Color scanners' time has come. Why you need one and what you have to choose from.
It's all good news on the color scanner front. Manufacturers are dropping prices. They're bundling more -- and in some cases, very good -- software with the machines. They're improving quality with better optics. They've made the machines faster by making them one-pass where they used to be three-pass.
Desktop color scanners cost little more than black and white scanners. They do a lot more. You can always set the scanner to black and white text when you want to OCR documents. Even in production, color is starting to make sense.
Here are nine reasons to scan in color instead of black and white:
1.To make good-looking Web sites. Nobody will buy your product on the Web unless they can see what it looks like. Color photos make a product more desirable than black and white.
2.To beautify reports and presentations. Pie charts and bar charts look better in color than they do in black and white. They're more dramatic.
Epson and Fujitsu now put color images of their products in their press releases. This is handy. You don't have to guess what the product looks like. In printing, color photos make a bigger impact on a page than black and white photos. At Imaging Magazine we rarely give our art director black and white photos. Black and white photos in a magazine are boring.
3.To add your own or customers' logos to documents. Color logos make a document look more professional and make customers happy.
4.To better read and interpret documents. Companies are starting to process forms and other documents with color scanners. Color scanners handle color dropout better. They can pick up odd ink colors. They help you read damaged documents. They can tell the difference between a red stamp and the blue ink printed over it.
Airline tickets, for example, tend to be very noisy, with dot-matrix printing and overlapping stickers and stamps. Some are still red carbon backed tickets. Only color scanning produces a true representation of an airline ticket.
5.To scan incoming forms and other mail. "If your mailroom receives documents from all over, you don't know what you're getting," says Derrick Murphy, director of operations at Imaging Business Machines (Birmingham, AL 205-956-4071). "Some documents have highlighter on them. Some have pictures. Some are noisy." Only color scans handle all those factors.
6.To reduce exception items. Color captures much more detail. Even when documents have been rained on or had coffee spilled on them, you can still key from their color images.
7.To make better intranets. Say you set up a nationwide intranet for sharing documents. You don't want people in Chicago calling San Francisco to get a document rescanned. Color scanning increases the chances of document images being readable over a network. Yes the image file sizes are bigger. But with compression, they're not that much bigger.
8.To capture photographs with documents. Some scanners can process a document with an attached photo, such as a driver's license or an insurance application, and output the text in black and white and the photo part in color. This gives you the best of both worlds -- good OCR material and a recognizable photo.
9.To do fun stuff. Greeting cards. Calendars. Emailing pictures of the kids to Uncle Frank.
When you go to buy a color scanner, here are some things to look for:
Resolution. The number of dots per inch the scanner can capture. As always, the higher the resolution the more detailed and clear the image will be and the more you can blow it up on a monitor. The larger the file size will be. Look for optical, not interpolated, resolution. If there are two numbers, such as 300 x 600 dpi, the lower number, the horizontal scanning direction, is the number to consider.
Bit Depth. The amount of color information the scanner collects. Typically these scanners capture 8, 10 or 12 bits per color (red, blue and green) making the bit depth 24, 30 or 36. The more color information they collect, the more accurate the colors are going to be. Most scanning software programs only output 24-bit color. However the extra bits in 30-bit, 36-bit or higher color depths are useful because often the software uses them to correct noise and other problems in the image.
Dynamic Range. Also called optical density range. The range of tones a scanner can capture. It's how well the scanner captures highlights and shadows. It ranges from 0.0 (perfect white) to 4.0 (perfect black). The higher a scanner's optical density range, the more tones in that range it can distinguish. Extra bit depth and quality optics boost a scanner's dynamic range.
Speed. This isn't always in the spec sheets. It's not critical unless you're in a production environment. But it's something to think about as a salesperson demos machines for you. Even if you only scan a few pages a day, a super slow scanner will be a frustrating waste of time.
Software. Some scan utilities let you preview your scans and adjust settings before scanning (resolution, contrast, gamma correction, etc.). Others are more limited. If you edit all your images in Photoshop anyway, this may not be a concern. If you have damaged or poor quality originals that could benefit from sophisticated scanner settings, go for more options.
Color scanners come in many shapes and sizes. These are some of the newest ones, small and large:
Production Color Scanners
Color has a lot of potential in high-speed production of forms and documents.
