Hi, Christine-
        My two cents -I will resubmit by bid for my Afga Arcus II scanner. I
hve no experience with other kinds, but others who do are very impressed
with the output and I have been totally pleased.  It has a built-in
transparency scanner; slides turn out great.  I scanned a printer's
negative a few weeks ago and it, too, turned out great.  This scanner is
under $2000, don't know the exact price - less if you don't need
Photoshop bundled with it.  The manual (hah-hah) leaves a lot to be
desired, but a good scanner book, or the Mac Bible, e.g., would serve as
well or better.

-Gail