Scanners- printers - buying and using tips

To top of page

Welcome... ... to this site. It's mainly dedicated to digital imaging, plus a few other bits and pieces for fun and interest. My aim is to try to help, the amateur photographer and other people interesting in digital imaging, by recording links, information and resources that have been helpful to me. Maybe the Nordic visitors also have interest in my "Tips och tricks" vid arbeten med digitala bilder.

The Human Eye vs. Scanners and Cameras. The color sensors in the human eye are light sensitive cells called cones. As mentioned elsewhere in this discussion, there are three types of . . .

How to Select a Photo Scanner, what do you want to scan and what do you want to do with the scans? KenRockwell.com gives you some answers

Nikon LS2000 Film scanner user's review by Steve Hoffmann's Nature and Scenic Photography, A more recent review of the newer Nikon Super CoolScan LS-4000 Film Scanner Test Images

A Minolta Dimage Scan Multi PRO Scanner Test Review and a comparison with 4 other scanners. Polaroid Sprintscan 120,Imacon, Nikon Coolscan LS-4000 and the Nikon Super Coolscan LS-8000

Steve's DigiCams has an comprehensive and updated review of image and film scanners

Scanner Reviews from Imaging Resource, sorted by manufacturer, is also a quite good place to start searching for your new scanner.

It is great for producing scans for web use or up to 11" x 14" from my 6x6cm trannies. I agree a film scanner is always better but its also 3x the price (8x in the case of medium format film scanners). You get what you pay for but I wouldn't say my images are worse than a sub-$500 digicam. Quite the opposite.

• 3200 transparencies scan quality is more than enough for home use
• 3200 is cheaper than dedicated (say, compare to Minolta Scan Elite 5400 or Nikon Coolscan IV)
• 3200 scans any format up to 6x9" (unbeatable by any under $1000 dedicated)
• 3200 scans 12 frames at one load (dedicated above -- only 6)
• 3200 scans reflectives (just impossible with dedicated)
• Got the European Photo Awards 2004-2005

Canon 9950F! The scanner that ends Canon's dedicated film scanners now when they announce the launch of the new flagship to its CanoScan scanner range: the 4800 x 9600 dpi 48 bit color depth CanoScan 9950F. The world’s first flat-bed scanner to offer 30-frame capacity for 35mm filmstrip, the 9950F also incorporates an aspheric element lens – Canon’s own ‘Super-Toric’ lens – for unsurpassed levels of clarity, contrast and image quality. Canon's new range-leader features FARE Level 3 – the ultimate infra-red film correction and enhancement system for precise, automatic dust and scratch removal, color restoration, plus grain and backlight correction. QARE Level 3 offers a similar correction and auto-retouching functionality for photo prints. A fast scan engine, moving backlight FAU, extremely efficient light capture system and USB 2.0 Hi–Speed / IEEE1394 FireWire connection combine to deliver super-quick 3.6 second previews and exceptionally fast scan times. The slim contours, aluminum hairline finish and robust build of the 9950F are consistent with its position at the top of the CanoScan range.

Flatbed scanners sometimes come with adapters that let you work with film and slides, but the result rarely comes up to the quality you get from hardware dedicated to digitizing this type of input. That makes the CanoScan 8400F part of a rare breed. More unusual, yet, the unit's high resolution and bit depth (which produce the fine image detail) don't equate to a high price. When we looked at this unit, it was a mere $149.99 direct.

The Epson Perfection 4870 Photo scanner ($450 street) is possibly the best desktop flatbed scanner tested by PC Magazine, rivaling even professional scanners costing thousands.
A very comprehensive review is performed by photo-i.co.uk However mid 2006 the Epson Perfection 4990 Photo scanner is the new top of the line consumer scanner from Epson, which replaces the much loved 4870.

New flatbed scanners introduce unique features. The Microtec ScanMaker 6800 is the first flatbed scanner to employ Digital ICE technology to restore dirty or damage prints. As PC Magazine come to expect from Microtek in there test, scans were sharper with the 6800 ($400) than with the other models we reviewed. The test scans also exhibited excellent color, though with some clipping in the highlights. All in all, the 6800 is an excellent photo scanner, especially when you consider Digital ice's ability to restore old, dirty, or scratched prints.
They also say, in the same flatbed scanner test January 2003, that The HP ScanJet 5500C ($300) is a godsend for those who do a lot of photo scanning or would, were it not for the tedium of loading dozens of prints onto the platen one at a time. On the lid of the 5500C is an automatic photo feeder (APF), which lets you stack up to 24 3-by-5 or 4-by-6 snapshots, scan them, and save them at the push of a button. And the excellent quality of the prints is nice too.