CGK's (Dallas, TX 214-630-3606) ScanStar 5045 C scans 60 pages a minute in color. This $56,000 scanner provides 24-bit color and 400 dpi resolution. CGK's Digital Color Filtering can separate handwriting in blue ink from a blue background. Forms of different colors can be mixed in one batch. JPEG compression is built into the scanner to keep your file sizes from getting too big.
Imaging Business Machine's (Birmingham, AL 205-956-4071) ImageTrac pushes color documents through at 90 pages a minute and OCRs them on the fly. It can high-speed scan bitonal documents also. It starts at $105,000.
Professional Flatbeds
Graphic arts, desktop publishing, commercial printing and advertising design demand a higher caliber of scanner. Higher resolution, higher bit depth, higher optical density range, higher price.
At Imaging Magazine we've used Agfa's (Wilmington, MA 508-658-5600) Arcus II daily for two years. It's $1,400 with Adobe Photoshop LE and $1,700 with Photoshop 4.0. It's 600 dpi and 36-bit color. We scan all our photos -- not slides -- with it. It's faithful. It works. Look at our beautiful magazine. We get nice pictures from our Agfa.
Yet art director and perfectionist Saul Roldan isn't in love with it. "I feel so-so about it," he says. "It's slow. It doesn't capture tones that well. You have to do more corrections than you would with a higher-end scanner. The dynamic range isn't that good. It breaks pixels badly." Saul is hard to please. The dynamic range is 3.0.
In Agfa's defense, they don't really target that scanner at the likes of us. They offer higher-end scanners. Their $5,000 DuoScan offers a 3.2 optical density range and 1000 x 2000 dpi resolution as well as 36-bit color. We tested scanning transparencies on this scanner in February. We were impressed with the detail and color accuracy we got with it. We could blow our images up several times. This scanner is meant for desktop publishing. It has TwinPlate technology that lets it handle positive and negative film. Batch holders let you scan 35mm slides in a strip and 4x5 transparencies in a batch.
Agfa's very high-end T8000 provides 8000 dpi optical resolution and an optical density range of 4.2. It costs $37,500.
Fuji Photo Film's (Itasca, IL 630-773-7200) $24,000 Fujifilm C-330 is for graphic designers, ad agencies and trade shops. It has an impressive dynamic range -- 3.8. Fuji Photo says this machine produces scans that can be blown up 3,000%. It handles reflective and transmissive originals as well as line art. We're dying to test this as soon as we get it. It's for Macs only.
Hewlett-Packard (Palo Alto, CA 415-857-1501) has replaced its ScanJet 4C family of color scanners with the $800, 30-bit, 600 dpi ScanJet 6100C. I tested this for a day. People in the office gave me vacation pictures to scan. They were happy with how they turned out. The color was true and the pictures were sharp. The scanning utility previews scans and automatically crops them quite accurately so you don't have to. The scanner's legal size glass let me scan an oversize drawing and a page from a large book. You can buy a $500 automatic document feeder and a $700 transparency adapter and snap them on to this device. It comes with Adobe Acrobat 3.0, Corel Web.Graphics, Corel Photo-Paint and Caere OmniPage.
ScanView (Foster City, CA 415-378-6360) recently introduced the ScanMate F8 Plus. This $38,000 4000 dpi scanner provides 48-bit color and a dynamic range of 3.7. The scanning area is 11.7" by 17". It can scan 50 pages an hour. Unlike the other flatbeds mentioned here, this is a big tower. It doesn't go on your desk.
Umax's (Fremont, CA 510-651-9488) PowerLook 3000 ($7,000) offers 1,220 dpi, 42-bit color and a 3.6 dynamic range. It uses a dual lens instead of a charged coupled device. Umax says that using two sets of optics with two different magnification factors lets them achieve higher resolutions than CCD scanners. The scanner comes with Binuscan's PhotoPerfect Master color correction software.
Mid-Speed Color Scanners
Departments and people who scan occasional batches of documents need scanners that are speedy yet not production level. These are starting to come out in color. These types of scanners normally use a SCSI host adapter, SCSI cable and software. This can be tricky to install. Unless you're a SCSI wiz, give yourself extra time to set the scanner up or get help.
