Back to Start PageScanners
PRE-PUBLICATION DRAFT
STAGE DIRECTIONS
COPYRIGHT 1998
AUTHOR: Dr. Patrick Finelli
TITLE: Do you need a scanner?
Would you like to add life to your reports and promotional material with pictures and images? Do you have important papers in a manila folder somewhere in your filing cabinet and you just can’t find the time to convert them with your word processor? How about adding some excitement to your Web site or placing photos on a web page? If any of these sound like something you’d want to do, then you ought to think about acquiring a scanner as your next computer accessory. Assuming you already have a system running Windows95 with plenty of memory and room for a SCSI card, you can get a 24-bit color scanner (minimum color depth for photographs) at a price not much higher than a decent inkjet printer.
The key features to look for in a scanner are image quality, software and ease of use. In a budget scanner you should expect 300-by-600-dpi optical resolution. Midrange scanners may have 30-bit color depth and vary in price from $200 to $800. High end scanners will have faster scanning speeds, full-feature software and professional quality image processing. Unless you are doing critical artwork with lots of shadow, 24-bit should be adequate and cost between $200 and $300. Extras you might expect include software and transparency adapters for scanning slides and automatic document feeders (ADF), which come in handy when you want to process multiple pages without feeding the paper by hand.
Basically, a scanner reads the data contained in a picture or document and converts it into digital form which you can save as a file. It takes between 8 to 20 seconds to scan a page. You can use software to process the image or, if you have an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program, you can convert text into an editable word processing format.
There are three major types of scanners: drum, flatbed and sheetfeed. Sheetfeed scanners have limited value since you can’t copy pages in books conveniently. Drum scanners are relatively expensive. Files resulting from high resolution drum scans are relatively very large. I had a service bureau do a drum scan of a transparency loaned by the Getty Museum and it took up 6M on a Zip disk. Flatbed scanners have the most to offer at an affordable price. A flatbed scanner makes it easy to scan photographs, letters, documents, pictures and pages in books. Please remember to observe the copyright laws when it comes to acquiring images from books and other print media. You must request re-publication rights from the owner of the image or text that you scan.
Bundled software makes it easy to do photo processing. You can trim, resize, cut, paste convert, import and export image files by using a product such as Adobe Photoshop, Micrografix, Microtek’s Scanmaker or Visioneer’s PaperPort. Some budget scanners require you to buy the software separately. We recommend not only image software but also OCR programs such as Xerox TextBridge, which allow you to scan documents right from your word processor. This is an excellent way to manage your paperwork. Other software offers calibration tools for custom color-matching, but those are usually included with the hardware itself.
The procedure is simple. You set up your scanning parameters by selecting the resolution and whether you want full color, gray scale or line art. You should do a preview scan to see if your image is aligned properly and crop the image before scanning so you can conserve time and memory. Once you are satisfied with the selection, you click on the "Scan" button with your mouse and wait for it to complete the scan. Some models, like the Agfa StudioStar and H-P’s 5pse, have a button on the front for scanning. The scans take longer with higher resolutions. A 75 dpi scan will be faster than a 300 dpi scan, but the resolution will be much better with the higher dpi rate. If you are posting indexed (256) color images on your website, you can probably get away with a lower resolution, but if you are scanning text, you’ll need the 300 dpi in order to discriminate between letters of the alphabet. According to the latest test data, Agfa’s StudioStar ($700) will blaze through a 600 dpi color scan of an 8 by 10 photograph in a minute and a half, compared with the H-P ScanJet 4cse or the Astra 1200S which may take twice as long.
I must admit that the scanner is the least used accessory in my studio. However, when it is used, it is invaluable. You ought to consider whether you do a lot of text or image scanning. I have a Mustek 1200SP with a legal size scanning bed, which is used frequently to scan pictures and slides for my website. Just last week I scanned a document for a colleague who wanted to update her resume. OCR is an important feature, especially if you still have piles of paper everywhere and you don’t want to type them all over again just to make some minor changes. Perhaps you have some old safety documents or procedural guidelines for your theatre. You can scan the old documents and use them in your word processing program. For teachers, it is also a good way to re-cycle test questions from old exams. You can scan your tests and save the best questions. Here’s a quiz that you should answer easily: Should your theatre invest in a scanner? If you are tired of lots of scraps of paper and lost notes, or trudging down to your service bureau for image processing, the answer is yes. If you’d like to be able to do high quality scans at an affordable price and control your image, maybe even include a photo on your next program note then the next peripheral you should consider is a scanner. It will be an excellent addition to your office or design studio
© Copyright 1995-1999 by Patrick M. Finelli. All rights reserved. These pages are protected by United States and international copyright laws. Copying or distribution by any means is strictly prohibited. Please send e-mail to finelli@satie.arts.usf.edu