Versatile Color Flatbed Scanners Are Now Priced to Fit Within Anyone's Budget.
Roman Loyola
It's late, and you've already seen the midnight movie twice. You're channel surfing, and you come upon a show with a guy in a red bow tie talking quite loudly . . . . "Now Mike, all I have to do is place this photo on the glass, push this button, and voila My picture is now on the computer screen! (Oooh . . . .) And not only that, but I can also scan slides and transparencies and I can use the OCR software to scan text! (Aaah . . . .) All that in this little machine we call a scanner, Mike!" (Thunderous applause.)
"Wow!" says Mike. "All that in one little machine?"
"It's a scanner, Mike! All that in one little scanner!"
Color scanners are frequently billed as jacks-of-all-trades. You can use these SCSI devices to scan color photos, black-and-white drawings, and -- with the aid of an adapter -- transparencies. You can even scan text and use OCR (optical character recognition) software to translate it into a format your word processor can handle. And you can do all this with a scanner that costs as little as $350.
There's got to be a catch, right? How can something so versatile be so affordable? Does a low price mean you have to make sacrifices in terms of image quality, software features, or ease of use?
To find out, we tested 18 color scanners with prices in the $350-to-$1,600 range. We evaluated each scanner's image quality, software features, scanning speed, and documentation. In general, we found that all the scanners can produce color images suitable for low-end desktop publishing. The ease with which we could get top-notch results varied from scanner to scanner, however, depending on available software features and the quality of the documentation.
Back to Scanning Basics
The most important thing to look for in a scanner is the ability to capture high-quality images. To be top-notch, a scanner must accurately capture a wide range of colors and be able to handle images that contain varying levels of brightness and high degrees of contrast. It should do all that while maintaining sharp focus and preserving the fine details in an image. Images produced from a high-quality scanner show little or no posterization (color banding) and few artifacts (residue that the scanner brings in).
In part, the quality of a final scanned image is determined by a scanner's bit depth. The higher the bit depth, the more color information the scanner can capture per pixel. For example, a 24-bit scanner captures 8 bits of data per color (red, green, and blue), for a total of 24 bits. A 30-bit scanner captures 10 bits of data per color.
However, 30-bit scanners don't give you more colors in an image than 24-bit scanners do. (Each of the scanners we tested can produce 16.7 million colors.) Scanned images contain a maximum of 24 bits of color information. Thus, 30-bit scanners throw out the extra bits to create 24-bit images. The more bits a scanner can capture, however, the better its chances of capturing the correct bits. The correct bits display the colors more accurately and give your image better quality. Indeed, our top-rated scanners -- from Agfa, Epson, La Cie, Nikon, and Relisys -- were all 30-bit models.
Looks Are Everything
To formally test the scanners, we first used each one to scan a professional color photograph of a fruit stand on a sunny day (see the "Apples and Oranges" sidebar). We then had a service bureau make a Matchprint from each scan. We compared these Matchprints to the original photo to see how closely each scanner reproduced the original. We also did some informal scans of other color images, such as a snapshot of a staff member's children, to find out how well these scanners handled everyday, imperfectly lit images.
Overall, we found that most of the scanners produced acceptable images from professional as well as amateur photos, even when we didn't make any adjustments to the scan. Not one of the scanners, however, was able to produce extremely high-quality images (ones that could be mistaken for our original photos) without any adjustments. Be forewarned: To get the highest-possible quality from these scanners, you'll need to perform some adjustments, using the scanning software, before you scan the image or use Photoshop to adjust the image after you've scanned it. The amount of tweaking you'll need to do will depend on how well the scanner captured the image in the first place. Here's what we found.
The Nikon ScanTouch, a 30-bit scanner, produced the highest-quality images overall. This scanner gave us the most-consistent colors, and it maintained excellent focus and good detail in dark areas, such as the shadows behind the fruit stand, and bright areas, such as the sunlit oranges. The ScanTouch's only fault was that the earth tones it produced -- such as the beige in the wood placards and the green in the grapes -- were muted.
Five other 30-bit scanners produced output that was very nearly as impressive as that of the Nikon ScanTouch. Four of these -- the Epson ES-1000C and ES-1200C and the La Cie Silverscanner DTP and Silverscanner III -- have Epson engines, so their output had a lot in common. The fifth scanner, the Relisys Reli4830-T, has a Relisys engine. The Epson and the La Cie scanners produced vivid colors for the apples and oranges. Color tones for the grapes, wood crates, and placards, however, seemed muted. The image produced by the Relisys Reli4830-T had good color quality but was a little too dark overall.
