January 1999

Renaissance Scanner

Penny Lunt

Like an artist who can paint, sing and write, the multitalented ScanStar 5045 color scanner can do three tasks at once. This $80,000 scanner from Siemens/CGK (Vienna, VA 703-917-6264) can simultaneously capture and output color, grayscale and bitonal images without slowing from its top speed of 55 ppm. You can independently set resolution levels and compression levels for each version of the image.

How could you use this triple output stream? You could send the bitonal image to an OCR/ICR engine, store the grayscale version in a signature archive and feed the highly readable color image to key-from-image, edit or verify stations. Store the color image in an archive or clip a portion of the image, such as a passport photo, and store that as a small color file in a customer folder. Five forms processing companies are adjusting their software to accommodate the ScanStar 5045ıs triple action scanning.

But like a person who tries to do too many things at once, this machine doesnıt do everything perfectly. Its 24-bit color images are good at 150 dpi -- the color is accurate, if a little dark, and text is very readable in a reasonably JPEG-compressed file. You can see text on a color page that is completely lost in a grayscale or bitonal image. For example, we scanned a page with a small picture of a black credit card on it. We could read the account number clearly on the color image while the bitonal and grayscale versions completely lost the number. Land records -- white type on a black background -- were completely readable when scanned in color on the ScanStar 5045. The task would be hopeless on a bitonal or grayscale scanner.

I was a little disappointed with the 5045ıs grayscale and bitonal images. At 200 dpi, six- and four-point type was broken up. When we upped the resolution to 300 dpi, six-point type became clear.

In tests, the scanner exceeded its rated speed, running at about 58 pages per minute. This is impressive considering we were receiving bitonal, color and grayscale images simultaneously. In duplex mode, you can capture a total of four images off each document. You could capture color and bitonal images off the front and bitonal and grayscale off the back.

The paper feeder is very efficient. The input tray is sensitive to weight and rises as paper leaves the tray so that the top sheet is always level with the first set of rollers. Thereıs a retard roller that pushes back a second sheet if two are fed together. The doublefeed detection is based on paper thickness, so mixed paper thicknesses are not a strong point for this scanner.

The paper path is smooth, despite its tricky ıCı shape. It returns paper in a neat stack in the order itıs put in. A button lets you flush jams out of the transport. If the button doesnıt do the trick, itıs simple to open the upper part of the scanner to retrieve the jammed paper, although it is quite heavy. The rollers in the upper transport come with three types of rubber coatings that you switch for onion skin, shiny paper or thick paper. The rollers that carry paper past the camera are ceramic, which keeps them constant in diameter. The camera is sealed so no dust can get in. A black background ensures accurate cropping.

How do you handle color dropout with a color scanner? The 5045 has color filtering software that lets you drop out any color you like. You scan a document in color, select the document definition feature and click and drag over a portion of the background of the document that includes a border, which is usually darker, to create a filter. The scanner holds 15 filters and you can store more on your hard drive. You can include multiple colors in a filter.

In practice, this filter approach seems a little tricky. Itıs fine if your background is a sheer block of unvaried color. It has trouble with dithered printing -- dots of color rather than solid color -- or a background pattern. CGK can create filters for you that accommodate complex backgrounds.

New ActiveX controls let you add things like cropping and deskewing to the JobScan softwareıs functions.

The ScanStar 5045ıs recommended workload is 7,000 to 10,000 documents a day. Its fluorescent bulbs last 3,000 hours.

This is a very useful scanner for those that want to start capturing color images in production. Its color images are excellent. Color can help you avoid rescans and verify information much more efficiently. This could make a world of difference in processing insurance or credit card applications. U

Quick Scan

Siemens/CGK

Vienna, VA 703-917-6264

Scanner: ScanStar 5045

Price: $80,000 for the color version

Speed: 55 pages per minute

Duty cycle: 10,000 pages a day

Resolution: 100 to 400 dpi

Duplex support: yes

Strengths: Ability to simultaneously output color, grayscale and bitonal images from a document at rated speed. Accurate 24-bit color and smooth paper feeding.

Weakness: Modest image quality on bitonal and grayscale images, considering the price.