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Scanners on a budget

Toronto Star Fast Forward section front for Dec. 4/97

There once was a time, and not that long ago, when having a scanner attached to a computer was only for professional graphics artists or your rich cousin who had more money than sense. Kiss another enduring concept goodbye.

North American scanner prices have fallen over 30 percent since January, monthly sales are twice what they were in 1996, and flatbed scanners are now outselling the Zip drive as the most sought peripheral in 1997, according to Computer Retail Week (October 20).

What it means in real terms is that while you can still buy a high-throughput, professional scanner for$14,000 and more, or a mid-range model for between $1,000 and $1,500, there are a flock of models selling in the Canadian market for under $400 (down to as low as $199).

Players in the home/small business scanner market include Agfa, Epson, Hewlett Packard, Logitech, Microtek, Mustek, Plustek, Storm Technologies, Umax, Visioneer, and, given the rate that companies are jumping into the fray, names will be added to the list in the time it takes me to transmit this story to the Star over the Internet. See below for company Web site links.

Choices include both flatbed scanners and sheetfed scanners as well as hand-held models. Technical specifications are roughly similar within model types, but some differences make individual units faster than others or deliver better quality.

In the price range there are 24-bit (16.77 million colour), 30-bit (1.074 billion colour) and some 36-bit ( 68.72 billion colour) models. Optical resolution (the actual number of dots-per-inch or dpi the scanner will generate) vary from 300 by 300 to 600 by 1200, while interprolated resolution (fancy math games played with software) can rise to 9,600 dpi.

What had to go to bring the prices down? In terms of scanning quality, while some units are better and/or faster than others, you'll find that a large percentage of the low-price units no longer make use of either proprietary or SCSI (small computer systems interface) adapters to get data into a computer. Instead, they use the system's parallel port -- the same port employed by most printers. Once the expensive SCSI adapter and internal circuitry was gone, the price came down (and hooking one up got simpler -- but see below).

The other feature that tends to go away is the ability to scan legal-sized pages. It's not uncommon for "home" flatbed scanners to have 11-inch scan beds.

Why a scanner?

If you have a PC running any flavour of Windows or an Apple Mac, your computing environment is all about pictures. Even a basic word processor allows mixing text and graphics. Desktop publishing long ago moved out of the strictly professional domain and is widely used for everything from lost puppy posters to neighbourhood/community/school/church newsletters. Homework assignments complete with graphs and pictures are so commonplace, teachers don't even blink anymore when they arrive. As more and more families get access to the Internet and start adding their own pages to the World Wide Web, the demand for pictures grows. And we haven't even talked about optical character recognition (OCR) for turning printed text into editable computer text.

Unless you have access to lots of CD-ROM based graphics, everything from (watch that copyright) pictures from magazines and books to selected shots from the family photo album need a way to be translated into digital images your computer can use. Until this year's dramatic price plunge, having a friend with a scanner (or paying through the nose to a professional service bureau) was the only way to accomplish the task.

It's the proliferation of uses and the arrival of scads of software programs that can use scanned input directly through TWAIN drivers (see below) that is driving the market and the falling prices. Not too long ago, scan-enabled products were limited to high-end programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator or similar products from Corel and Micrografx. Desktop publishing programs such as QuarkXpress or Adobe PageMaker were also on the list. Today, the number of applications that are scan-enabled include home greeting card and poster products, e-mail products, light home photo touch-up products, PC Fax products and virtually every module in office suites from Microsoft, Lotus and Corel. There are even some paint programs for kids that will accept scanned images.

Picking the scanner type

There are three primary types of scanners on the market today: sheet-fed, flatbed and handheld -- although given that flatbed and sheet-fed models are now priced where handhelds used to be, buying one is hardly justified any longer. In one recent catalogue from a well-known Canadian computer retailer, for example, handhelds had vanished altogether {Computer City Canada, October - mw}.

Sheet-fed and flatbed scanners have both pros and cons. Flatbeds take up more desktop space, but they're more flexible. They can handle bulky or oversized objects such as books or newspaper pages (albeit one small section at a time), small objects such as stamps, newspaper clippings, business cards or photos, and low profile 3-dimensional objects (such as coins, circuit boards and similarly "flat" items). A colour flatbed may well be less expensive than a colour sheet-fed scanner. When you wish to scan for OCR, however, unless you've added an automatic document feeder (ADF) which may cost as much or more than the scanner itself, you're doing it one sheet at a time. You may also find that the software bundled with the flatbed is more robust than that shipping with a sheet-fed model.

