Scanning in comics books?

I want to start backing up my comics to via digital format. I have read that 300 dpi is the best resolution but here's my issue:

- After I scan the page and save it to jpg format the file size is very large - 4mb. Considering a comic has about 32 pages this is too large.
- I tested using 200 dpi and saving it as jpeg but it comes out just under 2 MB.
- I can open the file in Photoshop and resave with only High quality and the file will shrink down but I am not sure if this is the best method.

I have downloaded a few samples and they range from 10mb to 20mb with only 24 pages. Does anyone have experience backing up their comics to digital format? If so what is the best scan settings and size. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

I am using HP 6210 all in one printer that has a flat bed scanner. However it is not big enough to fit a 2 page spread.

Thanks for any info.

Thank you all for your help. Let me clarify something, yes I understand that I will need to sacrific some quality for size but I am interested in the best method to shrink the image to a managable file size. The sample files I have I am unable to reproduce it both in quality and file size. So it is possible to have a good quality without a comic going over 20 mb.

You should scan at the highest it will let you then change the image size in photoshop.
In photoshop you want to change the image size goto image>image size then change the image size down to a level you can read it clearly (have a play around)
Try saving it as a pdf and setting the level to smallest file size I got a 7.5mb photo down to 1mb without trying the image size first.

perhaps try to save it at 72 dpi and go "save for web". That should reduce the size more.

Or try medium quality.

You just have to experiment a bit. Hope this helps!

mike
http://mmendo.com

Are you intending to view this digitally only, or are you hoping to be able to print them from these scans? If you are going to use them only as digitally viewable files, you can save them at 72 dpi, the standard resolution for a computer monitor. Although you might want to go bit higher, say 100. But if you want to print them later with good quality, you will need minimally 300 dpi. There's no really good way to reduce file size from the scan, but you CAN take those files and compress them as a .zip for example or a .sit. This would be for storage only. To look at them/use them you have to unzip or unStuff them, and you'd be back to your large file problem.

I would also suggest that once you've scanned them save them as pdfs. Then, if you have the full version of Acrobat, you can put these individual files all into one pdf file, thus keeping the entire comic book as one file (it will be rather large, though). I would also consider burning these files to CD or DVD.

The higher the resolution (the better quality the picture) the larger the file. You can't maintain high quality and small file size at the same time. Decide the worst quality image you can live with and accept the size, or save in the largest size you can live with and accept the quality. There's no magic way to have both. (Blank double layer DVDs aren't that expensive.)