A Flatbed for Film. The Microtek ScanMaker 6100 Pro offers more than most scanners. In addition to high-quality scans for photographic prints, a 4- by 5-inch transparency adaptor built into the cover gives surprisingly high-quality film scanning.

How I correct my scanned images in my digital darkroom! (Only in Swedish for the time being, unfortunately

An independent review site which have a good and detailed description of the Acer ScanWit 2720 film scanner.
A great site from Wayne Fulton to offer some scanning tips and hints, fundamentals and other basic scanning information to help us to get the most from our scanner. Although you find most of the information on this website the book is well worth the money. I bought it myself

From his book I quote " Video Resolution - How much to scan? As an example, if we intend to scan a 1 inch width and want an image with 1024 pixel width, then we need to scan at (1024 pixels / 1 inch) = 1024 dpi (good luck, this is quite extreme, unless we are scanning film). Or if we will scan an 8 inch width and need an image with 400 pixels of width, then we scan at (400 pixels / 8 inches) = 50 dpi. Remember that "dpi" is Dots Per Inch, meaning pixels per inch.
It's still a hard question however. What size do we want? Are we scanning to fill a quarter of a 640x480 screen, or to totally fill a 1280x1024 screen? Only you can answer questions about your purpose.
But if scanning for the web, keep in mind that many people use 640x480 screens, whether you do or not. It is a very good idea to switch to 640x480 and check your own web pages.

You might also be interested to know, before you buy, a little about: How much detail can you capture and scan? Two popular film formats were tested: 35mm (image size approximately 24mm x 36mm, or 0.94 x 1.41 inches) and 4x5 (image size approximately 97 x 122 mm, or 3.8 x 4.8 inches). Promise you will learn a lot!

From the article " Understanding Resolution" I personally, at last, understood more about the concepts of input and output resolution and I am not so terribly confused any more, as to what settings to use, and when.

Confusion between image size and resolution is a perennial favorite. To illustrate, it is convenient to think in terms of destinations which I try to illustrate here!

Curious about some of the most frequently asked questions from a scanner newsgroup! What to buy? Which resolution to scan? ....

Peter Jones has at his website Digital Photography Reference collected some useful information's you can use both before you buy your first scanner and when you start too use it.

You might also get some hints from one of the scanner newsgroup like comp.periphs.scanners or alt.comp.periphs.scanner

The myth about 72dpi scans for the web images!!

How do you store your images after scanning? Probably at least your grandchildren are interested that you keep your digital images safe and in a good shape! I am myself strongly in favor of the Tiff format for archiving of digital images!

Word of advice 1: In a newsgroup I read the following question: I've read somewhere that printed photos (positive / regular size) can't contain more information than 300dpi. If this is true why should I buy a 1200 dpi (optical) flatbed scanner (or even a 600 dpi) ?
I can understand that people get confused when the scanner manufactures still insist in specifying scanner resolution in dpi instead if ppi, pixel per inch. If you are going to output your image to an inkjet printer scan with 1/5 to 1/3 of the printer output resolution. Why this? The printer resolution is referring to addressability of the ink-dots, and not the resolution of the image. In modern inkjet printers several print head ink dots are required to make one image dot. This means that the printer's image resolution capability is much less than the advertised dpi numbers. Does this make sense? Lars Ekdahl

To top of page

Today's all-purpose and Photo printers offer impressive quality and speed, whether you are printing photos, homework or just about anything

All-Purpose Ink Jets

The HP Deskjet 5740 and the 6540 Color Inkjet Printers double as photoprinters, letting you swap the black cartridge for a photo cartridge to print pictures with six color. They provide photo output good enough to match that of many photo printers, and they hold their own with graphics and text too.

The Canon Pixma iP6700D can serve as an all-purpose printer, but its high rating comes almost entirely from printing high-quality photos at fast speeds. Here you find the spec from Canon.