Seven more scanners -- the Agfa StudioScan IIsi, Apple Color OneScanner, Canon IX-4015, Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 3c, Ricoh CS300, Tamarack Z1-600, and UMAX Vista-S8 LE-Plus -- fell squarely into the middle ground when it came to color quality. All these scanners could decently reproduce a majority of the objects in our photos, but each also had a specific flaw that required us to tweak the scan to get acceptable output. For example, colors in images produced by the Apple Color OneScanner looked washed out, so we had to increase the saturation. The HP ScanJet 3c didn't create enough contrast between colors, so we had to experiment with the contrast controls.
We were disappointed by the color quality of images produced by the Microtek ScanMaker IIHR LE, Mustek Paragon 600 Pro, Reli-sys Reli9624-T, and Sharp JX-330M. All these scanners produced images with very dark shadow areas and unnaturally bright colors. The Mustek Paragon 600 Pro produced especially poor images. If you purchase one of these scanners, you'll need to spend more time adjusting your scans than you do with the other scanners.
The Info Products ImageReader for Macintosh was the only sheet-fed scanner we reviewed -- and the sheet feeder wasn't reliable. It often jammed when we scanned our 4-x-6-inch color photo (we experienced fewer jams, however, when scanning an image on letter-sized paper). Even worse, since the ImageReader's software wouldn't let us cancel the scan when the sheet feeder jammed, we had to force-quit the scanning application -- an act which usually caused a system crash. When we did get the ImageReader to properly scan our photo, the resulting image was dark and blurry and had weak highlights.
Monochrome Scanning
So far, we've concentrated on color output. But what if you need to scan only black-and-white images or text? Will you see as many differences among the images produced by the various scanners?
To find out, we first scanned a black-and-white drawing that contained sharp curves and areas of fine detail. We printed the scanned output on a high-quality 1,200-dpi GCC SelectPress 1200. To our surprise, all the scanners passed this test for fine detail with flying colors. In fact, we couldn't see any difference among the prints produced by each scanner when looking at them from a normal reading distance. Only when we magnified them with a loupe could we spot any distinctions -- the Apple Color OneScanner and the Microtek ScanMaker IIHR LE produced drawings with the smoothest lines.
There may come a time when you want to scan words instead of pictures. Most of the scanners come with software that lets you perform OCR. When you scan a text document, the OCR software translates the bitmapped characters into letters that you can edit in a word processor. OCR software is useful for getting documents into an editable format without retyping them.
OCR software is rarely 100 percent accurate, however. For example, on a scan of a smudged document, such as a poor-quality fax, OCR software may incorrectly translate a letter C into a G. It's up to you to check for accuracy, using either a spelling checker or your own eyes.
The Lowdown on Scanning Software
Each vendor provides the software -- a Photoshop plug-in, a TWAIN driver, or a scanning application -- you need in order to drive your scanner. Some vendors even include two types of software so you can choose which you prefer to use. In order to adjust your image properly, you need a basic set of software tools (see the "Taking Control" sidebar). Beyond this basic set, the more tools the software provides, the easier it is to tweak your images.
All the vendors, except for Apple and Hewlett-Packard, provide scanning software in the form of a Photoshop plug-in. (Many vendors also include either the full version of Photoshop 3.0 or a limited version, Photoshop LE, which lacks features such as certain filters but which can be upgraded to the full version.) After installing the plug-in, you can access it via the Import option on Photoshop's File menu. When you open the plug-in, it acts like a subapplication within Photoshop.
The plug-ins that come with the Epson and Relisys scanners have the most tools. Epson bundles Second Glance's ScanTastic, a plug-in that has automatic settings and easy-to-use adjustable controls. Relisys bundles Jetsoft's ArtScan, a PowerPC-native plug-in that contains a wide array of tools. Both of these plug-ins are available separately, so if you choose a different scanner and don't like its software, you may be able to get one of these packages instead. Just make sure that the plug-in is compatible with your scanner.
