Fastest high speed scanner re-re-visited

[Hyperspeed]

A lot of photo production labs to this day use the Epson GT-7000 running on a SCSI-2 interface if my eyesight serves me.

:-D

I use an Umax Astra 1220s on a SCSI-2 interface with Scanquix 5.4 on the old A1200!

I've heard that for optimal reproduction you should try a drum scanner, whatever that is. Comic books are hardly photo quality though so maybe an Epson GTxx is a good bet.

[Hyperspeed]

by orange:
Drum scanner for comics?
That thing is for professionals and it costs like hell, besides IIRC its meant to be used for films, i.e. transparacies. Also, it might take long time to attach each page to drum.

If you're going to digitise something for posterity - do a good job of it.

The webmaster of lambocars.com mentioned on a page once that he wanted to use a drum scanner for higher quality pictures for the site so I'm just suggesting a possibility.

If you just use a flatbed make sure the colours are calibrated, the tube light is new and white in tone and that the glass is polished with one of those disposable lense wipes.

I suppose if you collect comics then storage methods are well known but for anyone wishing to keep prized paper posessions I reccommend a fireproof safe, acid free plastic sleaves, dessecant gel sachets to absorb moisture (or calcium carbonate crystal tubs) and maybe air-conditioning/dehumidifer. Moisture and mold are your enemies... this applies to people who enjoy printing photos on their Amiga too.

On that subject, only Epson guarantee their printer's photos will stand the test of time. The UltraChrome/Durabrite inks are resistant to UV light and are guaranteed for 80yrs (should anyone wish to back up their photos/comics/Amiga Format for the grandchildren).

:-D

[Hyperspeed]

For comic covers you need to get the colours just right. I can't reccommend my Umax 1220s as it seems to give washed out colours that I need to boost from Turboprint.

A scan shouldn't need touching up and fiddling.

I sometimes notice difference in tone when I scan glossy things to matt things too and I suppose this is to be expected.

For consistency it might be good to find a software setting you like and then scan the whole comic cover series in one go.

If you want to make thumbnails of the covers for the web you might get crisper end results if you scan to the highest resolution your memory permits then scale down with a gfx converter (as opposed to scanning in that final size/res).

I would go for an all Epson combo, they know what they're doing when it comes to image capture and reproduction.