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Essential information for scanners by:

The best scanner is the one that is designed to work best for the task! Practice using scanning software helps too. Here's a more specific list:

Flatbed Scanners: They tend to make photocopies and scan photos. The cheapest scanners don't differentiate color very well and generate lots of random noise that make photos look fuzzy.
Film Scanners:Film scanners are designed to scan transparencies. The best ones have few optical components and a high-quality CCD for more accurate color rendering. The Imacon is an example of such a scanner. Mid-range film scanners are better than comparable flatbed scanners with transparency adapters.
Most of the resolution claims made by the manufacturers are ridiculous. Most mid-range film scanners top out at about 2000 PPI. The optics and CCD simply aren't good enough to detect more detail.
Color accuracy varies quite a bit. Nikon color rendering is pretty bad with Polaroid's color quality a bit better.
Drum Scanners: Archaic, expensive laborious and no longer relevant for use in 80-90% of all production work.

Scanner or Digital Camera Image Quality
An explanation of image quality and resolution for desktop scanners. Same principals apply to digital cameras. here

Photoshop Scanning Tip
Use your scanner's software to correct images before working on them in Photoshop. Photoshop Scanning Tip.

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All content copyright 2002-2005 Michael Papet.