All the plug-ins, except the one included with the Info Products ImageReader, let you make adjustments to your image during a prescan, before you capture it to disk. A prescan is a quick, low-resolution (72 dpi) scan you use to test your scan settings. You can tweak settings in a series of quick prescans, and when they're just right, apply them to your final, high-resolution scan. The ImageReader's lack of prescan adjustment tools is a flaw that can lead to poor-quality results. Because you can't make any adjustments before you scan, you're stuck with the 8 bits per color that the ImageReader decides to capture, even if they're not the bits you want. We were also disappointed that the software provided with the Canon IX-4015, the Mustek Paragon 600 Pro, and the Nikon ScanTouch lacked good tools.
As we went to press, Microtek shipped fine new software for the ScanMaker IIHR LE that replaces the adequate -- but unspectacular -- tools we tested. The new package includes a complete set of controls and a helpful preview mode that displays two views of your scan -- the original, unadjusted image and one that reflects all your settings.
The HP ScanJet 3c uses a TWAIN-compliant driver (TWAIN is an industry standard for controlling imaging devices). The driver works much like a Photoshop plug-in -- if an application is TWAIN-compliant, you can scan your images directly into it. This ability is convenient if you want to include an image in a page-layout program or word processor without having to go through Photoshop first. The ScanJet 3c's software includes a curve control, brightness and contrast controls, and hue and saturation controls.
A few scanners come with a scanning application such as Light Source's Ofoto -- a program that excels at automating scanning tasks. The only drawback to a scanning application is that it doesn't let you scan images directly into Photoshop. Most vendors get around this limitation by including a Photoshop plug-in or a TWAIN driver along with the application. Apple, unfortunately, is an exception to this rule -- the Apple Color OneScanner uses Ofoto instead of a Photoshop plug-in. If you want to use the Apple Color OneScanner to scan images into Photoshop, you'll need to pay an extra $80 or so to get a third-party driver such as ScanTastic.
Automatic Features
If you're a novice user and the concept of image manipulation intimidates you or if you're a desktop publisher who occasionally wants to produce quick-and-dirty scans for placement in a rough layout, then you should look for software that offers automatic features (of the scanners we tested, only the Sharp JX-330M lacked any automatic controls). Some scanning software can automatically determine the brightness, contrast, and color balance for an image or can automatically run a sharpen filter. Note, however, that to get the best results, you need to manually adjust your scans.
It's in the area of automation that Light Source's Ofoto shines. This scanning application is chock-full of automated controls that can be extremely helpful for novice users or for publishers who want to produce quick-and-dirty scans. Ofoto's automatic controls range from ones that adjust highlights and shadows to ones that perform simple color corrections. Some vendors bundle Ofoto with their scanners, but you can also purchase the application separately. Again, however, check to make sure that Ofoto is compatible with your scanner.
Among Ofoto's bag of tricks is a feature that helps you automate color matching. There's nothing more frustrating than scanning a bunch of photos, carefully taking the time to adjust the colors, and then printing them, only to find that the printed colors don't match those on the screen. Although you can use various manual calibration techniques to fix the color-matching problem, you may not want to go through all the trial and error these techniques require.
Ofoto lets you select from among several preconfigured calibration models -- output paths that use precalculated settings based on the type of output device you want to print to, such as a color inkjet printer, a dye-sublimation printer, or an imagesetter. When you select one of these paths, the software sets the image's resolution and tweaks the color balance of the image so that the on-screen version will closely match the printed version. Scanners from HP, Epson, La Cie, Relisys, and UMAX also include software that allows you to choose settings for various types of output devices. But beware when using these settings -- many of them are generic and may not always be suitable for your particular printer.
Agfa's software is also easy to use. The StudioScan IIsi comes with a complete, coordinated set of software tools that step you through the scanning process. You get four Photoshop plug-ins and several filters that let you capture images and perform color correction. To drive the StudioScan IIsi, you have a choice between FotoLook, which has a complete set of editing tools, or FotoSnap, a driver that automatically calibrates the scanner and sets the proper scanning resolution. After your scan is complete, you perform color correction in Photoshop by using the third component to Agfa's package, a set of FotoFlavor filters. Once you've done all your corrections, you can use FotoTune Light -- the fourth component -- to match the colors of your scanned image with those of your final output.
What Else Do You Need?
Once you've checked out a scanner's image quality and its software, what's left? Plenty. Here are some other goodies you'll want to check out before making a final purchasing decision.
