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Scanner Type
Slide, Film, and Transparency Scanners
The typical person won't be scanning slides or
transparencies, but people in the graphics or publishing
industry often do. Slides, film, negatives and
transparencies have to be scanned so that light transmitted
through them is picked up by the photosensitive array. Most
scanners have the light source and the scan head on the same
side so they can't accommodate these types of images. Since
slides and film are so small you need very high resolution
scanners to do the job.
There are a few options if you need to scan slides. Some
flatbed scanners support a transparency adapter (TPA or TPU)
which costs between $150-$525. This is a backlight that you
attach instead of the scanner cover. These adaptable
flatbeds sometimes have a special section on the glass bed
that is magnified especially for slides.
Other kinds of flatbeds come with a pull out drawer where
you can place slides, but they are fairly pricey starting at
about $1200. The last option is to get a dedicated slide
scanner. These scanners have small scanning areas 4"x5",
high resolution and high bit depth (see the criteria
section) which makes them much more expensive. The cheapest
start at $750 and can go as high as a few thousand.
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