The world just shifted on its axis...

It creates one PDF for each batch of pages scanned. There might be settings to merge them, but I haven't bothered looking because Acrobat (and numerous other tools ranging from $free to $expensive) will easily merge multiple PDFs.

Pricey at $420, yep, but it's very clearly a case of getting what one pays for—it has none of that "ready to fall apart" feeling you get with cheap hardware.

Stacks of pics: Yes. It'll even scan documents up to 34 inches long! I have no idea when I would ever use that; as far as I know nobody ever released technical literature in scroll form.