Fujitsu's (San Jose, CA 408-432-6333) $1,800 ScanPartner 600C scans 15 pages a minute in 24-bit color. It provides 600 dpi resolution. It converts documents to PDF format on the fly. You can then post them to the Web or an intranet. The scanner comes with Adobe Acrobat 3.0, PhotoShop LE and PageMill as well as Eastman Software's Imaging for Windows Professional Edition. The built-in document feeder holds 50 pages.
The $1,300 Fujitsu 10C scans 10 pages a minute at 300 dpi in 24-bit color. It also comes with a 50-sheet automatic document feeder and Eastman Software's Imaging for Windows. It's a workgroup scanner.
Mitsubishi (Sunnyvale, CA 408-773-3863) offers a 20-pages-per-minute 24-bit, 600 dpi color scanner with a twist: it comes with removable MO or CD-R device. Scan, process and store images in one device. Total cost for the scanner and storage device: $2,500.
For everyday, occasional color scanning, you need a sheet-fed or flatbed.
Small Sheet-feds
Pros: They're small, portable and cheap. They take up little room on your desk. They're the quickest and easiest type of scanner to install -- they often attach via parallel port. They work fine for nonprofessional scans. Some have a detachable head that lets you scan books. Snap the scanning unit off its base. Stand it on a book. It walks over the book and picks up the image as it goes.
Cons: Their quality is not usually as good as a flatbed. Most only accept normal sheets of paper. No torn pages. No oversized documents.
Uses: Fun stuff. Scanning photos where quality is not an issue. Document scanning and OCRing in small batches.
Hewlett-Packard's $250 ScanJet 5s looks like a rabbit. It has a white rounded body. The document feeder is shaped like bunny ears. It's designed for emailing, faxing, filing and OCRing documents as well as copying and annotating forms, making brochures and creating Web pages. It offers 300 dpi resolution and 24-bit color. It comes with Visioneer's PaperPort software and Caere's OmniPage OCR software.
Logitech (Fremont, CA 510-795-8500) makes a few sheet-fed scanners. If you have Universal Serial Bus enabled computers, the $230 PageScan USB is extremely portable. It doesn't require an external power source. It runs off your computer's power using the USB interface. You can plug it in without turning your computer off. It provides 24-bit color and 300 dpi resolution. It comes with Adobe PhotoDeluxe and Xerox's Textbridge OCR.
Logitech's $300 FreeScan provides 600 dpi resolution and 30-bit color. Its automatic document feed accepts 25 pages. Its detachable scanner head lets you scan books. Its SmartSleeve scans tiny items.
The $200 PageScan Color Parallel is a new version of Logitech's PageScan Color Pro. The machine still has 24-bit color and 400 dpi resolution as well as a detachable head. It now has the SmartSleeve feature. It comes with Adobe PhotoDeluxe, Textbridge OCR and DocuMagix's PaperMaster Live software.
Microtek's (Redondo Beach, CA 310-297-5000) $160 Color PageWiz scans in 24-bit color at 300 dpi. It connects to a parallel port for PCs. SCSI for Macs. It comes with Xerox's TextBridge Classic OCR software, Xerox Pagis SE document management software, Ulead's iPhoto Express and iPhoto Plus and MicroFrontier's Color It image editing and paint software.
Mitsubishi's (Sunnyvale, CA 408-773-3863) $300 600 dpi S600C Personal Color Scanner parts with tradition in that it uses a faster SCSI 2 interface instead of parallel. Scan up to six pages a minute in 24-bit color. It comes with Textbridge OCR software and PageManager document management software. It works with Macs and PCs.
Visioneer (Fremont, CA 510-608-0300) makes the tiniest color scanner we've seen, the PaperPort Strobe. The $300 scanner captures 24-bit color and 300 dpi resolution. It comes with the latest version of PaperPort software, version 5.0. Like the other versions of PaperPort, this automatically finds and links to all other application software on your PC as you install it. It comes with photo editing software and TextBridge OCR.
The $300 ViviScan EasyColor scanner from Vivitar (Newbury Park, CA 805-498-7008) scans 24-bit color at 300 dpi. It uses a pass-through parallel port. Its document feeder holds 10 pages. It comes with WordLinx OCR and ULead IPhoto Plus software.
Desktop Flatbeds
Pros: They're versatile. Process batches with automatic document feeders. Scan books and damaged documents by laying them on the glass.
Cons: They take up more space on your desk than sheetfeds.
Uses: Scanning text documents, photos, books, anything you can fit on the glass.
