Dealer Focus - Scanners: Reflects reactions

Pixels aren?t little people with wings at the bottom of the garden ? they?re a key element in determining the quality of a scanned image. We wave a magic wand over some of the latest scanners and reveal their high and low points

From a technical point of view the innards of a flatbed scanner are quite straightforward. Just like a photocopier, you place the original on a glass plate, under which is the scanning mechanism. This then illuminates the document and measures the quantity of light that is reflected. The amount of reflected light is measured by a row of light-sensitive cells ? the greater the amount of reflected light, the whiter the image. The more light-sensitive cells there are, the finer the measurements of the reflected information and the higher the resolution, although the quality of the lenses and mirrors that reflect the light also influence the final result.

To scan a colour image you need to grab the three primary colours: red, green and blue. In the old days this used to be done in three passes, but now it is done in one go (single pass). Not only is single-pass scanning quicker, it is also more precise.

Expensive scanners divide the light into the three basic colours with a prism, and pass it on to three sets of light-sensitive cells. The advantages of this technique are speed and precision, but the downside is that the technology is expensive.

In less expensive scanners, colour division takes place in another way. There are three rows of light-sensitive cells with a filter of one of the primary colours placed over each row. The disadvantage is that light seeps between the rows, resulting in a reduction in quality, but the technique is far cheaper.

Most scanners generally offer one of two resolutions: 300 dots per inch (dpi) or 600dpi. In essence this means turning a 2.5 by 2.5cm area into a grid of 300 x 300 pixels, or, of course, 600 x 600 pixels. Most machines nowadays work at 600dpi.

When a scanner converts a picture into digital form, it looks at the image pixel by pixel and records what it sees. That part of the process is simple enough, but different scanners record different amounts of information about each pixel. The amount of information a particular scanner records is measured by its bit-depth.

To scan 256 shades of grey, a scanner records the data in 8-bit chunks of information. The higher the scanner?s bit-depth, the more accurately it can describe what it sees when it looks at a given pixel. A colour scanner needs to do this three times (once each for red, blue and green), that is, three times 8-bits ? hence it is described as 24-bit colour. With every 8-bit chunk giving 256 levels of information about each of the primary scanning colours, a 24-bit scanner can in theory capture more than 16 million colours, although the number of colours is usually quite a bit smaller in practice.

Recently, a growing number of manufacturers are offering 30-bit and 36-bit scanners (three times 10-bit levels of information and three times 12-bit levels of information) which in theory can capture billions of colours. The only problem is that few graphics software packages can handle anything larger than a 24-bit scan. But these extra bits are still worth having ? when a program opens a 30-bit or 36-bit image, it can use the extra data to correct for noise in the scanning process that reduces the quality of the scan. As a result, scanners with higher bit-depths tend to produce better colour images.

Scanning software

In the good old days, scanner manufacturers, like most other peripheral manufacturers, provided a separate driver for each application its device worked with. That has changed ? in the scanner market most manufacturers rely on a common driver standard called Twain. Under Twain, applications send their scanning instructions in a standard format that any compatible driver software can understand. As a result, almost all Twain programs can work with any Twain-compatible scanner.

Unfortunately, but not necessarily surprisingly, there is a downside. The first is that implementation on the Macintosh is only just getting started: most scanner manufacturers rely on a Photoshop-compatible plug-in for scanning on Mac systems. The other is that Windows 95 includes no explicit support for Twain, and does not include any provision for scanner plug and play. Nevertheless, Twain compatibility has become standard among most manufacturers, and any scanner without it should be examined closely.

The reviews

Agfa Studiostar

The Agfa Studiostar is a powerful 30-bit scanner with an optical resolution of 600dpi. The maximum scanning range area is an ample 21.6 x 35.6cm. Taking into consideration this scanner?s extensive capabilities, its high quality and the high price, Agfa is aiming at the advanced graphics user.

