Here's my (secret ) recipe:

HP ScanJet 2100C with
Copy made in HP PrecisionScan LTX 1.11 (Resolution 150 dpi, Details Sharpening and Moiré Patterns Elimination On),
Paste to Adobe Photoshop CS2 9.0.1 (Brightness/Contrast Adjustment, Dust/Scratches Removal, Resizing to Max. 500x700, Sharpening).

Quoting SoylentDave:

Quote:
Does anyone use VueScan or Silverfast (or similar products) for scanning rather than bundled software?

I tried VueScan but it doesn't give anything special. Nothing I can't do in Photoshop anyway. Anyway, the bundled software with my Canon does an admirable job at dust and scratches removal, as well as moiré pattern. And it's all a matter of putting a tick in the right checkbox. In VueScan, you have to know theLPI your magazine was printed to if you want a good result. Way too technical for everyday use (unless you're a professional).

Silverfast? Never heard of it.

I've got a CanoScan 9950F, which I am quite happy with! The bundled scanning software is very good too, compared to what I have seen bundled with other scanners - the build-in scratch and dust removal really does a great job and often gives a much better end result compared to trying to do the removal manually afterwards...

I scan using 300 dpi, dust- and scratch removal set to low and Auto-tone and Descreen on and save it to a tiff-file.

Then I open that in Paint Shop Pro X, crop it and do some minor color adjustment if nessecary (it very rarely is) and clone of any remaining dust and scratching (9 times out of ten, there is nothing)... I then resample it to a width of 1500 pixels, using Smart Size - I never encountered any artifacting using that - and do a Copy/Paste directly in to DVDP...

I have a conoscan 9900, one model older than rander's, and I use adobe photoshop 7.0 that I picked up in college when adobe was selling their stuff for dirt cheap to students in a program that I was taking as an elective. I think I picked it up for 60 bucks.