Sheet-fed models at the low end of the price scale don't have ADFs, either, but tend to be more compact and take up less desktop space. They are not suitable for small or fragile originals and if the scan bed doesn't feature guides (such as in the Visioneer PaperPort Vx), even standard letter pages may skew during feed. However, a monochrome sheet-fed scanner used exclusively for OCR with standard page sizes may still fall into this price range, even with a small (20-page) feeder. If you need a sheet-fed model primarily for OCR work, but also wish to scan bulkier objects, look to Logitech for its PageScan Colour or to the Xerox HomeCentre.multifunction device with detachable scan heads.

TWAIN?

While most scanners in today's market are TWAIN compatible, you don't want one if it isn't. Depending on whose account you read, TWAIN either stands for Technology Without An Independent Name (the original name) or Technology Without An Interesting Name (a later variation). It was developed jointly by companies manufacturing scanners and a small group of software publishers with products that could use scanned input (which has since grown to include all of the products noted above).

The idea was born in the bad old days when both software folks and printer folks had to supply drivers for each others' products for them to work together. Even with (in some cases) literally hundreds of drivers shipping with a word processor, people who bought a new printer might not have been able to use it. The scanner/graphics crowd figured correctly that if they started playing the same game, consumers would shun the products. TWAIN was the result -- a common driver that allows a TWAIN compatible application to call up a TWAIN-compatible scanner and take the results directly without having to have a model-specific scanner driver or to go through another piece of software in the middle.

Although some TWAIN drivers offer more pre-scan services for previewing and fine-tuning results than others, the basic function remains and, remarkably, the two industries haven't queered the soup. TWAIN works. If a scanner is TWAIN compatible, you'll see it mentioned in the promotional and advertising material. If it isn't mentioned, ask. If it doesn't have a TWAIN driver, leave it alone.

Buying tips

Whether a low-priced scanner or a more professional model is best for you still depends largely on what you want to do with it.

If all your output is to your computer screen (as it would be for Web pages, for example), there's no point scanning at a higher resolution than 72 dots per inch (dpi). Aside from not seeing the difference, you'll eat up your hard drive at a prodigious rate. How prodigious? A 4" by 6" photograph scanned using 24-bit colour will eat up over 4 MB at 240 dpi, 9 MB at 360 dpi, and 36.3 MB at 720 dpi (and even if you print all of them on a 720 dpi inkjet printer, you'll be hard-pressed to see the difference). A low-range scanner with optical resolution of 300 by 600 dpi will work just fine. Optical character recognition seldom benefits from resolutions higher than 300 dpi (unless you're scanning very small text), so these models will work here, too.

Mid-range scanners (600 by 1200 dpi) may be better if you're planning to print your results to a colour inkjet such as the Epson Stylus 600 (720 by 1440 dpi), while for professional use (and outside our price range), where the results are headed for an image setter, 1200 by 2400 dpi optical resolution may be required.

Optical resolution (e.g., 300 by 600) tells you how many horizontal points the scanner's charge couple device (CCD) has and determines how much fine detail the scanner can pick up as its light bar moves down the image (by the way, unlike earlier colour scanners, all models in today's market scan only once instead of three separate times for each primary colour). The vertical resolution determines how much detail is picked up as the bar moves and will affect how quickly the scanner can pick up an image. The higher the horizontal resolution, the more detailed the result; vertical resolution affects speed, not detail. By the way, ask to make sure which number has been listed first if it isn't specified in the specs. Some companies like to play marketing games by listing vertical before horizontal.

Interprolated (software generated) resolution, which may reach 2400 by 2400 all the way up to 9600 by 9600 represents fancy games played by the scanner's software. In essence, it takes data from two points on the CCD, and averages the difference (your final output represents both what the scanner saw and what it didn't see). You'll use it rarely, but it might come in handy if you're taking a 300 dpi scan and plan to have it printed on a high-resolution image setter later.

Is a high resolution necessarily better? Perhaps, but only if the scanner's other optics are of high-quality, too. See the reference to the November PC Magazine tests, below.

Colour depth requirements will vary, too. Again, for Internet use, 24-bit colour is more than adequate. Among other concerns, there are no consumer-level graphics adapters that will produce more than 16.77 million colours on screen (even if the human eye could distinguish more shades than that) and Internet graphics seldom appear with more than 16-bit colour values, so you won't see the difference. Although 30-and 36-bit scanners can produce billions of colour variations, the additional bit-depth goes into refining shadows, highlights and other features that are not, strictly speaking, directly colour related. OCR makes no use of colour at all, so a 36-bit scanner is significant overkill.

