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I want to buy a flatbed scanner in the US. I have an ongoing need to scan many large rigid items, and compare colors between scans. This is my criteria:

  • Consistent color, brightness, contrast etc. between scans. (I will elaborate below, see 'Consistency')
  • Scan rigid non-flexible items (i.e., a glass flat bed, not a feed through solution)
  • 6 x 12 inch media (e.g., a legal size flat bed scanner will do).
  • Rapid Scanning (a strong plus). The ability to rapidly scan 100 to 200 thick rigid items in a relatively short amount of time is not necessary but a strong plus. Note: the media is extremely rigid and could be up to around 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick.
  • Auto-Cropping? I don't know if this feature even exists, but I need to crop each photo to remove the background of these perfectly-rectangle items. Perhaps this is better approached through a software solution.
  • Budget: Under $250 or maybe higher for something I really like.

Consistency: This is for an ongoing series of art projects. I need to do color comparisons of the scanned items. I'm afraid that the software with the scanner that I will buy will adjust the color, contrast, brightness, etc with each scan and thus I won't have the ability to do comparisons of the various colors in each scanned item.

K7AAY
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Roger
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    For any flatbed scanner, if the lid doesn't close completely and leaves gaps for light to come in, you need to control the ambient light coming in through those gaps to ensure consistency between scans. Cover the scanner with an opaque material, but take note not to cover any fan exhausts or airflow holes for cooling the scanner/printer/device. The light inside the scanner is always the same, and the scanner is calibrated to white balance images according to its own light. Additional ambient light of another hue/temperature is one of the few ways a scanner could be inconsistent. – Romen Mar 02 '20 at 17:53

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