Choosing the Right Large Format Flatbed Scanner for Your Needs

What is a large format flatbed scanner? Most people are quite familiar with the usual small scanner that scans regular legal sized documents. They work well and have their place. However if you need to scan something larger, this is where the large format flatbed scanner is so useful.

If one of your children create a large mural or painting in school and you want to share it with family and friends, its simple with the large format scanner. You simply scan the whole thing and fire off the image on your computer.

Large format scanners have great commercial use. Designers, printers and architects use these scanners to demonstrate what a project will look like without having to adjust the size down so it can be sent to other professionals or clients for approval.

These scanners offer higher resolution which is very important for photographers and graphic artists. What type of scanner is best for you?

Important Features to Consider

1. The feeder is an important choice to make. The most popular choice is a feeder where you just lay the document on the scanner to start the scanning process. Some scanners feed the document automatically but this is only necessary when dealing with extremely large images.

2. Resolution varies as well as the depth of color in every scanner. Resolution is measured in dots per inch or DPI. Higher numbers for both resolution and color depth mean the highest quality images.

3. The size of the image scanned is an important consideration. If you need to scan larger size images than 8.5x11 or 8.5x14 you need a large format flatbed scanner.

4. Price is of course an important consideration. A good large format scanner is much more expensive than your regular small scanner. Price can vary from $250 to $2500 for a large format flatbed scanner.

5. Warranty is very important as most of us have no idea how to repair electronic equipment. The cost of repairs is often quite high so a strong warranty usually means that the manufacturer stands behind their product and feels that it is probably of high quality.

The Epson large format scanner is very popular and one of the customer reviews I read stated that, “This scanner is wonderful. The image quality is excellent. I had friends wondering if I should spend so much on a scanner, but when they saw the images of plants I made, they wanted to know how I made that image look so much better than life”!

The bottom line is that a large format flatbed scanner is a wise choice if you need to scan larger photos, documents or images to your computer. Check out all of the options and consider price as you make your buying decision.

This is a video showing the difference between a flatbed scanner, paper-fed scanner and a hand held scanner.