<p>We have several older scanners, including a Epson Perfection D100 flatbed that has as its highest resolution for scanning photos 1200dpi. We are thinking of investing in a higher quality scanner and are seeking recommendations. We have LOTS of old photos and other documents that we may wish to digitize. Any suggestions for an upgrade are welcome.</p>
<p>We use an Epson V330 to scan both photos and slides and it works well and is reasonably priced.</p>
<p>Beware of some of the specs for super high resolution scanners because you’re likely not to use the super high resolution because it takes much longer ot do the scan and creates a much larger file. You might want that for a few photos but not if you’re doing albums or boxes of them.</p>
<p>Yeah, the only reason I would scan at higher than 300 dpi would be if I were planning to enlarge the photo for printing.</p>
<p>A 4 in x 5 in print scanned at 300 dpi is going to give you enough resoution for magazine quality printing or for high-def TV display. I can’t think of any reason you’d need more resolution than that. What scanning at 1200 dpi would do is let you blow up a quarter of that photo to full size, but the portion you are using would still end up at 300 dpi.</p>
<p>Ok. Maybe I can convince H to stick with what we have. Some of our photos looked grainy after scanning, putting into a doc and printing. Not sure what causes the graininess–perhaps the publisher program.</p>
<p>The texture of the paper and the quality of the original print could be what’s causing the graininess. The quality setting you save it at can also have an effect.</p>
<p>It is also best to scan at a resolution that is some integral fraction of the scanner’s highest resolution.</p>
<p>For photos a 1200 dpi scanner is plenty. A 4x5 at that resolution would create a huge file.</p>