Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
- 4800 x 9600 dpi optical resolution
- Scan 35mm film ó built-in Transparency Unit
- Beautiful enlargements up to 13 x 19 from film
- Advanced Digital Dust Correction
- One-touch photo restoration
Scan film, photos and 3D objects with amazing clarity and detail ¿ the value-priced Epson Perfection V300 Photo makes it easier than ever with 4800 dpi optical resolution and a host of family-friendly features. Use the built-in Transparency Unit to scan up to 6 negative frames or 4 slides at one time. With the scanner¿s remarkable resolution, you can easily create extraordinary enlargements. And, if you want to bring those faded family photos back to life, you can use the V300 Photo to easily
Rating: 
(out of 271 reviews)
List Price: $ 139.00
Price: Too low to display
Canon LiDE200 Color Image Scanner (2924B002)
- New “Auto Scan Mode” automatically adjusts settings by detecting where you are scanning
- High-speed letter size color scanning in approximately 14 seconds
- Just one USB cable for data and power
- Advanced Z-lid expansion top for scanning bulky items
Canon LiDE200 color image scanner has convenient features for easy scanning up to 4800 dpi.Manufacturer Product Description How easy is this? Just select what you want to do with your original – scan, copy, or create email attachments or PDFs – and the entire process is automated. The new Auto Scan Mode detects your type of original, then scans and saves it with the optimal settings. Your results will be outstanding, with color dpi resolution up to 4800 x 4800, and you can also create fabulo
Rating: 
(out of 154 reviews)
List Price: $ 89.99
Price: $ 77.99
Important Facts About Scanners
A scanner is a device that has succeeded telephotography. These days, there are different scanners being sold in the market.
A scanner is an input device that:
- scans images
- prints text
- prints handwriting
- prints an object and converts it to digital images
Kinds of Scanners
- Drum scanners have rotating drums with a one-photo detector for a standard speed of 60 or 120 rpm. Using a telephone voice line to receptor, they can send linear analog AM signals. It prints the proportional intensity on special paper synchronously. This was used from the 1920s to the 1990s.
Color photos were sent as three separated and repeated RGB filtered images. This was only used occasionally because of the transmission cost.
- Desktop scanners or flatbed scanners found in offices are common examples of scanners. Documents are placed on the glass window for scanning.
- Handheld scanners are devices moved by hand. It evolves from text scanning to 3D scanners which are used for:
? industrial design
? reverse engineering
? test measurement
? orthotics
? gaming and more
These mechanically-driven scanners are used for large-format documents. Flatbed designs are not practical.
What these scanners use:
1. Modern scanners use image sensors such as:
? Charge-coupled device (CCD) or
? Contact Image Sensor (CIS)
2. Older drum scanners use a photomultiplier tube as its image sensor.
3. Rotary Scanner uses a CCD selection instead of a photomultiplier. Rotary Scanner is used for express document scanning. This is another type of drum scanner.
4. Planetary Scanner takes photographs of books and documents.
5. 3D Scanners are used for producing three-dimensional models of objects.
Other category of scanners:
Digital Camera Scanners
This is a reprographic camera. It becomes an attractive alternative to ordinary scanners. The disadvantages of this scanner are:
? distortion
? reflection
? shadows
? low contrast
Some of the advantages are:
? speed
? portability
? gentle digitizing of thick documents without damaging the book spine
The new scanning evolution combines 3D scanners with digital cameras. This is to make:
- full color
- photo realistic 3D model objects
Flatbed Scanners possess a glass pane with a bright light. These bright lights illuminate the pane and move optical selection which may be CCD or CIS.
These lights are usually:
? xenon or
? cold cathode fluorescent
Color scanners usually have three rows of sensors with:
? red
? green and
? blue filters
The images are scanned by placing images face down on the glass. An opaque cover is lowered over it so as to cover ambient light. The sensor selection will move over the pane in order to read the entire copy. Due to the reflecting light, the image becomes visible to the charge-coupled device. See-through images do not work this way. It needs special accessories in order to light them up from the upper side.
Scanning is only a part of the process. In order to make the scanned object useful, it must be transferred to an application running on the computer.
There are two basic issues with this:
1. the physical connection of the scanner to the computer and
2. the information retrieval of the application from the scanner
The Physical Connection of the Scanner to the Computer
The amount of data gathered by a scanner can be very large.
