very satisified. You might want to check out the Epson Clearance Store for reconditioned scanners. The Epson 4490 is $109.00 and the 4990 is $279.00. They come with a 1 year warranty. There is no charge for UPS delivery.

Good luck with search for new toys.:D

John

[dales]

Recently I purchased a Canon 8600F scanner & the Canon Pixma IP 6700D printer. I have approx 2,000 slides that I have been scanning. Many of these slides were taken in Korea in 1955 & 1956 w/Argus C3 & Contax 2A cameras. Considering the age of most of these and considering the quality of the cameras they have scanned & printed beautifully. The largest prints from these so far that I have made are 8" x 10" (the limit of the printer). Total cost for the 2 units under $350.00.

[cats4jan]

Is there an advantage to getting a scanner and printer made by the same company? Not a combo unit - but two individual devices.

Advantages such as color settings and control -

[pixlbandit]

Is there an advantage to getting a scanner and printer made by the same company? Not a combo unit - but two individual devices.

Advantages such as color settings and control -

I don't know. I have both a Canon printer (Pixma 4200) and scanner (CanoScan LIDE 60). Neither are the more expensive models. The color from the printer is beautiful, :) whether it comes from PSE or from Corel Painter IX, the setup for color management I am still having trouble with. However, images from the scanner have a distinct magenta cast, and seem to be missing something in the blue/green range that I can't color correct out (therefore lots of missing information on those channels). This magenta cast is present even from white paper documents are scanned into PDF, printed or not, scanned from PSE or from their scan tools. Nothing like pink documents.... :( So, same brand is not a guarantee, although if both share the same software and color profiles it might help. For scanners, it must be a sensor issue. I had a much better Microtek that XP no longer supported. I'd, perhaps, have gotten a higher end scanner (although the Microtek wasn't at the time of purchase) had I not had to get a new car, computer and printer within 6 weeks of one other, mechanical or electronic failures all.

Vicki

[Rusty]

Janice,

I'd like to reinforce what John said -- look at the Epson clearance store. I bought my 4990 in January for over a hundred dollars less than the regular price. This is a factory reconditioned unit and right out of the box it sure looked just like a brand new product.

When you buy that reconditioned stuff direct from Epson you get the exact same warranty as with new products.

Rusty

[cats4jan]

Sounds like quite a deal - thanks for the input and the purchasing advice.

[TonyW]

I've been thinking about a 4990 and that Clearance Center sounds a great deal - sadly none are available in the Canadian Clearance Centre (which is amazingly limited in offerings) and the US one won't ship outside the US. Fortunately I live close to the border and have friends just the other side who don't mind receiving my mail :D

Tony

[John L Gray]

Hi Tony,

I checked daily on the Epson clearance site till my printer began available. I noticed for example on the Epson USA site that R800 were posted and removed from the site periodically. I was checking each morning after getting my cup of coffee at the clearance store site daily till they posted the R800 and then pulled out the credit card.:D

The folks at the Epson store told me the availablity of products at the clearance store changes all the time.

John

[Edmund]

I have the Epson 4180 which is the predessor to the Epson 4490. I love my scanner and some of the images in my photo gallerires were scanned from slide film( take a look at p-base). The Epson 4490 has been out now for around 2 years. I would not be surprised if Epson came out with a newer version. I personally do not like the quality of the 3 in 1 machine's. I know people who have them . They are a compromise in all respects. But again it all depends on what you are using it for. In your original post you said that you would not be scanning film negatives or slides. What will you scan? As far as compatibility they should all be AOK for any Adobe products.
Eddie

[BillBarber]

This link will get you to the Epson Clearance Center (http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/BuyEpson/ccHome.jsp)

[cats4jan]

When looking over the products on the market, it did seem that every 3-1 I looked at were compromises. I doubt I will go that route.


What do I want to do with my scanner?

I want to scan in photos from my childhood and the few photos I have from my parents past and make scrapbook pages. I only have a few slides - and I threw out all my negatives, but I would still like the ability to scan these items if they fall into my hands from other sources.

My primary concern is the quality of the scans.
________________________

And yes, I always intended to set my camera on the highest setting other than TIFF and I set it one step below. LOL

I've never been a very good photographer - choosing to hand off to DH when I want a good shot - but I've always intended to have the camera set at the highest setting - for the simple fact you stated - why bother with a high end camera if you are going to use it on inferior settings.

Until these last 6 months, I've been remiss in learning all my camera has to offer. I've been afraid of setting things differently because the few times I did it, it was on the wrong setting for other shots.

I only started getting really into my five year old camera when DH was talking about getting a better zoom and more mp's. For us, this purchase seems extravagant because we don't take alot of photos - so I've decided to work with the old camera - see what it's flaws are - see if it's worth it to upgrade. I wanted to be an informed consumer if I was going to buy a new camera when I had a perfect good functioning one.

And you know what I found out? I don't have to turn off my camera to view my shots - (never knew that DUH)

and I've found out if I'm careful about zooming only when necessary...

and careful about half depressing the shutter button to "set" the shot before depressing it the rest of the way...

and if I set my shot - being aware of the surrounding and taking that 3 steps forward ...

that I am doing pretty well with the old 5 mp camera.

And I have the added bonus of being able to borrow xD cards from three friends - so I can set the camera where ever I want to set it.

But the idea of anti-shake still looks good to me - that's my primary interest in getting a new camera - my hands shake - plus a few more mp would be fun...

[Kamaditz]

What is the Epson reconditioned stores address? Kathy

[John L Gray]

Kathy,


Here is the address for the Epson Store.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/index.jsp

John