Test lab. (scanners)(includes related articles) (Evaluation)
by Mike Hudnall, Peter Scisco, David Sears, David English, Robert Bixby, Tony Roberts, Tom Benford
by Mike Hudnall, Peter Scisco, David Sears, David English, Robert Bixby, Tony Roberts, Tom Benford
Scanners have won their rightful place on the desktop. Publishers no longerhave to make do with clip art from third parties, artists are able to transfertheir work instantly to electronic formats, and writers can import text fromprinted sources almost as easily as cutting and pasting it from anotherapplication.
LOGITECH SCANMAN MODEL 256 Plug a scanner into your computer, and you plug into a whole new level of versatility. I've had no regrets since hooking up a Logitech ScanMan Model 256 gray-scale scanner as part of a desktop publishing setup. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Logitech Scanman model 256 grayscale scanner user's manual at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
The strong demand for low-cost scanning alternatives has resulted in a crowdedfield of manufacturers and marketers, each trying to outdo the rest byoffering convenience and high-powered applications as premiums with thepurchase of a hand scanner.
This month's Test Lab covers hand scanners with a focus on graphics. Today'sscanner manufacturers offer a wide variety of prices, capabilities, andbundles. Some might include low-cost DOS software; others take advantage ofthe Windows environment. Some scanners even work with OCR (Optical CharacterRecognition) software. If you see a package here that looks attractive, checkwith the manufacturer for additional options.
Few peripheral devices place such heavy processing demands on a personalcomputer as scanners do, and you may discover that installation is not assimple as slipping in a card. Editors found themselves reading installationmanuals carefully (for some it was the first time they'd ever had to readone), trying Windows in different modes, editing PIF files, and in one case,trying different computers to make their scanners operate properly. Althoughscanners are, in the main, user-friendly after installation, more work needsto be done to make them easier to install. Fortunately, most scanners comewith free technical support and friendly, helpful support personnel.
Whether you're a teacher, an artist, a writer, or a desktop publisher, ifyou're in the market for a hand scanner, you've never had more choices orlower costs.
THE COMPLETE HALF-PAGE
SCANNER/GS
Steady-handed I'm definitely not, as the family photo album will clearly show.However, I found that the Complete Half-Page Scanner/GS offers smooth,dependable scanning--and up to 256 shades of gray.
I approached this product evaluation with a combination of eager anticipationand trepidation. On the one hand, I was eager to see how this unimposingdevice could scan line art for a newsletter or photos for a family history. On the other, I had struggled enough with interrupt and address conflicts toknow that I could be letting myself in for some tedious tinkering with DIPswitches, jumpers, and software settings. The installation proved to bereasonably easy--default settings worked on one computer but not on another.
This scanner comes with its own special version of Image-In, a Windows programused for both image scanning and image enhancement. Unfortunately, my firstattempts at scanning with this product left members of my family looking likethe Coneheads, owing to an intermittent blurring effect. Line art I scannedalso came out with odd intermittent blurs or 'garbage.' Some experimentingwith Windows settings revealed that this odd effect occurred on my computeronly with Windows operating in Standard and Enhanced modes. Running theprogram in Real mode solved the problem, and my family looked as normal aspossible--at least without any appearance of cranial abnormalities.
In combination with the Image-In software, this scanner gives you a number ofattractive features. You can scan images with resolutions up to 400 dots perinch or with up to 256 shades of gray, adjust brightness, and manipulate thescanned image in a number of ways. Edit the gray-map; enhance edges; andsharpen, blur, rotate, or flip the image. You can save your scanned images ina number of popular formats, including PCX, TIFF, BMP, and PostScript EPS.
The scanner itself performed well. I found the design comfortable and thecontrols workable. In addition to the button that initiates the scan, thescanner includes a brightness control, a gray-levels switch, and a resolutionswitch. For optimal scanning, the resolution and gray levels must be set inconcert: To scan at 256 gray scales required that the scanner be set for 100dpi; to scan at 16 gray scales, 200 dpi; and to scan in monochrome, 300 or 400dpi.
I found the documentation very good for the most part, offering helpfulillustrations, tips, coverage of the available features, and even a shortcourse. Particularly useful to me were the examples of images modified withthe program's various features. A section devoted to troubleshooting would bea welcome addition to the next version of the program.
