Depends what you’re doing. Artists use cameras for all sorts of purposes, and of course many fine art photographs are very large.
I’ve posted on the following a few years back, but worth mentioning again in this context. I n 2003-4 I had a Heritage Lottery Commission that entailed creating 150 faces from the past from the previous 150 years of Middlesbrough history. My resources were the town’s three photo archives and I wanted two faces from each year that could be morphed into a single ‘portrait’ then put in a standard format and output as ceramic glaze transfers that were fired onto 10" white porcelain dinner plates. The final work is a permanent exhibit inside the rather grand local town hall
Many of the earlier photos had been taken with 10x8 plate cameras and the detail was phenomenal, some of the faces such as the two merged below were no larger than a pin head, but could be massively enlarged. The news photo was of a huge crowd at the military funeral of a local conscript who’d been killed in a training accident .
Not really, The scanner has a fixed optical resolution.
For a given original size, changing the setting in the scanner software to an output size larger than the scanner’s native resolution (whether you specify that as a percentage enlargement or as a specific height and width in pixels) will not make the scanner capture any more detail - it’s going to interpolate.
And that is no different from upscaling in Photoshop - which may work better, depending on how clever the scanner software is - or using a dedicated app or plugin such as Topaz Gigapixel.
Once you reach that point, if you want more detail (or in your terms a greater degree of enlargement) you need a scanner with a higher optical resolution.
And how you are going to view or reproduce the scanned image also affects how much detail you need to capture - on a monitor versus via an inkjet print or a CMYK commercial print, for example. Most people scan at too high a resolution that their output device cannot reproduce.
Every Apple mobile device now comes with a basic scanner. Go to Files–>three dots top right–>Scan. If scanning for bureaucrats is all the scanning you ever do, then this feature produces pretty decent scans.
Worth checking if Ninja brand is available in France. I have a combo model called Ninja OL701 Foodi 14-in-1 SMART XL 8 Qt – it has been amazing. I am a good cook and I have minumum kitchen gadgets but this little guy has been my go-to machine many times. EDIT: He is actually not little in terms of size but quite a large tank on the counter, but it is appropriate size for my American kitchen and for my family. I’d love to see a smaller version if available in France at all…
It’s a nice idea. But the “scanner” is fiddly to use - really, you need to buy a stand for your camera to use it effectively. Unless you take a high dose of beta-blockers, your hand will be nowhere near steady enough!
Two bureaucrats I’ve spoken to tell me the quality from a phone isn’t acceptable.
(I think the first thing Mark Rimmer, formerly of this parish, told me was to invest in a scanner because of the French love of paperwork ).
We’ve had an HP Pro M28W printer /scanner for several years - they’re about €90 now. They’re small, very reliable and don’t mind you using cheap generic cartridges (which seem to almost last forever)
Merely taking photos with the phone is not the same as using the ‘scan’ feature. It has several smart features that combat the shaky hands. So far, knock on wood I have used it several times with authorities without issues. But I see how a real bureaucrat of French pedigree would scoff at anything but a highest resolution scanner. They would have an allergy to anything “easy”. I do not argue here…
Inkjet printers are not so expensive in ink and a decent colour laser printer is quite a price, as well as hefty and bulky by comparison (I still have a muscle strain from lifting on out from under my desk 30 years ago!
A don’t like Bezos at all and if I can avoid Amazon I do, but TBH they are good at what they do, like them or not, and as others have pointed out the easy returns is a real boon sometimes.
But think whether you really need new - LeBonCoin is better than eBay these days I find (there is also Facebook Marketplace but that has the same demerits as Amazon with few of the merits). Lots of appliances have plenty of life left in them and you not only save money you are doing your bit for the environment in reusing. Of course there is a lot of junk out there but plenty of good stuff.
My current Ricoh laser printer/scanner was purchased for 20 euros when LBC was having one of their 1 euro shipping weekends. It needed new toner, but suits my post-immigration paper needs better than an inkjet that is prone to clogging due to infrequent use.
If “high-street” stores, Darty, Fnac, Boulanger, MDA, probably one or two others I can’t remember now. There used to be a chain called “Expert”, although not sure they’re still around in France these days.
Definitely not Temu which is from China. I like Darty. I took out their Plus scheme with a new washing machine for €10 per month. That gives rapid call out on all my big electric appliances on top of warranty even though they are old and bought elsewhere. I then upped this to €15/ month to include smaller appliances. So for €5/ month they repaired my Dyson cordless vacuum and new original battery for zero cost instead of €200. Darty is part of Fnac and the product range is huge
My little Canon scanner lives in its original box 90% of the time and only emerges into the daylight like a timid woodland creature when I need to scan something.
TBH I’ll never buy another HP printer - the device is fine but the drivers are utter carp. Presently have an Epson all in one. It works when I want it to.
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