For example: A 600 DPI 9″ x 11″ uncompressed 24-bit image. It consumes about 100 megabytes. With this, uncompressed data is transferred and stored on the computer. The latest scanners can gather this volume of data in a matter of seconds. It makes a desirably fast connection.
The Four Connections used by Scanner
1. Parallel
2. Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
3. Universal Serial Bus (USB)
4. Fire Wire
Application Programming Interface
An application must be able to communicate with scanners such as Adobe Photoshop. There are different scanners and each scanner has different protocols. To simplify application for programming, Application Programming Interfaces were made. Hence, API gives a uniform interface to the scanner. The application does not require knowing the specific details of the scanner so as to access it directly.
In reality, there are problems with an application communicating with scanners. Maybe the application or the manufacturer of the scanner has made a mistake in their implementation of API.
For more information on Best Scanners please visit our website.
About 
Review by fatmav for Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
Rating:
Over the years I have been through several scanners both at work and at home. This Epson V300 is the latest home scanner for me.
Speed: Back then a high resolution scanner was like 600dpi and required a SCSI connection in order to transfer that amount of information in reasonable amount of time. Thankfully, these days USB2 is ubiquitous and relatively high speed, so the bottleneck is really no longer at the connection nor the scanner. Instead, I found that I am usually CPU bounded because of all the image processing that happens *after* the data has been transfered to my computer. After all, 4800x9600dpi is a lot of information to go through. So yes, it can give you a slow scanning experience, but it’s not the scanner’s problem at all. I also note this scanner use an LED lighting source, the warmup time is about three seconds. This is much shorter than the older CFL scanners that can take a minute or two to warm up.
Scanning quality: This is top-notch, especially given the price. I’ve seen results from much more expensive scanners including an high-end scanner from HP. At 1200dpi, which is a common setting for my workflow, I don’t detect any material differences in the images, which is a good sign. If anything, the tiny difference is in the optical performance, most likely due to the coating on the glass that separates the document and the sensor. In particular, I do see a bit more chromatic aberration. However, this is something that can be corrected in software and I believe it is present in all scanners.
Software: Having been an HP user for so long, I find the Epson Scan utility to be adequate and I actually like it better than HP’s offering. It has all the features that I expect. Note that I did not install the other two included softwares—”Arcsoft MediaImpression” and “ABBYY Fine Reader Spring Plus OCR”. The former I have no interest, the second one is a lite version of ABBYY’s commercial OCR product. I happen to have another OCR solution at my disposal and so I skipped this up-sell offering as well. Note that I am a Windows user and so I can’t speak for the Mac side of the story.
Overall, I am positively impressed with this scanner. If this is your first scanner, I don’t see anything that can go wrong.
Review by Kevin Nicholls for Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
Rating:
Coming from an (admittedly older) Canon LIDE scanner and the scanner in my Canon Pixma MX850 Office All-In-One Printer, LED scanning isn’t whiz-bang new technology to me. And frankly, I wasn’t expecting to put either scanner out to pasture.
But Epson has proven me wrong with the V300.
One of the biggest pains in scanning images for me, has been waiting for the scanner to warm up, and for the driver to accept that the scanner is warmed up and actually let me scan something. With the V300, you tell it to scan, and it just does. I can’t stress how surprised I was to find how such a relatively minor thing made scanning seem like less of a chore.
The quality is excellent, too. Admittedly, my previous scanners were designed with basic home use in mind, however, there really is a noticeable difference in quality, even when I did side-by-side comparisons at the same resolutions.
Getting the scanner to work with my Mac wasn’t a problem, either. Pop in the disc, run the installer, and connect the scanner. Next thing I knew, Photoshop CS3 was ready to use it. One thing I really have to say here, is that Epson’s scanner drivers blow Canon’s out of the water, if you ever pay attention to your Mac’s log files. The Epson driver isn’t constantly spawning messages to the syslog (or just plain breaking) if you use the scanner on a single computer with multiple users logged in.
The only downside with this (or really any other consumer-grade scanner) is that high-res scans take quite a while. Not quite “go to another room and make yourself breakfast” slow, but you certainly have time to go get yourself a cup of coffee while you wait for an 8×10″ photo to scan at high-res. However, the quality of the scan makes the wait worthwhile.
At this price, and with this kind of speed and quality, you really can’t go wrong.
