11x17 (tabloid) scanners

Howdy. Does anyone out there have any experience with sub-$1000 11x17 flatbed scanners? I'm sorta in the market for a cheap new scanner and would like to know if anyone has purchased one to do their cel scanning stuff on.

If you have one of these cheap tabloid scanners and you like it (or dislike it) then please post your experiences. Coincidentally, this would be pretty darn useful information for anyone considering buying a scanner large enough to fit an entire standard/12-field cel under. Thanks!

I have the CanoScan N1220U flatbed scanner. It's fine for regular photos and things but not the greatest for cels. Note to myself: Do not listen to salespeople at Staples pushing on sale products.

I probably should have put the money out for a better and bigger scanner. Most of the cels I have don't fit on the thing and stitching two scans together isn't my forte. The colors are usually off on the cel scans no matter what I do to them on the color spectrum (especially flesh tones, they come out pink and blue often becomes purple) sketches however, come out great. Go figure.

Flippy

I've had the best luck with Canon scanners. I've tried a couple of different brands, but haven't had much luck (one broke within a few weeks of moderate use). Both of my Canon scanners have worked really well for the price. The only time I had one break was after it had been shipped across the country several times a year for 4 years. :P

The scanner I have now (I don't know the number off the top of my head) also has several options for color, and a dust removal option. It's not as good as digital ice, but for a cheap scanner it doesn't work too badly.

Just my 2 cents, but then again, I'm a photo person and a little partial to Canon. ^_~`

Hi!
I have a great Epson one for my studio and I would highly recomend epson for scanners.
Here is an epson refurbished one for $899

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/ProductQuickSpec.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=36033901&category=Clearance+Center

Neat, thanks for the advice. Guess I need to save my dollars and cents because the general consensus with the tabloid flatbeds is that you get what you pay for. By the way, that's some pretty amazing artwork you have there on your about page. I'm rather curious, are the few illustrations on there traditional or by any chance painted in computer through Painter/Photoshop?

(noisywalrus is a sucky freehand artist and is very unhappy about that)

The other thing I wanted to mention is that if you've ever seen the fairly recent anime "Kaliedostar", there's a fun side character in there who studies martial arts and looks a bit like that second picture of you. I forget her name.