You won’t see much in the way of true variety when you’re browsing the scanner aisle at the big box store. Oh sure, you’ll see all the usual brands … but what you won’t see are the specialized scanners …

Now I’m not putting down the big boxes. They stock what they can sell. There just isn’t enough demand to keep high-end transparency or large format scanners on the shelves.

Most folks are happy as a clam to have a 8 1/2 x 11 capable scanner … and with those scannners going for less then 100 clams, happy they should be.

But when your scanning requirements are more exotic, you’ll probably want to check into a specialized retailer. If you need to scan transparencies, for example, you’ll want to look for a scanner that captures super-high resolution through its sensor — not through some form of software trickery. A specialized transparency scanner will deliver the goods, while a “transparency adapter” on a flatbed may fall short. This page on Andromeda’s web site provides an excellent overview of the issues involved.