Review by W. Crews Giles for Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
Rating:
Epson V300 Photo
RATING
I can only give five stars when I have a comparison with my use of another scanner–but I strongly suspect such a comparison would not change my opinion of this one. I am delighted, and it exceeds all my expectations. Therefore, four stars and probably five.
USES
I had two purposes for a scanner: My primary function is to preserve long out of print and often rare history and theological texts, making them available to other scholars and researchers– thus, it had to be a flatbed. The second was to preserve and share old photos.
Twenty four hours ago I purchased this unit, led to this choice by reviews, and finally deciding based upon the LED scanning technology, the portability, the price and the bundled software. It cost me twenty dollars more (one hundred total) for the V300 which I believe is the same as the V30 except the V300 has the inclusion of the 35mm film and slide holding frame which I think could be of use to me.
MODES
I don’t know why they use the terms they do for the modes of use. They ought to be: Photo mode, Text mode, Auto mode and Professional mode. Instead, Photo is called “Home”, Text is called, “Office”, Auto and Professional are what you would think. The menus are otherwise intuitive, but you can (as I did) read the manual if you want.
PHOTOS
I started with photos. 300 dpi resolution is sufficient for all of my needs, but I tried 1200 to see what it would do. Using 1200 is 400% of original, and using that setting, and zooming in using common photo software, the detail was far beyond my expectations–almost like a crime movie zooming in on the subject’s glasses to see the reflection of the photographer. Almost. This is well beyond my needs, as I am preserving photos as they are– not photoshopping for improvements. Yet…
RESTORATION
I could not resist trying the automatic restoration. I began with the default setting of 300 dpi, which I will use across the board from now on–simply because it is more than adequate for my uses. I have a black and white family photo from the 1890′s, and I had to view the original under bright light to make out any detail, so faded was it. Seconds later, the preview image in “Home” mode” (see above) and leaving the default for “color photo,” showed a perfectly balanced contrast, popping out detail my eye could not detect in the original. Excellent.
I then took a 1941 color portrait, and left the settings in “Home Mode” 300 dpi, and “color restoration” checked. The original’s color was skewed, almost no red remaining. A push of the button and the image burst out in what I believe must have been the original colors. Excellent.
The last photo test was of a snapshot of me in which the flash had made my skin appear pasty white, while I was actually quite tan. I used the Professional Mode and played with the controls removing a bit of red, removing green on the intuitive graph display for that purpose, and playing with the other controls for few seconds resulting in a very good final product.
TEXT
Scanning whole books into pdf files is my main use. But I tested more than that.
OLD NEWSPAPWER CLIPPING
My first test was actually a ninety year old newspaper clipping. Using “Office” mode, I did nothing but preview and then scan. The software did its thing and perhaps a minute later I had opened the pdf document using acrobat (the free version) and the image was an exact replica. I used the text select tool in Acrobat to select the entire article and then pasted it into MS Word. The supplied OCR software (ABBYY FineReader Sprint Plus) had done a fair job for a free bundled product and a terrible ink speckled original (like all newspaper print in hose days). The pdf file was perfectly readable as it was. The ability to search ad find specific words and phrases would be easily seen in the version of what I copied from the pdf file and then pasted into Word. The result was good enough to make sense to my eye and brain to read it, but the ink speckle from the original showed up as various characters, and quite a few “are enn” showed as “emm” as well many other common OCR scanning errors. It was along way from being usable for citing directly–perhaps ten minutes of clean-up for that one full column of news print.
My second test was also old newspaper but well preserved in a scrap book. There were four items on the page I tested, and in “Office” mode, I simply selected the four parts of the page that included the actual clippings in the preview pane (the selection is easy, fast and called a “marquee.” I would call it a “cropping selection tool.” Then I clicked all, and all four boxes surrounding the four clippings were selected. Next, I selected pdf as the output file type from the file-folder icon on the main window, and then selected scan. Again, the software did its thing. I received a four page pdf file, a page for each selected item. The results of the image and the OCR test were the same as before.
BOOKS
Finally, I scanned a single page from a very old textbook with a rather awkward to read font. Using the same settings as before, the pdf file was perfect, and the OCR work was far better. A proofread and a few mistakes on that one page. Still, that is more editing than I will want to do, but that is a software upgrade–not related to the hardware. The software allows you to scan each and all page into a single pdf document if you prefer, and which I will make use of.