Resolution. Contrary to what you may think, a scanner that sports a high resolution does not necessarily give you high-quality images. Instead, the scanning resolution you need is determined by the final output device you plan to use. If you plan to view your scans only on a monitor, then you should scan your images at the same resolution as your monitor. For images you plan to print to an imagesetter, however, you need to know the line-screen frequency of the output device (see Essential Techniques, September '95, page 101). For an imagesetter with a line-screen frequency of less than 133 lpi (lines per inch), you multiply the line-screen frequency by 1.5. Multiply line-screen frequencies above 133 lpi by 2. Next, multiply the result by the percentage (converted into a decimal number) by which you plan to enlarge or reduce the image. The result is your optimum scanning resolution. For scans that you want to output on a continuous-tone printer instead of an imagesetter, you need to divide the final image area by the original image area and then multiply the result by the printer's resolution to get your scanning resolution.
Note that there's a difference between a scanner's optical resolution and its interpolated resolution. Interpolation is the increasing of perceived resolution through the mathematical creation of new pixels. Using the interpolated resolution comes in handy when you need to smooth jaggies on line art and scan images at a larger size than the optical resolution supports.
Scanning Speed. For most home users, scanning speed is not an issue, but for small businesses, time is money. How much time you spend scanning depends on two things: how long it takes to color- correct an image and how long the actual scan takes. To gauge the scanners' working speed, we timed each scanner as it scanned a 5-x-7-inch color photo at 300 dpi. The fastest scanners were the Sharp JX-330M, the Canon IX-4015, and the UMAX Vista-S8 LE-Plus, each of which took about 30 seconds to scan our test image. The slowest were the Microtek ScanMaker IIHR LE and the Info Products ImageReader, each clocking in at around 3 minutes. If you use Ofoto, be prepared for sluggish scanning speeds -- Ofoto is generally two to three times slower than any Photoshop plug-in, although this slowdown is often negated by the amount of color-correction work Ofoto does for you.
Maximum Scan Area. All the scanners we reviewed let you scan images as large as 8.3 x 11 inches -- a sufficient size for most home and business users. Some scanners, however, can handle a slightly larger imaging area, up to a maximum of 8.5 x 14 inches.
Optional Hardware. Most scanner vendors offer optional transparency adapters, which let you scan slides or other transparencies, up to the maximum size of the scan area. (If all you want to scan is 35mm slides, you should also check out sub-$1,500 slide scanners such as the Mirror Scan Slide Scanner.) Transparency holders can cost $300 to $1,000, although most cost $500 to $800. Many vendors also offer sheet feeders, which are handy for scanning lots of paper -- for instance, when you perform OCR. Sheet feeders cost $500 to $600, and most hold 50 sheets of paper at a time.
Documentation. If you are new to scanning, you may not understand the complexities of image adjustment and color theory. Good documentation not only explains how to set up and use the scanner but also includes some tips for getting good scans and contains detailed instructions on how to use the various software tools.
We were pleased when vendors included a scanning primer containing information on color management, output resolution, and basic image editing. The best manuals and scanning primers came from Agfa, HP, and La Cie. The manuals from Canon and Sharp included basic information on scanning resolutions but contained no background information on imaging.
The Final Choice
Overall, we were pleased to find such a wide array of good color scanners. If you need to scan only black-and-white images or perform OCR on text documents, opt for one of the less expensive scanners, such as the Ricoh CS300 or the Tamarack Z1-600. For those who plan to scan a variety of images -- black-and-white and color -- the choices get tougher.
The Nikon ScanTouch produced the best color images overall, and it comes bundled with a Photoshop plug-in and Ofoto. With a price tag of $1,200, it is, however, one of the more expensive scanners we tested. Other quality leaders included the Epson ES-1000C and ES-1200C, the La Cie Silverscanner DTP and Silverscanner III, and the Relisys Reli4830-T. The Epson ES-1000C and the La Cie Silverscanner DTP are excellent choices if you're looking for a scanner with a great price/performance ratio. (Note: If you need a higher resolution than that provided by the ES-1000C and the Silverscanner DTP, we recommend either of these scanners' bigger siblings, the ES-1200C and the Silverscanner III.) We also liked the Relisys Reli4830-T, another top pick in the price/performance category.
For those who are cost-conscious and willing to put in a little work to tweak images, the Ricoh CS300 is a good choice. We don't recommend the Info Products ImageReader and the Mustek Paragon 600 Pro, however, in spite of their bargain prices. We found their image quality to be among the poorest and their software tools among the weakest.