As I managed to use the scanner only in Real mode with my PC, I found it adisadvantage to move from Image-In to a program like WinRix, which requiresEnhanced mode. However, I can live with this limitation, and the folks at TheComplete PC assure me that this package is designed to to work in Enhancedmode.
The smooth operation, numerous software features, and reliability of TheComplete Half-Page Scanner/GS make up for the limitations I experienced. Andas I'm not involved in heavy-duty desktop publishing, the price and featuressuit me well and make this an attractive package.
DFI CHS-4000
COLOR HANDY
SCANNER
Are you an aspiring desktop publisher looking for color scanning capabilities,but you don't want to shell out a pile of money for a color flatbed scanner? Take heart. The CHS-4000 Color Handy Scanner from DFI offers full-colordesktop scanning capabilities as well as superb black-and-white scanning. It's easy to use and flexible in its operation.
Installation of this scanner is reasonably uncomplicated. The Handy Scanner'sbus board plugs into an empty 16-bit slot in your PC. Attach the scanner tothe board, and then use the scanner's Exerciser software to scan images andsave them in PCX format. The Exerciser program is bare-bones--a simple menuwith options for setting the scan mode, vertical and horizontal resolutions,brightness, hue, contrast, dither pattern, gamma correction, and display mode(monochrome, EGA, or VGA). You can also save and load PCX files from themenu, as well as start your scan.
Although very simple compared with full-blown imaging software, the Exercisersoftware will let you get started with your Handy Scanner right away. Andbecause you can save your files as PCX files, you can import them later intomost desktop publishing and illustration programs or convert them to differentfile formats like TIFF or EPS.
In addition, the Handy Scanner package includes a copy of PC Paintbrush IVPlus, which you can use instead of the scanner's Exercise program; however,you should be aware that PC Paintbrush IV Plus requires an expanded memorydriver to work properly. If you're running extended memory in a 386-class PC,you can create expanded memory support by using the EMM386.SYS driver fromyour DOS directory.
Other system requirements include one megabyte of memory and four megabytes ofavailable hard disk space. You should also have a VGA display capable of 256colors at 640 x 400 resolution to view the results.
With practice and patience, you'll soon be producing high-quality color scanswith the Handy Scanner. The unit itself provides plenty of constructivefeedback during operation through its use of LED indicators. And though thesoftware is without frills, it's suitable for grabbing images that can laterbe enhanced.
KYE GENISCAN
GS-B105G PLUS
Take a quick image-grabbing safari with the GS-B105G, stalking new Windowswallpaper or newspaper articles for the family newsletter. You'll see themerits of a multipurpose scanner.
The GS-B105G scanner will scan in resolutions from 100 to 400 dpi, and in theself-explanatory modes of black-and-white, low dither, high dither, andVGA-true 256 gray scale. You adjust these settings via switches on eitherside of the scanner. A thumb wheel controls contrast, and an astutely placedstart button rounds out the physical controls.
Manipulating images couldn't be simpler, using the included iPhoto software. This Windows application concentrates on processing your raw data through anumber of filters. Although color or black-and-white photographs already scanwith remarkable clarity and speed thanks to the hardware when set for 256 grayscale, you reserve the right to enhance, average, sharpen, or blur yourscanned image. These effects turn your PC into a photo-processing lab.
Most people don't run Windows under true 256-color mode for the sake of speed.To see fair reproductions of your stunning full-gray images, convert them to16-color BMP files with iPhoto. A nifty iPhoto option makes the step down inquality less noticeable with choices of gray, pseudo color, and firelight (redand yellow scale) remapped palettes. Toy with the Hue and Saturation slidersto tweak the colors into acceptability.
You'll find a second scanning program--a gray-scale version of ColorMaestro--bundled with the GS-B105G. This software offers more features commonto paint programs and doesn't require Windows to run. I found Color Maestroless satisfactory, though, because of its extreme slowness and constant diskaccessing.
How many times have you found yourself with only hardcopies of a documentafter a terrible hard drive crash? Install the included optical characterreader (OCR) software, CAT OCR, and replace your files with a few passes ofthe GS-B105G. Output your OCR work in WordStar, WordPerfect, and ASCIIformats. If CAT OCR's reasonably effective reference font doesn't meet yourstandards for speed or accuracy, you can build your own specializedfont-recognition library. This process takes only minutes.
