Need to fix or replace my scanner

February 20, 2009 7:12 AM

My current scanner is causing banding and discoloration, and I need recommendations on finding a new scanner that suits my needs or help getting my old one to work right again.

I have a Canon CanoScan LiDE 50 that is a couple of years old, and I use it about once a day to scan drawings done on sketchbook paper with colored pencils. Lately, however, the quality of the scans have been very bad, with banding on areas of the scan and discoloration issues. I have a Mac with Leopard installed.

The banding doesn't go all over the outfit usually, just in the middle (see the bodice of this dress, which I tried and failed to fix in Photoshop, and the skirt of this one). Also, the color is getting worse: things are too light, a noticeably different shade from what's on the paper, or colored differently in different areas of the scan. (The original of the blue dress I linked to has the same color blue on the skirt and the bodice, but the bodice looks darker in the scan.)

I don't want to just walk into a store and pick out a new scanner, because I already did that and it didn't help much. I bought a Epson Perfection V200 Photo a few months ago, but whatever I scanned with it seemed faded and not true to the original color, and the background was always grey, not white. I couldn't find a way to consistently fix the scans with Photoshop or change any of the scanner settings to make it better, and I ended up returning to the old scanner. I already spend two to four hours a day drawing and writing a blog entry, so I don't want to add half an hour fiddling around with Photoshop to try to make it look like it's supposed to.

So is there anything I can do for my old scanner? And if not, which scanner would you recommend I buy that will scan accurately and not drive me crazy with the color being wrong? I'd like to keep it under $200 (although if that's unreasonable, I'm open to suggestions that are more expensive). Thank you!

posted by shirobara to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Is the scanner hooked directly to your Mac, or is it chained through a peripheral (hub, keyboard, etc?) Can we assume you've tried a different cable?
FWIW, I use a LiDE 600F with my Mac and it's been a pretty solid performer for the money.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:37 AM on February 20

Hooked directly to the mac, and... er... we actually cannot assume I've tried a different cable, so I'll give that a shot.
posted by shirobara at 11:00 AM on February 20

I think almost certainly it's the fluorescent bulb inside the scanner 'flickering', with the illumination level changing as the scanner moves across the image, creating banding. Try replacing it - they are cheap - and the problem should go away ...
posted by woodblock100 at 3:10 PM on February 20 [1 favorite]

Go check Savers or whatever decent thrift stores you have out there. I've seen many scanners there. I actually bought an Epson USB scanner there once that gave me a couple of happy years.
posted by azpenguin at 11:11 PM on February 20 [1 favorite]