There are all sorts of document scanners available on the market presenting appealing designs and manifold features. When considering buying a document scanner you will have to look at some key features and make sure they correspond to your needs.

First of all, the optical resolution of a document scanner should be as high as possible, ensuring that the quality of the scanned document will be high. The minimum resolution per inch should be 1200X1200 dpi. There are document scanners with a double resolution or even higher. The higher the resolution, the more you can enlarge the document without getting a blurry image.

The bit depth is also a feature to take into account when analyzing the quality of a document scanner. When the bit depth is high, the document scanner can recognize a lot of colors and consequently will render an accurate scan of the document. Otherwise you will get a distorted image. Good document scanners are endowed with 40 bits or more.

When checking out a document scanner, make sure you take a look at its type of connection. This may be USB, Firewire, and parallel port. This connection should be compatible to your computer. Ask about the Min operating system, which can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

The scanners have different sizes, some may scan documents of up to A4 size (letter size), and some can take larger sizes also. There are special document scanners that can scan larger docs than A$ size even if the device is A4 large. This scanner will take each section at a time in sections and reassemble them with incorporated software.

There are certain document scanners that can restore the genuine color of faded photos, slides and negatives as well as removing the dust from the documents that are about to be scanned.

In case you want to scan filmstrips, this can be made possible by the document scanners that feature a filmstrip adapter.

When you are interested in scanning black and white documents, check out the number of shades of gray that the scanner has.

The scan mode may also interest you: this may be single, duplex pass or both. If the size or the weight matters, find out details about these. However, the weight and the size of a document scanner do not influence the quality of the device.

Last but not least, ask about the warranty the manufacturer offers. In case the warranty is longer, you probably have to deal with a quality brand of document scanners that will not let you down.