Windows veterans will need the concise manuals only for advanced work;neophytes will be scanning everything in sight just moments after a cursoryreading. A marvel of simplicity and winning design, the speedy GS-B105Gsoftware and hardware bundle makes scanning as effortless as using a mouse.
KYE GENISCAN
GS-C105 PLUS
Does anyone really need a color hand scanner? A year or two ago, I would'vesaid that you should consider one only if you're looking to dabble in high-endcolor desktop publishing. But now with Windows and multimedia playing alarger part in our software lives and high-resolution monitors multiplyinglike rabbits, we have more ways than ever to use scanned color images.
KYE International offers two inexpensive color-hand scanner packages that letyou enter the age of color without having to take out a second mortgage onyour house. The $649 GS-C105 package includes a 256-color hand scanner, theDOS-based Color Maestro program, and an interface card. The GS-C105 Pluspackage costs just $50 more and adds two programs: CAT OCR for OCR textscanning and the Windows-based iPhoto for sophisticated gray-scale and colorimage manipulation (including support for 24-bit display adapters). Whileonly a masochist would want to do a lot of OCR work with a graphics-based handscanner, iPhoto adds extra file formats, editing tools, and image-processingcapabilities that you might want to take advantage of.
But be warned--you must have expanded memory (also known as EMS or LIM memory)in order to perform 256-color scans. If you don't have expanded memory butyou do have DOS 5.0, you can use DOS's built-in expanded memory manager,EMM386, to convert your extended memory to expanded memory. (Put a RAM switchafter DEVICE=C:DOSEMM386.EXE in your CONFIG.SYS file; check your DOS 5.0manual for details.) If you don't have DOS 5.0, you can use QEMM-386, 386Max,BlueMax, Turbo EMS, or another expanded memory manager to convert yourextended memory to expanded. Without expanded memory, you'll only be able tocaputre 2- and 16-color images. In addition, Color Maestro supports many ofthe higher-resolution modes of the popular Super VGA cards, and iPhotosupports any resolution that's supported by Windows.
Despite unevern documentation and the occasional software glitch, the GeniScanGS-C105 Plus will reward the patient user with excellent-quality color images.For frequent use, consider a $1,200-$2,000 flatbed color scanner. But foroccasional use and a relatively inexpensive introduction to color scanning,take a good look at either of KYE's color-scanner bundles.
LOGITECH SCANMAN
MODEL 256
Plug a scanner into your computer, and you plug into a whole new level ofversatility. I've had no regrets since hooking up a Logitech ScanMan Model256 gray-scale scanner as part of a desktop publishing setup.
Scanning materials for publication is not easy, but Logitech's scanner sportsexcellent controls and includes Ansel, an outstanding image editor.
ScanMan installs easily, with the only stumbling block being possibleconflicts with I/O base addresses and IRQs. The ScanMan adapter board fits ineither an 8-bit or a 16-bit slot, but using the latter is preferred because itpermits the ScanMan to use IRQ 11 or 12. This ensures you'll avoid conflictswith mouse and COM ports, but if trouble arises, you'll find plenty of help inthe manual.
Once you have installed the system, fire up Windows, run Ansel, calibrate yourscanner, and start scanning.
Scanner controls include a resolution switch, to select resolutions rangingfrom 100 to 400 dpi; an image mode switch, to choose either black-and-whitemode or 16-, 64-, or 256-gray-scale modes; and a contrast dial, to minimizeproblems in your original. ScanMan also includes a scan speed indicator tohelp you avoid losing data by scanning too fast.
Working with black-and-white line art is less difficult than working withgray-scale images, but the image-editing software provides excellent tools forboth.
Once an image is scanned, Ansel permits you to enlarge the image and modify itpixel by pixel. A black-and-white logo scanned for use in a newsletter orbrochure cleans up nicely with Ansel.
Ansel also allows you to rotate, flip, and crop images; and the softwareincludes a 'deskew' option that helps you straighten an imperfectly scannedimage. Gray-scale images can be lightened, darkened, sharpened, smoothed, orequalized. By working with a combination of these tools, you can produceimages that look beautiful--on your computer monitor. Transferring theseimages to the printed page with satisfactory contrast and clarity takesexperimentation.