OCR SOFTWARE
I am pleased with the product, and very glad the low-end OCR software worked better than I feared–as I will have no problem upgrading that software to a professional level for a hundred dollars or so–within my budget. For now, from the text, even requiring more editing than I will want to do, it was, none-the-less, very readable. Our eyes and minds will see thnouglre the eniors and quickly correct as we read! The actual density of errors was reasonable for a starter version which is what is included. Og course the OCR software has nothing to do with the perfect image of the pdf file–it only impacts searching that pdf file for specific words and phrases. I will add that the ability to search a text using Acrobat that I already have is the same as the scanned images on many of the research sites I use. I want the search ability for indexing and hyperlinking within the final pdf file. I am told that Adobe’s product will supply that ability and the high OCR accuracy that I need.
OVERALL
There are more features, other software included, but for my purposes… my expectations were far exceeded by what was delivered–a delight to have such easy and quick success. My two unknowns are 1) results of my upgrade to more powerful OCR software, and 2) the longevity of the scanner unit.
I do wish the software would allow me to name the current scan more easily. The default is to use serial ordinals, so that my scanning project folder is merely img001.jpg, img002.jpg, and so on. This leads me to…
SPEED
Speed is an afterthought to me. I have only used this product on my laptop (I needed a portable scanner, and this and my laptop will easily fit together in my backpacking trips to the library). It is a four year old lap top as of this writing (summer 2009) which is just a bit slow by this year’s standards. I found myself, feeding the scanner with a new original, pressing scan, and then going to the Window Explorer window to change the default name of the last scan to something descriptive, and finishing just as it was time to feed the scanner again. In other words, if the process of scanning and saving was any faster then the machine would be waiting on me; I rarely waited on it (except when using OCR–that takes a few more seconds per page.
POSITIVES
Out of the box, excellent and rewarding results far exceeding expectations.
The inclusion of a starter OCR product was very helpful, although ultimately insufficient for my needs–just as both vendors (Epson and ABBYY) knew they would be–the low-end software just to give the buyer a taste.
Intuitive hardware and software controls
Resolution capability beyond anything I could ever find use for
Speed easily meeting my needs.
Size and weight make trips to archives with it and the laptop in my backpack possible and easy.
Primary (Epson) software functions well and quickly–providing almost everything I would expect
NEGATIVES
The menu “mode” names are odd and inappropriate.
Some of the terms on the menus are also unusual compared to what I am used to in photo-editing software.
Not “plug and play,” you must install the software from the supplied CD.
No hard copy user manual (but I was the only one who ever read them anyway)
No ability to custom name each scan file on the fly (no “save file as” pop-up window).
Buy it, you’ll love it. If it lasts a long time, I may even name it.
Review by Harold Siegler for Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
Rating:
Re:
Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
My wife and I decided to create a set of family photo albums as Christmas gifts this year. We acquired numerous old photos from my relatives in Germany while on vacation there. The albums were to be produced electronically. This led to a search for a scanner. Although there are many of these on the market, we limited our search to a basic unit suitable to our needs.
We decided on the Epson scanner simply because we still have an Epson laser printer that dates back to the days of Windows 3.1 and it still works perfectly.
We have not been disappointed with the Epson Perfection V300 that we purchased through Amazon.com. It performs well and flawlessly enacts every facet of its capabilities such as scanning slides or large documents in addition to photos of course.
We recommend this scanner to anyone who merely wants to scan home photos. Obviously, the far more expensive scanners targeted toward the professional market would outclass the V300 but then we would be comparing apples to oranges.
Review by Michael for Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
Rating:
For years, my Epson 1250 color scanner has served me well. I decided to “up-grade” to the V300 for it’s higher image quality, straightforward scanning and consistent Epson product quality. I handed down the older model to my early teen Grandchildren.
I searched for a color scanner on Amazon.com, Bizrate.com, eBay and others. I also needed the ability to compare manufacturers and models. I finally settling on Amazon, as usual!
I wanted a scanner that would allow (1) professional adjustments to any scanned source, (2) easily scan slides and negatives, (3) offer image correction capabilities, (4) ability to restore old B&W photos-documents and (5) meet my budget of less than $200.
I’m normally not an endorser of products, but I will say that the V300 is excellent and meets, or possibly exceeds my expectations.
