In the writing market there are many times when you need to send samples of work and/or copies of work in progress to a client. Scanners are very handy for fulfilling this requirement, especially when working with non-compatible software. The question that always comes up is what type of scanner do I need?  There are a lot of types of scanners on the market today from which to choose. The most popular type of scanner is the flat bed and approximately 90% of all scanners sold are flatbed. Other types of scanners are handheld, pass through, film, and finger print. 

Scanner Brands and Types

There are many brands of scanners to choose from and they include: HP, Visioneer, Fujitsu, Cannon, Epson, and several more. Scanner types include:

• Flat Bed:  versatile for most home and business applications, text, graphics, film
• Handheld:  good for anyone conducting research in archives
• Finger Print:  security uses
• Pass Through:  paper or film is fed into scanner, portable
• Film:  transparences, slides, adapter for standard scanner, special light in lid

Considerations and Features

The major consideration when choosing a scanner is the intended purpose of the scanner; this will help you select the features you need. Considerations include:

• Text Only:  low resolution, 100 dpi, 300 dpi best
• Quality:  photos and color graphics
• Optical Resolution:  3x5 and 4x6 photos 300dpi, 8x10 photo 2400 dpi – 7200 dpi
• Connectors:  USB, Parallel - slowest, SCSI-3, Cable
• Wireless:  firewire, high end models
• Automatic Feeder:  large volume of work
• Software:  comes with scanner
• Multifunction:  printer, copier, scanner all in one, home and small office use

Scanner Optical Resolution

If your primary reason for scanning is text only documents, then low resolution scanners will work fine. If you are scanning images, especially color images, then you want a higher resolution. Other considerations for optical resolution include:

• Basic Documents: 300 dots per inch (dpi)
• Quality Basic Documents:  1200 dpi
• Transparent materials:  2400 dpi or more
• Color Bits:  depth of color,  differentiate between color gradients,  digital bits per pixel, 24 bit, 32 bit, 48 bit is best for color images

Selecting a Scanner

Once you have narrowed your scanner choice(s) visit your local store and check out the specific features for the scanner:

• Controls:  ease of use
• Weight:  hand held scanners
• Size:  foot print - amount of space it takes up on desk or stand, hand held scanners, legal size for large documents and books
• Options:  make sure the options meet you demands
• Optical Resolution:  higher resolutions provide ability to edit images, text only use, resolution options are 50 dpi to 7200 dpi
• Speed:  based text, size of image, varies 11 to 30 seconds
• Inputs:  wireless or hard wired, network capable
• Sound:  how noisy is the scanner in operation
• Automatic Feeder:  ease of operation