Printing controls are extensive. If your printer allows it, you can print thegray scales, or you have the option of using dithering or error diffusion tosimulate gray shades. You have full control over output size, and you canselect from a series of borders if you'd like your artwork framed.
Exporting to other applications is easily accomplished. Files can be saved inTIFF, EPS, PCX, and BMP formats. In saving your files, you can control theresulting document's dpi and image size.
Although ScanMan's scanning window is only four inches wide, larger documentscan be accommodated using Ansel's stitch feature, which permits you to scanitems in segments and match the segments up onscreen. It's not easy, but witha steady hand and some practice, you can put together seamless images.
The ScanMan 256 gray-scale scanner hardware/software combination is a solidvalue and a worthy desktop publishing tool.
MARSTEK M-800W
For black-and-white scanning, this Marstek model provides adequate, if notexceptional, capabilities. It boasts several good features, such as easyinstallation and sound software support. But those features must be balancedagainst weak documentation and unimpressive use of the Windows environment.
The M-800W will scan at 800-dpi resolution, an impressive capability fordesktop publishers and others looking for high-quality images to enhance theirdocuments and publications. The size of the image to be scanned is limited byyour computer's memory--I recommend at least four megabytes of system memory. If you run an expanded memory driver, the size of the images can be somewhatlarger than if you're running extended memory.
Other system requirements include Windows, but here, too, there are limits. You can run the scanner software only in Real or Standard mode, which defeatsthe purpose of a multitasking environment (unless you limit yourself torunning only Windows applications--perhaps a possibility for desktoppublishers who might live exclusively in the Windows environment).
Although the installation process is rather straightforward (insert a bus cardinto your computer, plug the scanner into the card, and then install theImage-In software), the overall documentation isn't nearly clear or completeenough.
The manual covering the hardware runs a brief seven pages. There is notroubleshooting section, nor is there any clear indication of how interruptsor DMA conflicts are to be resolved. I experienced parity errors on my systemuntil I managed to reconfigure the hardware by trial and error--not exactlythe way you want to approach a problem involving high-tech hardware such as ahand scanner. The Image-In software documentation is little better,apparently having been either translated or written outside of the UnitedStates.
As for performance, the M-800W produces well-defined black-and-white halftonesfrom color originals and produces very good images of line art. The scanneralso can import text, provided you have software like Perceive Personal,available from Marstek for $695 (a coupon included with the M-800W allows youto purchase the OCR software for $129).
If you don't require a top-of-the-line scanner for your black-and-white imagesor line art or if your budget excludes the top-end scanners from your system,the Marstek M-800W may suit your needs. You'll have to live within somelimitations, but if you can accept the boundaries, this scanner will expandyour graphic horizons.
MIGRAPH CS-4096
Are you looking for great color capabilities in a hand-held scanner? Migraph's color scanner goes so far above and beyond what most hand scannerusers would want or need, delivering a 4096-color scan at 200 dpi (fixed),that it's a little disappointing to discover that the second-best scan is 8colors at 400 dpi (you can set the scanner to any multiple of 10 dpi between100 and 400 for all scan levels but the 4096-color scan).
This 8-color scan is called color line art. The scanner is capable ofscanning monochrome line art, also. There are settings for color andmonochrome dithered graphics as well, but these didn't work properly on mymachine, and technical support was at a loss to speculate as to why. The4096-color images can be saved as 256-color images to save some space.
The software that accepts and displays the scanned image is a very simpleWindows program that does little more than give you access to the necessarysoftware settings for the different levels of scanning. You can setresolution and adjust your color settings to make the scanned image morerealistic.
The scanner is shipped with Picture Publisher, which used to be published byAstral but is now a Micrografix program. Unfortunately, drivers are notavailable that would allow the scanner to scan directly into PicturePublisher. In order to transfer the image between the two programs, you muststore it on disk or transfer it via the Clipboard (Picture Publisher is also aWindows program). I found this to be a terrific bother and was oftenpresented with insufficient memory and insufficient disk space messages whiletrying to effect the transfer. The CS-4096 also ships with ImagePrep, ascreenn-capture, file-conversion and -compression, and image-processingprogram.