The mechanism betrays the same origin as Microtek?s Scanmaker. But the Studiostar is completely different in other particulars, making it an altogether different product.

The Studiostar is supplied together with an Adaptec AVA-1502P Scsi card. This was quickly recognised and installed by Windows. Furthermore, a Scsi cable and Scsi terminator are provided in the box, which means everything?s provided to connect the scanner to a PC.

Software is provided on a CD-Rom and two Twain drivers are included: a simple one which will suit most users plus a complex one for advanced users. Omnipage LE is provided for text recognition, Adobe Photoshop LE is the graphics package, and Fototune is provided for calibration. All in all it?s not a bad collection.

The Studiostar offers a choice between 30-bit and 24-bit scanning. In addition, a histogram of the preview can be looked at, so that an operator can determine, and possibly adapt, the colour distribution even before the image is scanned properly.

The scanner is quite fast, but the software takes a long time to send the image through to the application when scanning an A4-sized photograph ? some 102 seconds. A preview, on the other hand, is fairly quick at 18 seconds.

The final result looks really good, and the Studiostar is clearly one of the better scanners on test. This is once more demonstrated by a colour card scan: on the machine, everything is brought properly into focus, and both the colours and the grey key images look excellent. At 35 seconds per page, text recognition works reasonably quickly.

Price: #749

Tel: Agfa 0181 231 4906

Agfa Snapscan

Although the Agfa Snapscan is a bit smaller than the Studiostar, the design is otherwise the same. The difference is that is only offers an optical resolution of 300dpi. The Scsi card supplied with the PC version is the same as the one provided with the Studiostar. Similarly, the Twain drivers are the same as those supplied with its larger brother, and again ensure faultless installation. Ulead Photo Impact 3, Caere Omnipage LE and Fototune Light are supplied, which is a perfectly acceptable bundle of software.

What immediately stands out is that the Snapscan is set much darker than its bigger brother. If the software is set to automatic, the results aren?t very good and a lot of readjustments have to be made. The simple Twain driver does not allow these adjustments to be made, and as a result is disappointing. With the complex driver, it is reasonably easy to make the adjustments, but even so the final result is far inferior to that produced by the Studiostar.

As far as speed goes, the Snapscan is situated in the middle bracket ? it takes 106 seconds to scan an A4 photo. But the preview, at 13 seconds, is one of the fastest. Scanning and recognising a page of text only requires 21 seconds. It is a pity that the Snapscan is not well adjusted, otherwise the colour card test would also come out somewhat better. As it is, a lot of the darker colours on the card remain unrecognisable.

Not outstanding, but certainly remarkable, is the fact that the Snapscan makes the least noise of them all.

Price: #349

Tel: Agfa 0181 231 4906

Genius Colorpage HR2

The Genius Colorpage HR2 is the same scanner as the Microtek Scanmaker E6 ? a 30-bit, 600dpi machine with a Scsi connection. Genius supplies the scanner complete with Scsi card, cable and software.

The Twain driver provided is the same as the one with the Microtek machine, so it is extremely complex.

As far as software goes, Genius supplies Photo Impact 3, Ulead Imagepals 2 Go! and Inovaric International?s Easy Reader OCR program.

Genius also parts company with Microtek in that it provides a splendid manual with the scanner. The book gives a great deal of information about how the product works and what all possible settings are for.

In other ways, the scanner scores the same as the Microtek Scanmaker E6. But the Colorpage HR2 comes out at as #200 less expensive.

Price: #269

Tel: KYE Systems 0181 669 7300

Canoscan 600

The Canoscan 600 is an outstanding 30-bit scanner with an optical resolution of 600dpi. Of the 30-bit scanners tested here, this the smallest model by far, which will work in its favour in an overcrowded office. The scanning area is 21.6 x 29.6cm, just large enough for a page of A4. Accessories available include a sheet feeder, transparency adaptor and film adaptor.

