I purchased an Epson 4990 Photo that was a little over $400.00. We scan 
at maximum resolution for the archival masters and are happy with the 
results. I did a bit of research on flatbed scanners May when I was 
looking for a new scanner to start a digitization project. I chose Epson 
4990 because, for its price, the scanner had a high optical resolution 
and high scan density range and software (Adobe Photoshop Elements) that 
could be manipulated. Users also generally found this to be a good 
scanner. The next level of scanners were considerably more than this 
particular Epson. 

Specs worth considering:
Optical Resolution: 4800 dpi x 9600 dpi
Scan density range: 4.0D
External resolution sample max color depth: 48-bit
External Resolution Sample max gray depth: 16-bit
USB 2.0 & Firewire connectivity
Bed size: 8.5 x 11.5

The Epson works very nicely as a multi-material scanner and has good 
color. It's pretty fast as well, though I did install a USB 2.0 port 
into our computer to increase the scan speed, which I would recommend if 
you don't have a 2.0 USB port. Drawback - takes up a bit of counter 
space and limited bed size. We don't use Adobe Photoshop Elements (a 
scaled down version of Photoshop) because I purchased Adobe Creative 
Suite2 through Techsoup.org, but I think Elements would work okay for 
basic needs. You just can't control the scanner nor the software as well 
as you can with Photoshop.

Carrie Ronnander
Curator
Chippewa Valley Museum

Debra Loguda-Summers wrote:
> Hi we purchased an HP G4050 for about $200.00 of course there probably 
> is something better but it does all that for us very nicely.
>  
> Deb
>
> >>> Tracy Leach <[log in to unmask]> 11/5/2007 4:46 PM >>>
> Hi all,
>  
> I need to get a scanner to scan negatives, photos, slides and 
> documents for our database.  I would like to get something that does a 
> great job especially with negatives, slides and photos but I would 
> prefer not to spend more than $400 to $500. Can anyone give me some 
> advice on what would be a good choice?
>  
> Tracy
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