The CS-4096 blinks its lights if you scan too rapidly. This is oneenhancement I'd like to see added to all hand scanners. Most give so littlefeedback that hand scanning is pure trial and error. The installation issimple and strighforward, and (though this experience may be unique to me) foronce I didn't have to change jumpers to make a board work. Somehow Migraphhad set the jumpers to work perfectly with the IRQs and DMAs in even my fullypacked computer.
The principal use of this scanner (particularly its 4096-color scan) would bepreparing images and backgrounds for presentations on the computer screen. The lesser levels are useful and provided clear images, but the software usedto capture these images can be cumbersome, and you must use more than onesoftware package to create things like 256 gray scales. By the time you readthis, the product will probably be shipping with the new, award-winningversion of Picture Publisher. I hope that a driver will also be availablethat will capture images into that program so that they will be immediatelyuseful.
MOUSE SYSTEMS
PAGEBRUSH/COLOR
The PageBrush/Color hand scanner puts full-color desktop scanning within reachof PC publishers and desktop graphic artists. Supporting both 24-bit colorscanning and 8-bit black-and-white scanning, this unit proves itself bothversatile and easy to operate.
Installation consists of plugging a bus board into an empty 16-bit slot inyour PC. Attach the scanner to the board; then install the ImageQuest scannersoftware. Using the PageBrush/Color requires Windows 3.0, which simplifiesthe installation process. Other system requirements include one megabyte ofmemory, a VGA display capable of 256 colors at 640 X 400 resolution (for bestresults, your video board should have a Windows driver, and Windows should beset to 256-color mode), and a hard disk with a minimum of four megabytes offree space.
An LED indicating the scanner's resolution flashes when the scanner isactivated. It stops flashing when the scanner is warmed up.
Welcome feedback is supplied as you operate this device. If you happen tomove the scanner too quickly, the top Mode light blinks. The light will gooff if you have lost any part of the image data because of unsure or too-quickmovements. If this happens, you'll have to begin the scanning process again.
If you create a black-and-white scan, you can select from five levels ofresolution--from pure black-and-white and four modes of dithered gray scales. Experimenting with the setting will let you translate color images into clearblack-and-white images for simple desktop publishing chores. Color images arescanned in 12-bit color, which can be saved as 24-or 12-bit color TIFF filesor as MAC files.
Effective image capture and processing requires not just a good scanner andsoftware but also flexibility in processing the scanned images. To that end,Mouse Systems includes a copy of ImagePrep from Computer Presentations withthe PageBrush/Color scanner. This software package allows you to process yourimages professionally. Using ImagePrep in conjunction with the scanningsoftware allows you to enhance and fine-tune scanned images and save thoseimages in a variety of formats--including EPS, PCX, CPI, TIFF, and others.
The PageBrush/Color scanner produces adequate scanned images for use in avariety of applications. Its ease-of-use is enhanced by solidimage-processing software. With practice, you can soon be creating full-colorimages for business presentations, desktop publishing, graphic illustration,or multimedia applications.
NISCA NISCAN/GS
I had the good fortune to be assigned the NISCAN/GS gray-scale hand scannerfor this review. A very workmanlike product, this scanner was comfortable inthe hand and generated images of high quality at up to 256 gray scales.
The NISCAN/GS ships with Image-In, a software product with which I have had alove-hate relationship for some time. It's extremely powerful software that(to me, anyway) seems dedicated to preventing me from doing what I want to do.Although I've worked with it for some time, I still find myself saving imagesand working with them in another program simply because the other program iseasier to use.
This difficulty doesn't extend to the scanning tools in Image-In, however. The scanning tools, including a very useful preview window, are designedperfectly to allow you to make settings, capture an image in one of severalresolutions, save it, and then work with it in another program. I regretspending so much space talking about the software that accompanies thescanner, but so much of the scanning experience is directly related to theusability of the software that you simply can't ignore it. And this isparticularly true of the Nisca product because the scanner has only onecontrol on it: a push button to hold down while actively scanning. Beyondsaying that the scanner is comfortable and looks solidly built, there islittle to say about the product itself.
Image-In allows you to set the horizontal and vertical resolutionsindependently, between 100 and 400 dpi, providing for some interestingdistortions. It provides for monochrome (purely black-and-white), threedifferent kinds of dithering, and 4- and 80bit gray-scale scanning (16 and 256shades of gray, respectively). You can adjust brightness and contrast. Thepreview was my favorite feature, however. Seeing a bad scan as it's happeningis a great help in learning to hold your hand steady and pull the scanneracross the image smoothly and at the right speed.
