The CanonScan LiDE 25

The CanonScan LiDE 25 is a perfect scanner for the casual artist. Its quick, easily portable, and compatible with just about everything. For those beginning to experiment with computer imagery or those who just need an occasional quick and clean scan, it would be hard to imagine a better purchase.

The CanonScan brags about being a portable scanner. This is somewhat up for debate, but it does have some useful features for those who take their scanner on the go. It is powered directly from its USB cord, so you wont have to mess with power cords. Its nice to save a space on your powerstrip, and getting the power this way doesnt seem to affect the speed or quality of images. It also has an easily accessible lock on the bottom, which will keep the bulb from sliding around when you travel. The one thing that stops me from calling it truly portable is its size, which is a little under a foot long. It has fit in my large bookbag without issue, but it would not fit in a smaller bag and its a little bulky to carry on its own. Still, it does travel well.

As for the scanning itself, its very nice. It comes bundled with a bunch of software that will be nice if you arent a Photoshop or Illustrator user. If you are, just delete it- itll work perfectly happily with any program you introduce it to. Even when interfacing with Photoshop (a RAM-heavy program if there ever was one), it preview scans and delivers a final image quickly. The images it produces are pretty nice. They have nice contrast and dont muddle up the colors or lines. You can adjust the resolution if you need more detailed scans, but for the most part its standard settings will be able to handle whatever you throw at them. The only problem is that it will occasionally scan darker photographs even darker then they need to be, but this can be adjusted by playing with the resolution.

Overall its a great scanner at a great price. A serious artist might want a nicer machine to work with, but for your average internet user its a great little machine.