The PIXMA iP6600D, a quality direct photo printer with large 3.5" colour LCD screen has been awarded by the EISA Awards 2006/2007 in the category Photo printers

Photo Ink Jets

Canon Updates Photo Printer Offerings august 2006

- TOKYO, Japan, March 27, 2007 - Epson Develops a Next-Generation Inkjet Print Head Using an Original Thin-Film Piezo Element That Has the World's Highest Degree of Distortion

Epson seems to be on a crusade to make printing on CDs and DVDs a standard feature for ink jet printers. The three models, Epson Stylus Photo R200, R300 and R800 have this capability. And doing so easy. The R200 is the choice for a tight budget. The R320 fills a gap in their line between the R200 and R800. Its output quality comes close to matching the R800.

The HP Photosmart 8150 Photo Printer is the smaller, less expensive cousin of the Photosmart 8450.

Word of advice 2: The perfomance in terms of color and dynamic range depends on the media. . .glossy vs matte or watercolor. So simply comparing printers is pointless. . .it's the printer + the media.

According to a Canon press release I found at Steve's Digicam, two new photo papers. -- Photo Paper Plus Glossy and Matte Photo Paper.

The truth about photo ink-jet running costs. A test made by Ian Burley at Digital Photography Now, an UK-based digital photo Web magazine. Tested printers were HP psc-950, Canon S800, Epson Stylus Photo 895 and Lexmark Z43. Part 1 looks at the cost of running your printer. If you've ever wondered how much it costs to print photos with an ink-jet printer, read on. Part 2 looks at how good the prints are. Not only do we judge the print quality by eye using the manufacturers' recommended printing papers, but we also put them under the electronic eye of a Gretag color profiling analyzer.
Second opinions: Overall, the S800 narrowly beat the Epson 895 to the popularity crown with our panel. Comments revealed that the high quality media, lack of grain and general color quality were highly appreciated. Also a similar review from imaging resource.

Learn about the frequently asked questions from a printer newsgroup! What to buy? Clogging and print head problems! Running costs?

Vilken upplösning skall jag skanna in ett foto för för att få bästa utskriftskvaliten? ( Only in Swedish for the time being)

cppFAQ.com is an other knowledge source. cppFAQ.com is a official comp.periphs.printers website that hosts user posted questions and answers (FAQ) retrieved from the comp.periphs.printers usenet newsgroup by Worldwide Imaging Supplies, LLC, as well as ratings, tips, and bug reports regarding various brands and models printers, copiers, and fax machines, and printer related software, posted directly to the website by visitors.

Making Great Epson Prints without a custom profile? Go to "New Epson 1270 and 2000 information" and scroll downwards!)
Epson — The Next Generation. Interesting reading!

Anyone opening the Epson printer driver for the first time can't help but ask which option is best. The documentation doesn't exactly give any clear advice on how to produce good quality prints other than to say - "choose Automatic". This short step-by-step should give the new/novice Photoshop 6 user some better guidance.

Word of advice: If you are printing exclusively to a desktop inkjet printer, it is generally best to use a resolution of between 200 and 300 dpi. You will rarely notice any improvement with higher settings.
If you are doing prepress work (which I know very little about) I will simply quote Len Hewitt from the Adobe's Photoshop User to User forum. He knows what he's talking about.
" When you halftone an image, the best resolution you can get is the frequency of the halftone screen. So if you use a 1:1 over sampling ratio, your image resolution, (at 1:1), should be that of the halftone screen. 100, 120, 130, 150 ppi. However, this is only going to work really well if the halftone screen is aligned with the pixel grid. If it's turned at an angle, you'll get dropouts and really bad averaging. So you need to get between 1.16 and 1.18 pixels per dot as a minimum to get good averaging and to compensate for screen angles. You can improve the quality of output on any image to an over sampling ratio of about 1.25:1. Problem images, (herringbone tweed, for example), can require as much as 1.4:1. Beyond that, nobody can tell the difference. "
Michael Reichmann at luminous-landscape.com says March 01, 2002 :
Make a print at 240 dpi, 280 dpi, 300 dpi, 320 dpi etc, etc.
Sit down and look at them, by eye and with a loupe. I believe that what you'll see is that below 240 dpi there is a visible degradation and above 360 dpi no visible difference can be seen.
Motto of the day... Test things yourself and trust your own eyes!

To top of page