The software allows you to save the image in several different formats,including PCX, TIFF, Windows bitmap, MacPaint, EPS, Microsoft Paint, EyeStar,and GEM Paint. You can save images at any resolution and at any scaled size. If the file format supports compression, Image-In will compress the savedimage.
Installation was simple, and I had little trouble operating the NISCAN/GS,thanks to Image-In.
SHARP JX-100
Sharp's JX-100 is neither a flatbed scanner nor a hand-held scanner but amarriage of the two, inheriting both strengths and weaknesses in the bargain.
With its 3.93 x 6.29 inch scanning area, the JX-100 almost fills a VGA screenwith vibrant 256-
SCANNER OUTPUT
TEST PROCEDURES
The scanner output samples for both the line-art and the photo images weregenerated using a setting of 200 dpi (dots per inch). We set light/darkcontrols on all scanners for the midrange point. For all line-art scans, weused the black-and-white or line-art setting, where available; for all photoscans, we used the photo or gray-scale setting. When storing scanned images,we used PCX files where possible.
Output width was set at five inches for all images to make comparisons equal. The images received no retouching, alteration, or cleanup of any kind--theywere outputted exactly as they were scanned. Incomplete or 'clipped' imagesreflect a scanner's maximum capture area at 200 dpi in a single-pass scan.
EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS
USED FOR OUTPUT SAMPLES
To produce the output samples you see here, we used a 25-MHz 80386-DX computerwith 4MB of RAM, a 1MB Super VGA video adapter (Tseng chip set), an analogcolor monitor, and a Microsoft mouse. For image capute, we used the scanningsoftware supplied with each scanner. To ensure accurate and even scanning, weused SCAN:ALIGN from SCAN:ALIGN, Inc.
A cartoon, measuring 4 x 4 inches, of a girl at a computer served as themaster image for black-and-white line-art scanning. The source for this imagewas Dover Clip Art from Alde Publishing' SpectrumCD-ROM. A borderless colorphotograph, measuring 3 1/2 x 5 inches, of the nation's Capitol served as themaster photo image for gray-scale/halftone scanning. color after you issue asingle command. Like full-size flatbed scanners, the JX-100 requires time towork its magic--sometimes several minutes' and several passes' worth. Forthis reason, you'll want to take advantage of the prescan option that candisplay the image to be scanned in speedier gray scale or black-and-white. Orbetter yet, just peer through the transparent acrylic view port in the top ofthe scanner.
For documents too small or too awkward to comfortably accommodate the scanner,though, you'll need to turn the JX-100 face up and rely on the prescan mode toposition the subject for proper scanning.
Unlike a hand scanner, the JX-100 scans neatly every time. You don't have todrag the scanner over the image, so it's impossible for the scanner to slipand make annoying errors.
This collor scanner doesn't take up any of your computer's valuable expansionslots, but if you don't have a PS/2 mouse or an extra serial port, you'll haveto do your scanning with no mouse at all-the JX-100 uses a serial port. Thankfully, ColorLab, the bundled Windows-based scanning software, providesfor just such situations with reasonable keyboard support. You might missusing your mouse, but the fun of color scanning offers some compensation.
ColorLab supplies you with the essential image-processing tools of scaling,antialiasing, and dithering. For image filters you can choose from Sharpen,Smooth, Remove Noise, Enhance Edges, and Trace Contour--also fairly standardeffects. You may save images in a variety of formats including BMP, CPI, TGA,RIFF, PCX, GIF, and DVA. The dpi setting defaults to 200, but with the Zoomoption, it's possible for you to adjust down to 50 or up to 400. The JX-100has no switches, buttons, or thumb wheels--all scanning adjustments are madeusing the software.
The JX-100's vinyl slipcover lets you pack the scanner along with your laptop,and its light weight makes it a welcome stand-in for a less portable flatbedscanner. Charge the ni-cads in the laptop and hit the library! All thosereference books with gorgeous color pictures that you always wanted to scanbut could never check out to take to the nearest flatbed--scan them tomorrow. The small but powerful JX-100 fairly begs to accompany you on your nextimage-collecting excursion.