Best scanner for morphometry

[Jon]

My current scanner is ancient and only scans at 600dpi.

I have seen the Epson v330 mentioned several times as being up to the job for morphometry and that currently costs around £80 delivered. It will also scan transparancies and negatives which is something I need to do from time to time.

Is there anything else in this price bracket, or any other scanner substantially better, if I spend a few quid more?

[Jimbo]

Hi Jon,

I use an Epson Perfection V100 which I bought on e-Bay for £50. It is the same scanner as Peter Edwards used when he demonstrated DrawWing to me. If you look at the instructions posted by Gavin I have noted the minimum requirement for a scanner.

[AlexJ]

Jon
I'm a beginner to both beekeeping and morphometry and like you noticed the V330 being mentioned as suitable for wing analysis; I bought the machine through Amazon.

Albeit I've only sampled 50 wings using DrawWing the scanner appears to have performed as described and the software analysed the wings as expected. It doesn't come with a great instructions but never-the-less is simple to use once the correct settings are applied for scanning wings (thanks to Jim/Jimbo for the advice at the Scotlandwell workshop at the weekend) it works well. If needed I can send copies of the images taken and their analysis for you to compare with other devices.

I haven't used it as yet to scan transparencies or slides. I hope this assists.

Alex

[Jon]

Thanks Jim and Alex.
I found Amazon to be cheapest as well.
At £78.20 I don't think I would save much by bidding on a second hand model and you get the 12 month guarantee as well.
I need a new scanner anyway so just want to make sure the one I get is good enough for scanning bee wings.
Talk about priorities!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B0040ZP3ZI

[Jimbo]

Hi Jon,

Had a look at the Amazon scanner and it looks like a newer version of mine. The main thing is the dpi it needs to be at least 2400.

[Jon]

Hi Jim
Just ordered the v330.

There is a cheaper one, the v33 which scans at 4800 dpi but it does not have the insert for transparancy scanning which I would use.

If you just want it for bee wings (how sad is that!) it's only £60.82 delivered.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epson-Perfec...1114892&sr=1-4

[Jon]

The scanner arrived this morning so I anticipate hours of fun messing around with bee wings.
Jim, those notes of yours on Drawwing made up of the screen shots are brilliant.
I set the thing up later today and do a dummy run with a few wings I have lying about.

I'll report back if I have any problems.

[Neils]

Depending on your mac, you can install windows on to it using 'boot camp' and/or use something like VMware or parallels to run windows from within OSX which would then let you run drawwing.

I'm a fully paid up member if the Cult of Jobs so if you need any more info let me know.

[Kate Atchley]

Thanks Neils
I'm tempted to take this route ... watch this space!
Kate

[Neils]

If you've got a windows disk setting up bootcamp is very straightforward and lets you choose when your mac starts up whether you want to boot windows or OSX.

Going the VMWare/parallels route can be more flexible because you can run the windows programmes from within OSX so you still have all your mac stuff available, but you do need a reasonable spec mac for it not to run very slowly. Both work well but will cost you an extra £40-50.

How old is your mac and are you running one of the newer versions of OSX?

If you aren't sure, click on the apple icon in the top left of the screen and select 'about this mac' and paste that info into here.