All the other scanners fall somewhere between these extremes. They're fine products and can hold up to the demands of most business, home, and casual desktop-publishing use. Overall, we were pleased by the ease with which we could get these products running -- and by the speed with which we could get all those photos of our spouses, kids, and pets scanned.
Roman Loyola is a MacUser assistant editor.
The Bottom Line
RICH COLORS, NATURAL FLESH TONES, and sharp focus -- a perfect scanner produces an image that has all these qualities. When rating scanners, we heavily weighted image quality, ease of use, and price. For users who are new to scanning, we also factored in the amount of hand-holding a company gives you through its tech-support polices and the documentation accompanying its product. For those with more imaging savvy, we factored in the number and variety of fine-tuning controls each scanner provides.
Rating Product Price Support Image Quality Software
(4.5 out of 5 mice) Very Good/Outstanding La Cie
Silverscanner DTP 2 3 3 3
For the bargain hunters among you, we recommend the La Cie
Silverscanner DTP ($899 direct). The Silverscanner DTP produced
excellent-quality images, and its software was easy to use. This
scanner nosed out the Epson ES-1000C only because of La Cie's
long history of rock-solid, user-friendly support.
(4 out of 5 mice) Very Good Nikon ScanTouch 1 2 3 2
If you need the best image quality, check out the Nikon
ScanTouch (list price,$1,720; estimated street price, $1,200).
This fast scanner requires only minimal adjustment in order to
produce top-notch images. The Photoshop plug-in isn't as
full-featured as we'd like, but it has the basic tools for image
adjustment.
(3.5 out of 5 mice) Average/Very Good Ricoh CS300 3 1 2 2
If money is tight, the Ricoh CS300 (list price, $599;
estimated street price, $470) is your best bet. It isn't able to
capture images as perfectly as some of the other scanners, but
if you put in a little elbow grease, you'll be able to get fine
images. For the price, the workload is bearable.
(4.5 out of 5 mice) Very Good/Outstanding Epson ES-1000C 2 3 3 3
(4 out of 5 mice) Very Good Agfa StudioScan IIsi 2 3 2 3
(4 out of 5 mice) Very Good Epson ES-1200C 1 3 3 3
(4 out of 5 mice) Very Good La Cie
Silverscanner III 1 3 3 3
(4 out of 5 mice) Very Good Relisys Reli4830-T 2 2 3 3
(3.5 out of 5 mice) Average/Very Good Hewlett-Packard
ScanJet 3c 2 3 2 2
(3.5 out of 5 mice) Average/Very Good UMAX Vista-S8 LE-Plus 2 2 2 3
(3 out of 5 mice) Average Apple Color OneScanner 2 2 2 2
(3 out of 5 mice) Average Canon IX-4015 2 2 2 2
(3 out of 5 mice) Average Microtek
ScanMaker IIHR LE 3 2 2 2
(3 out of 5 mice) Average Relisys Reli9624-T 1 2 2 3
(3 out of 5 mice) Average Sharp JX-330M 1 2 2 2
(3 out of 5 mice) Average Tamarack Z1-600 3 2 2 2
(2.5 out of 5 mice) Poor/Average Info Products Image-
Reader for Macintosh 3 2 1 1
(2.5 out of 5 mice) Poor/Average Mustek Paragon
600 Pro 3 2 1 2
Listing Is Alphabetical Within Groups of Equal Mouse Ratings.
3 / Outstanding 2/ Acceptable 1 / Poor
Apples and Oranges / Good Results -- and Bad -- with Low-cost Scanners
A FRUIT STAND ON A SUNNY DAY -- our test image presents a variety of tough reproduction challenges for scanners. It contains a wide array of bright areas (such as the sunlit tomatoes) as well as dark areas (such as the shadows that fall on the fruit at the back of the stand). The oranges, apples, tomatoes, and grapefruit are bright and colorful; the watermelons are subtle in color; and the wooden placards contain natural-looking earth tones. The text on the placards provides a good test of sharpness. Here's how the scanners performed.
Natural Colors
BAD At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Mustek Paragon 600 Pro produced colors that would be found only on an alien planet. Note how the intense reds in the tomatoes and watermelons affect the browns of the placard.
GOOD Our favorite scanners were the ones that captured colors accurately. The Nikon ScanTouch, for example, consistently produced natural, accurate colors. Note the warm reds in the tomatoes, the subdued reds in the watermelons, and the earthy brown tones in the placard.
