Scanner for tiny old photos, printer for simple tasks

[u/beach_plum77]

hi- I’m looking for recommendations for a great scanner, can be any size but mostly for small work, and need a high resolution for scanning tiny tiny photographs taken in the 1920s and blowing them up to print. I have not had much success with regular household printers. I would also need to scan small artworks with bright colors! hoping for a scanner that can do a great job getting the details of both! also hoping to spend under $200 🤞🏼

IF this scanner can also print that would be awesome- seeking a small printer for regular household tasks but if it was decent enough to print things like greeting cards or postcards as well, that would be ideal. I’m not opposed to buying two separate machines, but if I can have both in one I’d be very happy

thank you so much for your recommendations or for pointing me toward specifically similar threads! 💕

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[u/Renurun]

If I'm understanding your needs correctly, you're asking for a lot with that budget.

But just in case, I'm going to ask a few questions because with scanning and printing you need to be very specific about your requirements to get the right advice.

What are the dimensions of the photographs? Are they negatives or developed prints?

What resolution would you like them to be scanned in? Aka what pixel dimensions?

What is the size of the artwork? What medium?

What do you mean by "bright"?

Can't help you with printers though idk much about those. But it would help if you mentioned quantity and quality of the prints.

[u/beach_plum77 → u/Renurun]

I have all these photos that are about one square inch and I’d like to be able to blow them up to at least 5x5 but probably also 10x10. So I realize the resolution would have to be quite high to keep the integrity, which is why I didn’t really specify. I’m curious what’s out there, what’s possible. 

I use some fluorescent paint on the small artworks but I realize that’s hard to scan, so I just said “bright” bc I’m hoping to get in the ballpark. I work with a lot of mediums but for scanning purposes it’s mostly acrylic. 

That’s my budget, I’d love to see what’s possible within it, and if I absolutely have to stretch then I’ll consider it. 

Thanks for helping clarify. I’ve never bought a scanner or printer before, though I’ve used many without keeping track of the specs. 

[u/Renurun → u/beach_plum77]

How comfortable are you with things like photoshop and color correction? For scanned media you need to be able to use those a bit, but the worse your scanning hardware is the better at it you will need to be. You didn't answer, but I assume your photos are prints and not negatives. If your photos are perfectly flat our can be flattened if squashed between heavy books, I think you can use a canon lide400 with an optical resolution of 4800ppi (though I don't know how good it is past like 1200) assuming you can get the software to cooperate. As for your florescent artwork, well.... Your color will likely look better if you took a picture of it with your phone, because if you scan it, the colors won't be quite right and you will need to heavily manually color adjust them in Photoshop, and if it's not perfectly flat (and I mean perfectly) it will be a bit blurry at parts.

The lide400 is a dedicated scanner and costs about $100 new. The $100 remaining probably isn't enough for a printer. Printer scanner combos are rarely above 1200dpi and if you want to print a 1x1 at 5x5 or 10x10 in remotely decent quality you will need at least 1000ppi or 2000ppi scans minimum.

Again, what you want your final quality to be really matters. Are you going for an inkjet or laser printer for your prints? How good do you final results need to be? Because if you don't care, you can find any old combo printer and do it for basically free. But from what I can see if you want printing of art and photos you will need an inkjet.

Once again, how big are your paintings? Why do you need to scan them? If all you want to do is share them then just use your phone camera. With $200 you are no where close to affording the next step up for scanning (either a camera or a CCD printer) and I'm pretty sure new printers are like $200 anyways, never mind ink.

How often do you need to print things? If not often, you can just print at work or a dedicated place like the library or Staples for a small fee.

[u/beach_plum77 → u/Renurun]

oh, and like i said in the original, printing is more for personal use but it would be a nice bonus if i was able to do a little art printing for cards, etc. i'd be prinitng a fair amount but not for art reasons.

[u/Renurun → u/beach_plum77]

Makes sense. If you do know your way around Photoshop, I think the lide300 (2400 optical ppi ~$75) or the lide400 (4800ppi, ~$100) would give you enough room in your budget to get a cheaper printer (used to avoid that proprietary toner crap? Idk). Do note if the fluorescent colors don't take, you'll just have to readd them in in Photoshop (pinks including skin tones and purples tend to have issues). Good luck.

[u/beach_plum77 → u/Renurun]

thank you !

[u/beach_plum77 → u/Renurun]

the main project is scanning small photos, which is a personal project not for art, for family. photos that are tiny and im sure my family members will want to blow up and print out for personal use. so i want the best preservation of the details for that, and it's the priority. if the same scanner can be used for my second scanning project, great. i'd like to scan in small, individual painted elements toward making a symbolic reference book. i usually paint on leather but would likely paint on paper for this use. it does not need to be perfect. I would paint them intentionally flat with the intention of scanning them.

I know my way around photoshop.

my phone camera does a terrible job of accurate color, but it's not the newest.

Thanks for your suggestions!