No Scsi card is provided, although an optional kit is available based on the Adaptec 1502 card. Once a Scsi card is mounted, the Canon software can be installed. The programs provided for Windows 3.1x and Windows 95 are markedly different and the W95 version steals the show ? it is beautifully designed and all the settings are neatly concealed behind buttons. The driver is reasonably complex but simple to use. Canon does not supply any OCR software with the machine, but Ulead Photo Impact 3 is supplied for graphical processing.

The Canoscan is a reasonable performer when it comes to speed: an A4 photo takes up 76 seconds, but a preview takes only 17 seconds. It also comes through the colour card test reasonably well, even if scans carried out automatically do come out somewhat dark. Yet all the colours and grey key images are still just recognisable, and with some adjustment that is brought into good order. So all in all, it?s a fine scanner ? but that?s to be expected for the price. Like the Agfa Snapscan, the Canoscan 600 is quite quiet.

Price: #629

Tel: Canon 0181 773 6000

Canoscan 300

With an optical resolution of 300dpi in 27-bit colour, the Canoscan 300 is little brother to the 600. This unusual precision is calculated back to 24-bit file formats, and in principle means this Canon is able to distinguish colours better than a 24-bit scanner can. The casing is identical to that of the Canoscan 600, which means it is nice and compact. A sheet feeder and a transparency adaptor are available.

The Twain driver, as well as the other software provided, is the same as that supplied with the 600. The scanner was tested with the optional Scsi kit from Canon, comprising an Adaptec 1502 card, a Scsi cable and software for controlling the card. One minus is that this software is not suitable for Windows 95.

The small Canon performs well in the test. Its previews are the fastest of all, at only 13 seconds. An A4 photo is scanned almost as rapidly as it is by the Canoscan 600, in 75 seconds. The Canoscan 300 also comes through the colour test with excellent results. The colours can all be distinguished, just like the grey key images. It seems that scanning in 27-bit colour results in a great improvement, because the colours from this Canon certainly measure up to the results shown by some 30-bit scanners. The Canoscan 300 is a good choice for anyone who is satisfied with 300dpi optical resolution but still wants top quality.

Price: #329

Tel: Canon 0181 773 6000

Primax 4800 Direct

The Primax 4800 connects to a PC via the parallel port, preferably of the EPP-type, and a parallel cable is supplied with the machine. The scanner connects to the mains via an external transformer.

At the back of the scanner is an extra parallel connection, allowing a printer to be connected to the PC at the same time as the scanner. A green push-button on the front of the machine can be used to call up the product?s own software.

The Twain software, which comes with a help program, can be set to put the scanner into sleep mode, which switches the lamp off.

Software supplied with the Primax includes Corel Photopaint 5 for graphical work as well as two OCR programs: Readiris and Cardiris. Readiris is intended for ordinary text; Cardiris is specially intended for scanning business cards so that an address file can be created.

Performance is remarkably quick: only 17 seconds to preview an A4 photo and 39 seconds to scan it. A full page of text can be scanned and converted in 23 seconds. All this is achieved in spite of the printer port connection ? or there again, perhaps it is because of the connection that it does so well.

But the low price of about #200 must still tell ? and where it shows is in the colour quality. If the test pictures seem fine, then it falls down on the colour card test. The scanner driver offers little flexibility when it comes to making adjustments, and it is not possible to distinguish all the colours on the test card. Particular problems are demonstrated with dark colours ? and the last three grey key images are all as black as each other.

Price: #199.99

Tel: Primax 01235 559922

Hewlett Packard Scanjet 5P

No matter how extensive the HP Scanjet series appears, there still seems to be room for the 5P. This splendid looking, robust model offers an optical resolution of 300dpi, which can be increased to 1,200dpi using the software supplied. The maximum scanning area is 21.6 x 29.7cm, just enough for a sheet of A4.

