Tigerdirect have 5 flatbeds under $100, any one of those would do your tasks. Not sure you will find a wireless one as the days of flatbed scanners being all the rage are long gone. As these are USB connected it would not be difficult to just plug it in for each session then store it out of the way between jobs.

Practise a little before getting into saving, I like to scan at 200% or even 300% to ensure a large file - 2 to 3 megs is a good size. Remember, you can always reduce later if needed but you cannot increase a file successfully. This way if you need to repair damaged photos you have enough of a file size to enlarge while doing the repairs.

If you do get into photo editing afterwards remember to create a copy before starting so the original is never in jeopardy. I just add 01 or 02 if the file is alphabetical and an a, b or c if numeric.

Thank you.

I realized after posting that my question was really way too vague- my apologies.

I did look into scanners a bit, see that they're all USB connected; what I didn't realize too is that many of the flatbeds do a credible job scanning film, which I expected would take a separate device. So that's good.

I did find several attractive choices in the $200 range, among them the Canon CS8800F. Also looks like Epson and HP have some decent offerings.

I'll take a closer look at the lower end of the market too, though; I've nothing against saving a buck!

Thanks,

Mark

Mark until my latest scanner I nave never owned an expensive one. I bought one for about $100 many years ago after I had a couple of scans done at a local store. At $10 for one scan and $8 for others done at the same time I reasoned I only needed to do 12 scans and I was in pocket.

Others have commented here on scanning slides with success. When I did it the machine (borrowed) was quite old and the results were reasonable at best. Be sure to practise well before the final scans. I had 14 reels of 120 slides to scan so there was little enjoyment and each needed about 3 minutes to complete the input and scan.

My current scanner is an HP Scanjet 4890 which at the time of purchase was about $300 Canadian but it was given to me by my daughter who decided she had no use for it :~) Previously I had a Canon and one other probably a Visioneer since they have been around seemingly forever.

If you're planning to scan slides or negatives, and want high quality, you really need to use a scanner that's made specifically for that purpose. A really good one can be pricey.

Check with the manufacturers' sites. They often have reconditioned scanners at greatly reduced prices with a full warranty. I bought one from Epson this way. I was a little leery of doing this, but it has been a great scanner with good software included. I have had it for almost three years and paid less than $100 for it. It has the capability of scanning slides and negatives also. Previously I had an HP which was okay, but not compatible with anything newer than Windows 98. For quality, I prefer a flatbed scanner to the scanning function of the all-in-ones.

I have an HP G4050 Scanner, and love it. It will scan photos, slides, negatives, and documents. I've had it for more than 2 years, use it all the time, and have never had any problems with it.

The price is $199.99 (free shipping), but it is often on sale.

Here is a link that might be useful: HP G4050 Scanner

If you are only scanning photos, here is a much quicker way to get pretty good results:

Set up a tripod with your digital camera. Set the resolution high enough to get a good copy. You just shoot each photo with the camera.

It is tem times faster.

dcarch