Light and Dark
BAD The Apple Color OneScanner, on the other hand, produced more detail in the dark areas than a lot of the scanners. But note how the colors in the oranges look extremely washed out and unnatural.
GOOD None of the scanners could reproduce all the detail contained in the dark areas of the original image. The La Cie Silverscanner DTP struck a good balance between retaining some of the shadow detail and keeping colors bright and natural.
Sharp Focus
BAD A few of the scanners failed our tests for focus, however. Here the text on the placards is noticeably blurry and seems thick. This image was produced by the Info Products ImageReader.
GOOD Most of the scanners produced sharply focused images. In this example from the La Cie Silverscanner III, note the text on both placards -- it's clear and easily readable.
Taking Control / the Tools You Need
NO MATTER HOW PERFECT THE PHOTOGRAPH, you may still need to make some adjustments to it before you scan it. And for a flawed photograph, adjustments are a necessity. Although scanners vary widely in the types of software tools they offer for making adjustments, here are five tools we think are critical for scanning.
* Brightness and contrast. The Brightness slider
controls the overall lightness and darkness of an image; the
Contrast slider controls the range of difference between the
darkest and lightest pixels. Keep in mind that these tools
affect the image as a whole -- if you want to adjust only
specific areas (such as objects with highlights), you should
use a curve-control tool.
* Curve control. This tool lets you adjust the tones
in an image. Each chart grid represents a progression from
dark to light, with the lightest points located in the upper
right. You can use the curve control to expose more detail in
shadow areas and to distribute highlights across a wider
range of the image. This example shows the default setting.
If you pull the midpoint of the line up, the midtones in your
image become more prominent.
* Histogram. This tool lets you tweak the tonal range
of the pixels in an image. If an image has too many pixels in
the dark range, it will lose shadow detail. If it has too
many pixels in the light range, highlights will become blown
out. In this example, you can see by looking at the left side
of the scale that the image has a lot of pixels in the dark
areas. Similarly, by looking at the right side of the scale,
you can see that the image has only a few pixels in the light
areas. You can also use a histogram to discard part of an
image -- for example, you can cut off some of the dark pixels
shown at the left end of the scale.
* On-screen densitometer. An on-screen densitometer
lets you take the measurements of the grayscale, RGB, or CMYK
values of a previewed image. You can use this tool to check
for color casts in an image. In this example, you can tell
that the odd color cast you're seeing is due to too much red
in the area you're measuring.
* Balance control. A balance control allows you to
select the white, mid-, and black points of an image by using
an eyedropper or some other selection tool. You use an
eyedropper to select a spot in your image. The spot you pick
sets the values for the white, mid-, or black point,
depending on which eyedropper you use. If you set the color
points correctly, your image will look clean.
Directory / Vendors of Scanners Tested
Agfa
Ridgefield Park, NJ
800-685-4271
201-440-2500
508-583-4168 (fax)
Apple Computer
Cupertino, CA
800-538-9696
408-996-1010
800-510-2834 (fax)
Canon Computer Systems
Costa Mesa, CA
800-848-4123
714-438-3000
714-438-3099 (fax)
Epson America
Torrance, CA
800-289-3776
310-782-0770
Hewlett-Packard
Palo Alto, CA
800-722-6538
208-396-2551
Info Products
Campbell, CA
800-775-7576
408-374-7290
408-378-1068 (fax)
La Cie
Beaverton, OR
800-999-0143
503-520-9000
503-520-9100 (fax)
Microtek Lab
Redondo Beach, CA
800-654-4160
310-297-5000
310-297-5050 (fax)
Mustek
Irvine, CA
800-468-7835
714-250-8855
714-250-3372 (fax)
Nikon
Melville, NY
800-526-4566
516-547-4355
516-547-0305 (fax)
Relisys
Milpitas, CA
800-835-7354
408-945-3113
408-945-1499 (fax)
Ricoh
San Jose, CA
800-955-3453
408-954-5326
408-432-9266 (fax)
Sharp Electronics
Mahwah, NJ
800-237-4277
201-529-8200
201-529-9113 (fax)
Tamarack Technologies
Orange, CA
800-598-3918
714-744-3979
714-744-4582 (fax)
UMAX Technologies
Fremont, CA
800-562-0311
510-651-8883
510-651-8834 (fax)
Getting Your Money's Worth / Low-cost Scanners Compared
You may not pay a lot, but will you get a lot? All the scanners we reviewed are reasonably priced, but some include more software or hardware features or better warranties than others. For example, some vendors include full versions of Photoshop with their scanners; others include a more limited version of the program, Photoshop LE; and others don't include a copy of the program at all. Similarly, some scanners offer superhigh resolutions and others have more-modest specifications. And when it comes to support policies, some vendors offer everything from money-back guarantees to toll-free tech-support whereas other vendors leave you on your own.
