Scanner Recommendations

[Barrie Greed]

Whilst I am whiling away my time in coronavirus lockdown I thought it might be time to attack the pile of old papers in the loft and get them digitised.


My current CanonScan N670U is not up to the job. It measures performance in minutes per page rather than pages per minute.


I am looking at a Canon ImageFormula DR-F120. Anyone any experience with one of these? Anyone got any other suggestions for suitable scanners. I'm not wedded to Canon. I need an auto document feed and reasonable page per minute (the DR-F120 is 20ppm) but could live without double sided. I don't need a 3 in 1.


Any ideas gratefully received.


Barrie Greed

[Steve Rindsberg]

I've had very good luck with the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 I bought a few years ago. The auto-document feed is extremely reliable, it scans double or single sided and it's quite fast. When I bought it, the included software lets me scan a book directly to PDF then later batch several books worth through an OCR process that converts the PDF image-only text to real searchable text.

The VuScan software I use with my Canon flatbed also works with the S1500.

I think the current version is the ix1500 but the S1500 is still available here and there (found it on NewEgg just now).

https://www.fujitsu.com/us/products/...ansnap/ix1500/

https://www.newegg.com/fujitsu-scans...82E16838115052

I don't understand why NewEgg has so many listings for the ix1500 at different prices.

Ah, and the software's changed from what I have with the S1500, for the worse according to one reviewer:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Singl...iewid=10079899


[Bibliophiles, look away]
I use it mainly to convert old computer books to PDF before recycling them. I got a serious guillotine trimmer from Amazon that I use to trim off the bindings, so I can run batches of pages through the scanner. And watch movies at the same time, guilt-free 'cause I'm doing something useful too.

[Barrie Greed]

Steve

I've had very good luck with the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 I bought a few years ago. The auto-document feed is extremely reliable, it scans double or single sided and it's quite fast. When I bought it, the included software lets me scan a book directly to PDF then later batch several books worth through an OCR process that converts the PDF image-only text to real searchable text.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll add it to the list but it's about about twice the price of the Canon. Maybe I need to spend that much to get something worthwhile.


Barrie Greed

[terrie]

If we are talking solely about document scanning (vs. printed photos, slides, negatives), then take a look at the Brother ADS2200 (US-based link but my guess is they'd offer something similar on your side of the pond) or other (small office/home) Brother document scanners.

I finally convinced my sister to get a document scanner--she needs to regularly scan documents for her clients--rather than buying another AIO (she has a cute little Brother MFCJ410W we found on sale (US$60!!!) when her printer died a number of years ago and the AIO is old enough now that the document feeder is iffy at best although the rest of the AIO is still working nicely after 6-7 years).


She loves!!! it...she said it makes document scanning so quick and easy. It does double-sided scans and will skip blank pages (works quite well), feeds well...



It's not too pricey at list price of US$279--I think the Fujitsu SnapScans (excellent rep) are more expensive--and a lot would depend on how much paper you need to get through so going with one of the Fujitsu line might be better. We found the AD2200 on sale at amazon at a good price--can't remember but I think it might have been in the US$200 range...


Ahhhh...was able to get UK links:

ADS2200

Other Brother Document scanners





Terrie

[terrie]

steve: [Bibliophiles, look away]

LOL!!! Not for computer books. I htink your approach is very clever...


Movie watching is also a plus...'-}}




Terrie

[Barrie Greed]

Terrie

If we are talking solely about document scanning (vs. printed photos, slides, negatives), then take a look at the Brother ADS2200 (US-based link but my guess is they'd offer something similar on your side of the pond) or other (small office/home) Brother document scanners.

Ahhhh...was able to get UK links:

ADS2200

Other Brother Document scanners

Thanks for the links. Did you notice it goes from $279 in the US to £335 over here which translates back to $415. Some price increase! It is primarily documents. I scan maybe 1 or 2 photos a year when some one discovers something interesting in a long lost shoe box (do folk keep old photos in shoe boxes in the US?).

-and a lot would depend on how much paper you need to get through so going with one of the Fujitsu line might be better.

At the moment I do not scan that much - which is why the old CanoScan has lasted so long (There wasn't even a Win7 driver for it it's so old). It is likely to be a short spell of intensive scanning than back to fairly light use. I suspect I will end up buying something more in the £300 range than £600.


Barrie Greed

[Bo Aakerstrom]

"$279 in the US to £335 over here which translates back to $415" - isn't that the norm?

I remember from the days of Quark that they defended their much higher prices in the UK with something along the lines of having to pay for offices for the European staff. Really! Does people work from a field or a car park in the US!?

[Barrie Greed]

Bo

"$279 in the US to £335 over here which translates back to $415" - isn't that the norm?

I'm fairly used to $248, which should be £200 becoming £248. £279 to £335 seemed steeper than normal to me but I'm probably out of touch.


Barrie Greed

[terrie]

barrie: Thanks for the links.

You are most welcome...




>>Did you notice it goes from $279 in the US to £335 over here

Yes actually, I did and was surprised at how high the price was...




>>It is likely to be a short spell of intensive scanning than back to fairly light use.

Take a look on ebay as I've read that a good number of people will buy a document scanner for a set (scanning) project and then sell the doc scanner because they only needed it for that particular project. As always...carefully check the seller's credentials...



My Epson 2450 flatbed scanner also did not have Win7 drivers but after rooting around online I found a number of forum posts about using the Epson 3170 scanner driver which had the Epson 2400 drivers as a subset and while it was a bit fiddly, the 2400 driver has worked well...



Terrie

[terrie]

bo: Really! Does people work from a field or a car park in the US!?

LOL!!! I remember that excuse...it's as though they thought everyone was stupid except Quark...'-}}



Terrie