Flatbed scanners are one of the most popular computer peripherals in the world. They are frequently also called “desktop scanners”. Their large size and ease of use makes them an ideal scanner for large pictures.
Large format flatbed scanners can be great for digitizing text. You can, for example, scan an entire page of a book without actually having to detach the page.
As compared to a drum type scanner in which a document has to be fed through a feeder in order to scan it, in a flatbed scanner, you can simply place the document in the scanning bay by lifting the bay-lid. Your documents, therefore, are way less likely to get damaged, as compared to a drum scanner which rolls a document through the scanner, increasing the chance of damage, or the document getting caught in the feed rollers.
A flatbed scanner is invariably faster than a drum scanner, which can be a huge factor when you’re scanning large projects.
On the downside, large format flatbed scanners tend to be quite bulky and require a large table to be stored properly. Also, large format flatbed scanners are not very good at scanning small images such as a 35mm film as the resolution is often too low to capture any detail.
If your work involves scanning textiles, you may want to choose a drum scanner over a flatbed scanner, as the latter tend to perform poorly when scanning long textile pieces.
When you are in the market for a large format flatbed scanner, make sure that you invest enough time into researching your choices as the quality and features offered by different models can vary a lot. Pick something that matches your need, and always go for a model manufactured by one of the top, reputable companies like HP, Canon, Epson, etc.
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