Scanner and printer advice
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Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 7:34 AM
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Of what is on the market at the moment can I have friends views, please? My output is lower rather than higher, so I would like to keep the costs moderate.
BTW I also have from years back slides that I would like to digitise, but that is more a gleam than a pressing need until my ancient projector goes phut in some way. So advice on a good cheap way to achieve my aim would also be appreciated.
Re: Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 7:57 AM
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I got recently a Plustek slide/negative sacenner from Amazon fairly cheap Plustek page, it comes with two cassettes 6x neative and 4x slide, you can do a index type low res scan or a full high res scan, which I an using with my old negs, Found a few that I had forgotten
edit
Just had a look at a mail order page, you dont alf ave to look at the postage for a cheep scanner
Re: Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 8:52 AM
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Re: Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 8:55 AM
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Re: Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 8:56 AM
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Re: Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 9:02 AM
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@PP thanks
Re: Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 9:06 AM
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https://secure.scan.co.uk/Shop/ViewCart.ASP?SessionCheck=669403671
However, if you are near (dare I say it....) PC World they probably have it at about £30
If the local Photo club can`t help, you could always go into your local photo shop, the one`s that sell real cameras and films as well as telescopes, binoculars, tripods, etc.....
could even see if there is a photographic forum on the net..... not sure about this one, but could be a good start..... photonhead.com
Re: Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 10:41 AM
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If you go for a very cheap all in one machine, just check out how much the ink replacements are. They can be VERY expensive and VERY small. I have just bought an HP L7680 all in one. It does all you could ever want and each ink comes separatly so you only replace the one that is empty. It also has a fax built in. Its a bit pricey but a fab bit of kit.
Hope this helps
Re: Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 10:45 AM
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Re: Scanner and printer advice
11-04-2008 10:52 AM
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The original idea of getting the later DJ 5940 was because I wanted a "good" printer for my photographs.... Did a "same photo" print on both, and could hardly tell the difference, the DJ5940 was possibly a little bit sharper, but the colours were just as brilliant as the "old" DJ840...
The only other point I would like to point out is..... find out from the seller..... If the scanner breaks down, does that mean I lose the use of the printer too? (obviously, if the printer packs in, then the scanner is pretty useless too, except to scan it to the computer, until the printer is repaired. ! ! !)
Re: Scanner and printer advice
12-04-2008 2:00 AM
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I also have experience of using an Epson RX425 (or maybe it was 420... same thing anyway, just for some reason it has two different model numbers). This was a cheap MFC and, well, it just about worked... sort of. It didn't do anything stupid like the HP I described above, but it seemed that nearly every time it was used the cartridges needed to be cleaned. This meant that, instead of just turning it on, sticking a sheet of paper in the scanner and copying it, you had to faff around doing a nozzle check then probably cleaning etc. to keep it working. Having said that, if you're a frequent user of the printer part that might not be a problem.
Going up the pricing ladder I have also used a much more expensive Epson photo-oriented multi-function printer. This was excellent: pretty reliable, and produced great quality photos and scans. (Well, 'great quality' relative to my photographic experience at the time - which is to say, great to the average person, although now I'm more experienced with photography I don't know what I'd think of it.)
Finally, my mother and I now use a Brother laser multifunction. In terms of reliability it's fantastic - it's never put a foot wrong. However, the drivers and supplied software are... appalling, although this is for Mac (the Windows software may well be better). This is quite a pain because it's a great bit of hardware, but it sometimes feels we can barely take advantage of it because of the poor software! One positive of a laser MFC worth considering is that taking a photocopy with one is a lot faster than with an inkjet - once it's warmed up it's ready to go, and it doesn't take a minute or two to print every page. I should also point out that, whilst we love our Brother laser MFC, I have heard that their inkjet MFCs (which are inherently cheaper) are also of somewhat poorer quality.
(Btw, in case you're wondering, not all of the printers mentioned have been mine! Some have been my mother's, but I've inadvertently had to help her use them.)
Now on to the subject of scanners. If you're willing to spend some money - maybe, say, £75-£100 - Epson do some very nice standalone flatbed scanners that can scan in negatives and slides. And the results are actually good: probably about three/four years ago I did an experiment where I scanned in a negative using my Epson scanner and printed it using my Epson photo printer, and the results were actually better than the print Boots had produced straight from the film.
So, that leads us to the quandary of what you should do. I'm afraid your request for a 'good cheap way to achieve [your] aim' is a paradox: it's not going to happen. You can either not spend very much money, and get something that's absolute rubbish, or you can spend more money than you're probably willing to to get something (or things) that work. I probably should point out though that I have no experience of Canon printers and so on. Canon are a photographically-oriented company so you may find they have a model suitable for you. Having said that, my experience with Canon cameras certainly doesn't make me enthusiastic about their reliability...
In sum, after an extremely lengthy post, there is no right answer: you're going to have to put up with some compromises. Indeed, after hearing my experiences you may decide to just keep the equipment you've got (maybe upgrading the scanner at a later date) - which wouldn't be all that bad an idea IMHO, if it all works to your satisfaction.
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