If you already have a SCSI adapter in your computer, it won't matter to you if the scanner you're eyeing requires SCSI to get images into your system. It will cost more if it does. However, if you settle for a parallel (i.e., printer port) model, there are some additional concerns. You will need a parallel port that is at least bi-directional (able to both send and receive data). In order to complete a scan before coffee break, however, you may also need one that can be configured to be either an EPP (enhanced parallel port) or ECP (enhanced capabilities port). Both variations offer higher speed throughput that some of these models require to work efficiently. And that's where the problems might arise.

Some colour inkjet printers won't work with the port in ECP mode. Some older PCs (older Pentiums, 486s or older), may not provide enough power to the parallel port to punch through the connector on the scanner to get to the printer. If you're not sure what you have, consider adding a circuit board with an extra parallel port just for the scanner (less than $30).

If all else appears equal, look at the software bundle. Does it include the full version of the offered application(s). Often the bundle may contain "lite" or "special edition" (SE) versions that are function-limited and little more than demoware. You might also ask among friends or check out the Internet to get some sense of what's considered good and not-so-good OCR software, if that's your primary use.

Of course, you never buy any hardware (or software for that matter) without discussing with the vendor what operating system you're using and which version of it. You want to make sure you have the correct drivers in the box. And, while we're at it, ask about cables, too. Never assume that all the parts you need to connect your new device are included. Have an Internet connection or a friend who does? As soon as you get your scanner home and install its drivers, check the manufacturer's Website to see if there are updated drivers -- and don't be surprised if there are.

You can expect a one to two year warranty (ask to make sure), but, even though scanners are relatively easy to connect and set up, a toll-free support line and Internet home page are useful, too.

Tale of the tape

Although I'll only mention those brands/models commonly available in Canada this month, you might want to check the November 4th edition of PC Magazine for an in-depth test report on "SOHO" (small office/home office) scanners. In brief, testing performance in black and white, the Visioneer Paper Port Strobe was fastest, followed in order by the Logitech PageScan Color, Microtek Color PageWiz, HP ScanJet 5s, Umax PageOffice IIc, and Storm Technology EasyPhoto SmartPage Pro.

For colour scans, the tale was different. The Logitech was swiftest, followed by Microtek, Storm, Umax, Visioneer and HP ScanJet.

Check http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/scanner-soho/techtest.htm for more detailed technical quality tests.

As noted previously, OCR accuracy tends to be a function of the software bundled with the products, instead of the scanner itself. According to tests conducted by PC World on slightly different models in January of this year, accuracy for basic one-column text such as you'd find in a business letter, tends to over 97 percent. However, when two columns or more of text is involved (as you'd find in a magazine or newspaper), accuracy can plummet. PC World judged the accuracy of Logitech PageScan Color, Storm EasyPhoto SmartPage, Umax PageOffice Color IIc, Microtek ScanMaker E3 and Plustek OpticPro 4800P, "unacceptable."

More info

Companies mentioned here:

Agfa - http://www.agfa.ca 416-241-9643 or 800-268-6270

Epson - http://www.epson.com 800-922-8911

Hewlett Packard - http://www.canada.hp.com 800-387-3867

Logitech - http://www.logitech.com 800-231-7717

Microtek - http://www.microtekusa.com 310-297-5000 or 800-654-4160

Mustek - http://www.mustek.com 714-790-3800 (no toll-free number)

Plustek - http://www.plustekusa.com 408-745-7111 or 800-685-8088

Storm Technologies, http://stormtech.com c/o Keating Technologies, 905-479-0230, or 800-565-3284

Umax - http://www.umax.com 510-651-4000 or 800-562-0311

Visioneer - http://www.visioneer.com 510-608-0300 (no toll-free number)

Other sources of scanner information:

The following sites provide resources for anyone interested in flatbed scanners.

-- http://cctpwww.cityu.edu.hk/public/graphics/g3_scan.htm Technical Information Series, Scanner and Related Information (City University of Hong Kong); links to tons of scanner information, including scanner manufacturer home pages, articles, and hardware and software information.

-- http://www.smithy.net/TMC/TMC_ten_tips_article.html Ten Tips on Scanning; pithy hints on how to get good results from just about any scanner.

-- http://www.infomedia.net/scan/The-Scan-FAQ.html The Scanning FAQ (frequently asked questions); tips and techniques of image scanning for the desktop publisher, multimedia presenter and graphic artist; describes the unique problems of scanning different types of art, including line art, halftones, gray-scale and colour images.

-- http://www.mustek.com/links-3.html Mustek; links to sites with free, shareware and trial versions of scanning software. Leading from its main page, Mustek also has some good FAQs on general scanning questions.

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