To hobbyists at home, Agfa offers the $300 SnapScan 600. This 600 dpi, 30-bit scanner comes with OmniPage OCR and PaperPort software. This same scanner in a gray casing called SnapScan 600 Art Line comes with MetaTool's Kai's Power Tools SE, Bryce 2.0 SE, Convolver Full and Soap SE. For offices, this scanner is packaged with Adobe Photoshop 4.0 and called StudioStar. It costs $900. With a limited edition of Photoshop it's $750.
We tested the Epson (Torrance, CA 310-782-0770) Expression 636 in February and it rocked. It's fast (sub-one-minute scans), sharp (600 dpi) and gives good color (36-bits and 3.0 optical density range). Since then, Epson has sweetened the deal by dropping the price to between $750 and $1,400, depending how much software you get with it.
HP has replaced its ScanJet 4P line of flatbeds with the $400 ScanJet 5P. The 5P is for scanning neophytes who don't want to spend time with the manual or the software. A green button on the scanner says "Scan." You press this, choose your document type on the screen (photo, text, fax, other) and the scanner sets the settings for you. The ScanJet 5P offers 300 dpi resolution and 24-bit color.
Microtek has three lower-end color flatbeds. The $150 ScanMaker V300 has 24-bit color and 300 dpi resolution. It has a small letter-size glass. It connects to the parallel port. It comes with Caere's OmniPage LE OCR software.
The ScanMaker E3 ($200) also provides 24-bit color and 300 dpi resolution. Its glass scans legal-size documents. It comes with OmniPage, Ulead's PhotoImpact SE and ImagePals 2 Go. The $300 ScanMaker E6 is 30-bit, 600 dpi. It too comes with OmniPage LE and the Ulead software. For $560 this scanner ships with the full version of Adobe Photoshop and Xerox Textbridge Pro.
A few rungs up the price\performance ladder is Microtek's $1,500 ScanMaker III. It comes with a free transparency adapter. It scans 36-bit color at 600 dpi. It ships with the full version of Adobe PhotoShop and Xerox's Textbridge Pro.
Ricoh's (San Jose, CA 408-944-3366) FS2 $2,000 600 dpi 30-bit scanner has a SCSI 2 interface.
Spot Innoscan (Santa Ana, CA 714-434-6743) offers the $150 DynoTak-6P. It's 300 dpi with 30-bit color. It uses a parallel port interface. Bundled software includes Live Picture's FlashPix and Caere OCR.
Spot Innoscan also offers the $200 ScanTak-2C with 24-bit color and 300 dpi. This scanner comes with Scantastic desktop image manager software; ImagePals image editing, photo album and morphing software; Caere's OmniPage OCR; CardScan business card reader software; Insight archiving and retrieval software and ColorDesk color matching and copy software.
Spot's $200 FotoTak-6 photo scanner specializes in reflective photos. It provides 30-bit color and 600 dpi. It comes with a proprietary circuit board that fits into a 16-bit AT-bus slot. Software includes Kai's Power Goo, ISR Ixlaphoto, Monotype Greeting Card Maker, Monotype T-shirt Design Maker, wallpaper software and jigsaw puzzle software.
Umax has several flatbeds. The Astra 1200S ($450) provides 600 dpi resolution and 30-bit color. Its VistaScan scanner driver is sophisticated. Make gamma corrections and adjust highlights, shadows, contrast and brightness on a preview before you scan. The $650 version comes with Adobe PhotoShop 4.0 and Presto PageManager.
Umax's $400 Vista-S6E is meant for small offices and home offices. It has 300 dpi and 24-bit color. It comes with Adobe PhotoDeluxe and NewSoft's Presto PageManager. The "office productivity bundle" comes with Software Publishing's ASAP WordPower instead of PhotoDeluxe.
The $300 Astra 300P from Umax has 24-bit color and 300 dpi resolution. It connects to a parallel port.
The $900 Vista-S12 applies gamma correction to the captured analog image before converting it to a digital image. According to Umax, this raises the 24-bit scanner's color output to a virtual 33 bits. Resolution is 600 dpi. Umax's MagicMatch color correction and calibration software is designed to accurately preserve color from photo or document to monitor to printed page. For $1,000 get the scanner with full-version Adobe PhotoShop. CD. An automatic document feeder or transparency adapter can be added for $500 each.