Of course, you may not need all the features a scanner offers -- you may already own Photoshop, or your output requirements may not call for extremely high resolutions, or you may have no use for OCR (optical character recognition). By using our handy table, however, you can pinpoint the scanner that offers just the right combination of features at just the right price.
price street price resolution resolution area termination Photoshop Photoshop LE Ofoto plug-in driver software control Control densitometer feeder holder guarantee tech support warranty
Agfa StudioScan IIsi NA* $950 30 bits 400 x 800 dpi 2,400 x 2,400 dpi 8.5 x 14 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ [[section]] 2 2 1 year
Apple Color OneScanner $859 $859 24 bits 300 x 300 dpi 1,200 x 1,200 dpi 8.5 x 14 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 year
Canon IX-4015 $799 $730 24 bits 400 x 1,200 dpi 1,200 x 1,200 dpi 8.5 x 11.7 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2 2 years
Epson ES-1000C $850 $800 30 bits 400 x 800 dpi 3,200 x 3,200 dpi 8.5 x 11.7 inches internal 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ 2 2 1 year
Epson ES-1200C $1,499[[lozenge]] $1,200[[lozenge]] 30 bits 600 x 1,200 dpi 4,800 x 4,800 dpi 11.5 x 17 inches switchable 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ 2 2 2 years
Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 3c $1,179 $975 30 bits 600 x 600 dpi 2,400 x 2,400 dpi 8.5 x 14 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ 2 2 1 year
Info Products ImageReader
for Macintosh $399 $350 24 bits 300 x 600 dpi 300 x 600 dpi 8.5 x 14 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 1 year
La Cie Silverscanner DTP $899 $899 (direct) 30 bits 400 x 800 dpi 3,200 x 3,200 dpi 8.5 x 11.7 inches switchable 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ 2 2 1 year
La Cie Silverscanner III $1,499 $1,499 (direct) 30 bits 600 x 1,200 dpi 4,800 x 4,800 dpi 8.5 x 11.7 inches switchable 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ 2 2 1 year
Microtek ScanMaker IIHR LE NA* $600 24 bits 600 x 1,200 dpi 2,400 x 2,400 dpi 8.5 x 13 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ [[section]] 2 1 year
Mustek Paragon 600 Pro NA* $450 24 bits 300 x 600 dpi 1,200 x 1,200 dpi 8.5 x 14 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ 2 2 2 years
Nikon ScanTouch $1,720 $1,200 30 bits 565 x 1,200 dpi 2,400 x 2,400 dpi 8.5 x 14 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 1 year
Relisys Reli4830-T $1,299 $1,000 30 bits 400 x 1,600 dpi 4,800 x 4,800 dpi 8.5 x 14 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2 [[section]] 2 1 year
Relisys Reli9624-T $2,499 $1,600 24 bits 600 x 2,400 dpi 9,600 x 9,600 dpi 8.3 x 11.7 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2 [[section]] 2 1 year
Ricoh CS300 $599 $470 24 bits 300 x 600 dpi 2,400 x 2,400 dpi 8.5 x 11 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 [[section]] 1 year
Sharp JX-330M $1,499 $1,180 24 bits 600 x 600 dpi 2,400 x 2,400 dpi 8.5 x 14 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ 2 1 year
Tamarack Z1-600 $699 $650 30 bits 300 x 600 dpi 2,400 x 2,400 dpi 8.5 x 11 inches internal 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ [[section]] 2 1 year
UMAX Vista-S8 LE-Plus $995 $800 24 bits 400 x 400 dpi 6,400 x 6,400 dpi 8.5 x 11.7 inches external 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2+ 2+ 2 1 year
MacUser BEST BUY *Vendor does not provide list prices. +Optional. [[section]]Up to the dealer. [[lozenge]]Price includes software. List price without software, $999; estimated street price without software, $800.
