Large Format Scanners

GreatTeacherMacRoss

I am looking into getting a scanner that has a scannable area around 11" x 17" and will get me good quality scans.
Here's the rub: I don't want to spend thousands of dollars. In fact, I'm looking to try to keep it under or around $300.
So far, all I've found is this:
Mustek Express A3 USB scanner.
It appears several times on several websites, and the reviews are always mixed. From "It's the best thing evar" to "It was DOA twice" to "I love it but want to murder the programmers for their horrible software."

MANY do not list their scannable area, which is a pretty important detail.

Do any of you guys own one? Any recommendations?

Dr. Timo

One tip: do not use the software that comes with the scanner. The bundled software is often quite horrible and done as an afterthought.

Unfortunately third party scanner software is often not that much better. The best I have found so far is VueScan and it is adequate with decent support.

If you are scanning lots of things this is an important concern. I scanned ~3000 slides and even the smallest problems in the workflow (with the bundled software) became frustrating to no end so I forked over the additional $40 for VueScan.

MrRoboto

The only thing to really look for in a scanner, it's that the cover is removable and that there is NO ledge between the glass and the plastic frame. With that you can scan pretty much anything.

Dragonmaster Lou

Unfortunately third party scanner software is often not that much better. The best I have found so far is VueScan and it is adequate with decent support.

I second VueScan, though I originally got it because my scanner wasn't supported by my OS, but VueScan did support it... Good software overall, I think.

Omnutia

Somewhat coincidentally, I have a Mustek A3 sitting in my room right now. It's the version before the 1200 which means driver support for it stopped at Vista.

Scanning area is 43x30cm.

Dragonmaster Lou

Yeah, try VueScan on that puppy. I think VueScan has a free demo/limited version you can use to see if it works.

GreatTeacherMacRoss

How does the Mustek work for you? Good image quality?

Victor Frost

In terms of scanning software, I generally just use Windows' built in scanning ability. You can do all the important stuff (b/w, grey, color, set dpi, crop, etc) so I never install the bullshit scanner software.