A small 16-bit ISA Scsi-2 card is supplied, and both scanner and card have the new small Scsi connectors.

HP has taken a great deal of trouble to make this scanner as easy as possible to use and install. The scanner driver is Twain compatible, and the driver is largely automated. The software sets up everything for the operator and works exceptionally well.

But if you want to set something up yourself, then the difficulties start. To change the resolution of a scan, for instance, you have to lead the system a dance and to pretend that you have a different sort of printer. Contrast and clarity cannot be adjusted manually as they are changed automatically.

The most important program provided is Paperport, which acts as the central control point. If you have scanned an image, Paperport allows it to be dragged into one of the following applications: Wordpad, Caere Omnipage LE, Paint, Corel Photopaint 5, to a word processor or the printer. For beginners, this works quite well. Omnipage LE provides text recognition and seems to be a simple, reasonably fast program.

During the scanning itself, the scanning head moves quite quickly under the glass. Afterwards, however, it takes a long time before the image arrives in an application. This delay, presumably caused by the software, is annoying, but none the less the Scanjet 5P can scan an A4 photo in about 50 seconds. As regards the colour card, the 5P immediately passes the test: lovely full colours which are all individually visible. The grey key image table does not give rise to any problems, either.

Price: #289

Tel: Hewlett Packard 01344 360000

Nikon Scantouch 110

Nikon?s 24-bit Scantouch 110 offers a resolution of 300dpi and a scanning area of 21.6 x 29.7cm. Optional extras include a sheet feeder and a transparency adaptor. The scanner connects to a PC via a Scsi card, which is not supplied, although a Scsi cable and terminator are provided in the box.

The software comprises a good Twain driver which permits plenty of adjustment, and Adobe Photoshop LE for graphical work. Just like Canon, Nikon does not supply any OCR software. The reason is that the company is aiming more at the graphics user ? witness the inclusion of Photoshop. On the whole, the software is simple to install and works well.

The machine itself is on the slow side, taking 86 seconds to scan an A4 photograph. Previews are far better: at 15 seconds, the Scantouch 110 is one of the fastest machines on test.

The Scantouch makes a lot of noise during the scanning process, which is a little unnerving. But any alarm is more than dispelled by the results from the colour card test ? the Scantouch performed it properly in one go, something that none of the other 300dpi scanners achieved.

All in all, the Scantouch 110 is a good scanner, but it could certainly do with having more software supplied as standard.

Price: #301

Tel: Nikon 0181 541 4440

Microtek Scanmaker E6

The Microtek Scanmaker E6 is a 30-bit scanner with a Scsi connection, a maximum scanning area of 21.6 x 32.6cm and an optical resolution of 600dpi.

An Adaptec AVA 1502E Scsi card is supplied, plus a very clear installation manual with step by step instructions for setting up the scanner under Windows. There is very little room here for things to go wrong. Available accessories include a sheet feeder and a transparency adaptor.

Microtek is one of the few companies that provides software for both PCs and Macs. On the image processing side there is Ulead Photo Impact 3 and Imagepals 2 Go! The first is a reasonably extensive graphics program; the second is a somewhat simpler product for managing images. For OCR, Microtek supplies Omnipage LE from Caere. This program functions reasonably well and is simple to set up.

As for performance, the Scanmaker is a slow scanner ? the slowest of those tested. The Scsi connection does not, in this case, ensure an increase in speed. But what counts for a lot is that the Scanmaker performs really well, as far as quality is concerned. The colour card was properly scanned, and all the colour and grey key images can be clearly distinguished and are true to life. For this reason, it is still possible to work quite quickly, because it is often not necessary to repeat a scan. The scanner driver is one of the most complex in this test: absolutely everything can be entered in advance, as a result hardly any processing is necessary after scanning to improve the result. All in all, it?s a good scanner. But it?s a pity it isn?t a bit faster.

Price: #469

Tel: Computers Unlimited 0181 358 5857