I'm looking into buying a scanner. My only requirements are that it must do 4x5 film, it should be cheap (well, relatively cheap anyway...I'd really rather spend my money on lenses and film) and finally, I only plan to use the scanner to post photos to the web so, I don't think I need the ultimate in technical specs. I've kinda narrowed it down to one of the following three (in no particular order)...

- Epson 4990
- Microtek i900
- Canon 9950F

These all seem to be in the same ballpark as far as cost and features go. The Canon seems to have a slight edge in price and I tend to have a more favorable opinion of Canon in general so, I'm leaning slightly toward the 9950F...

Any suggestions or insight ?

Brad,

Since you are just looking for something to use for web scanning you don't need the higher resolution of these newer scanners. Look for an Epson 2450 or 3200 (Epson has refurbished 3200s for $299) as they will both do everything you need.

I'm looking into buying a scanner. My only requirements are that it must do 4x5 film, it should be cheap
Brad,

If you only want to do do scans for the web of 4x5 or medium format then an Epson 2450 will do nicely. Yous should be able to get one for less than $100. On the other hand if you want to scan 35mm film to then I would go with the 4990.

My 2 cents,

Don Bryant

I ended up getting the Canon 9950F. Ordered it right from the Canon web site. It was waiting for me when I got home from work tonight. This is my first scanner so, I'm still feeling it out but, so far I am pretty pleased. Here are a few examples from 4x5 transparency (Fuji Provia 100F).

One is the full 4x5 frame sized down to 650 pixels and the other is a crop of a small section to show the detail.

The image is un-manipulated except for unsharp mask and dust/scratch removal (both done automatically during the scan). Oh, and cropping and resizing, of course.