Document Camera or Scanner

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Permalink Reply by Monica Brown on February 11, 2009 at 11:52am

I personally would go with a scanner if your art teacher is wanting to actually scan them. We have the Elmo TT-02s, and although it's wonderful for projecting images onto the white board, larger images often times are slightly distorted and the coloring is not consistent. The edges are usually a bit darker. My teachers that scan a lot also say that they can scan much faster with scanners than with the document camera. The Scanner most prefer is a Scanshell....fast and doesn't take up much space.

Having said this, there might be different document cameras out there that do a better job than the Elmo TT-02s.

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Permalink Reply by Cory Tressler on February 11, 2009 at 6:35pm

I'd go with a scanner. Choose one that outputs at a higher dpi. There are many flatbed photo scanners out there that are easy to use and produce high quality scans. Scanners are much cheaper than document cameras and for what your art teacher would like to do and scanner would be the right choice.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Dickie on February 12, 2009 at 2:58am

You might also try a higher mega pixel digital camera with tripod. That's what our art teachers use to help students who are applying to art schools get their portfolios together. The bonus with this is that you can probably find a teacher with one that you can use to try it out to see if it will be sufficient before spending any money. I can't imagine that high resolution 11x17 scanners are cheap

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Permalink Reply by CA York on August 2, 2009 at 11:34pm

Between the two choices, as an art teacher, I would go for the scanner. The problem is being able to afford one that will take up to 11 x 17. As I understand a document Camera it is for the classroom. I didn't know they made one that would digitize.
He could get a decent digital camera (preferably SLR) ..take pictures of the art...input them into the computer and work from there. There are lots of free software that would do most anything he wanted.

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Permalink Reply by T. White on August 3, 2009 at 1:03am

It also depends on what the work is and class counts. I simply use a digital camera. The resolution is high and the procedure is far more efficient. I have scanned in the past and I certainly prefer to take 38 pictures than to scan them. My wife is an IB art teacher, scanning canvas and sculpture is not even an option. All the work on her student site is taken with a digital camera. You might want to think about long-term investment, which option will get you the most use. Good luck and what ever you decide, be sure to put a link to the work once it's uploaded.

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Permalink Reply by Arthur Snuze on August 10, 2009 at 3:48pm

While 11" x 17" is a standard size of office paper, it does not require a scanner bed that size to process. Your printer or a commercial printer deasl with paper sized 8.5" x 11". For paper sizes over 8.5" x 11", Photoshop or whichever photo service or online photo correction service you use is where the printing dimensions for oversize paper containing your images is set.

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