which scanner is better for pictures?

[Robert E Miller]

Still trying to get all my ducks in a row for when the laser shows up. If I wanted or need to scan a picture for engraving is there a specific scanner that works better than others?

[Robert Walters]

I've been happy with my Cannon Photo Scanner; USB powered and only 1.5" thick.
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/scanners/photo_scanners

There might be some that are faster, but as I don't scan all that often it's worked well for me.
Focus on the OPTICAL resolution (4800 etc) and ignore any "interpolated" resolutions mentioned.

[Larry Bratton]

Yes, I have one of those and I love it. Adequate and very handy to use, just pop it in the USB and your ready to go. They are inexpensive also.

[Rodne Gold]

Any sanner that will do 600-1200 DPI will do , some come with better software than others , speck removal and moire removal are useful. You will be scanning in greyscale for the laser - dont scan in colour unless you want it for other reasons (will be a bigger file and will also involve another step when lasering)
A 600 dpi file is actually MORE than you need unless you plan to resize it for engraving. Your laser can resolve 300 pixels per inch at most (not the same as dpi , but scanners use DPI and PPI interchangeably) so at your engraving size you need 300 pixels per inch of engraving. If you have lets say a 2" x 2" picture and wish to engrave it at 8" x 8" you will need to scan at 1200 DPI or PPI , if you have a 10" x 10" pic and want to engrave it at 2.5" x 2.5" , you will be wasting time and resources by scanning it at 600 or 1200 dpi or ppi as you really only need 75 dpi or ppi to get it to 300 ppi or dpi when engraving. However it must be said that it is better to scan at HIGH values , as you never know what you gonna do with a pic at a later stage , you might scan at low values and then need to blow the pic up. As with anything else , better quality and generally higher priced scanners will stand you in good stead. Habing said that , we do have high quality A3 scanners , but use a samsung laser printer/fax/scanner which actually works just as well and is quicker and a LOT cheaper and also prints , good for a4 stuff. Whaere an A3 scanner comes into its own is not scanning pics , but scanning bigger objects so that we can draw its outlines in corel and make templates etc in the laser for positioning or other uses.