Review by Tezza for Canon LiDE200 Color Image Scanner (2924B002)
Rating:
I decided to replace my old “all in one” printer which I was using as a scanner and a photocopying with the Canon LIDE200. I liked the specification: 4800×4800 dpi and a claimed 11 second scan rate.
The first thing I noticed as I was unpacking the scanner from the box was a mysterious WARNING about unlocking the lid of the scanner. The scanner was packed with the lid unlocked (as I found out later), and the instructions mentioned to keep the lid locked for travel or extensive handling. Fair enough, but it made me wonder if I had already done something bad to my scanner (I hadn’t).
I then installed the software. I expected big things from Canon here, because generally they are pretty smart about software. The software, in terms of use, is much better than the software I had for scanning with my old scanner. The scanner has an “easy” setting that basically just scans at 300DPI without a fuss. If you want to scan at full resolution, you have to open the “driver” that exposes a page with all the bells and whistles to let you really fine tune your scan and set the highest resolutions.
All this was fair enough, however I found a few minor disturbing problems with the software. Firstly, once you’ve opened the “driver”, it’s not intuitive to figure out how to get back to the “no brainer” mode. Also, when you want to save your scan, it always seems to default to the scanning library it sets up. If you override it, it doesn’t stay “changed”. This is a slight pain. I always wonder who they hire to test and give feedback, because I always feel like I’m pointing out what should be the “obvious” to large companies like Canon (actually I really love Canon – so take no offense!).
As far as scanning speed is concerned, the scanner does indeed scan a 300 dpi page in about 11 seconds (that’s pretty fast folks). However, the estimate does not include the 3 seconds the software takes to respond to the command to begin scanning (I’m running a duo core processor – no slouch) and the few seconds it takes to save the image. All in all, speed is impressive.
Now on to document quality. I tried scanning a few brochures and to be honest, at 300 DPI I wasn’t super impressed with the result. So I went into the “driver” at set the scanning at maximum resolution (4800 x 4800). You get a pretty good result at that resolution, but by no means was I blown away. Perhaps more “tweaks” of the driver is needed. I noticed that the scanner attempts to “improve” the picture (which it does) but some of the detail of the text was a little off (brochure had images and text). I wondered if the lid of the scanner was making really good contact. Next time I will add a few pages of plain white paper behind the image and see if it makes a difference.
I tried scanning a printed document, and compared it to a printed document I scanned using my old scanner. I scanned the image to a PDF and low and behold, a major, major improvement (at 300 DPI).
So, I gave the scanner four “stars”. Why not five? Well, the software is much easier to use than my old scanner, but still not without a few minor “quirks”. This is a great scanner for scanning documents. How well it will actually scan and reproduce a photo is still in question, and perhaps I need to learn how to use the driver software better. I don’t think I could scan an original photo without seeing some degradation in quality.
I’d be interested to hear other people’s experiences regarding copying photos. I hope I’m wrong in my assessment, because I really expected a 4800×4800 scanner to reproduce “dead on” copies of a photo.
Review by book worm for Canon LiDE200 Color Image Scanner (2924B002)
Rating:
This scanner is a replacement for my Epson Perfection 2450 Photo, which Epson chose to not support in the Vista 64-bit platform. As usual, with no new driver, another perfectly fine and useful scanner dies due to an operating system upgrade. As my scanning at present is more document based, I decided to try this less expensive option and give Canon a chance.
On first glance, it seems my research has paid off. This scanner was quick and easy to install out of the box. The directions were straightforward and useful. One is first instructed to run the setup CD, then remove and unlock the scanner, and finally to plug in the USB. I did not have the problem of the second reviewer: my lock button was in the lock position when I received it, and was even taped over for security.
The scanner has a small footprint and sleek style, compared to my previous model.
The software is easy to use, although it sometimes seems that too many screens are involved. I believe there are options to streamline this to some extent.
My first function was a one-button copy. My sheet music copied as well as the average commercial copier. (Quality was also much better than a B & W copy on my Epson Stylus CX4800 all-in-one.) The pencil marks, however, were very light on the copy, and barely readable. Original highlighting on the piece was gone.
I then performed a one-button scan of the same music. It took about 16 seconds, including software linking. This time the music detail was also excellent and pencil marks were very readable. After the scan, I sent it to the printer where the music quality remained, pencil marking remained strong, and highlighting was preserved.
One note regarding one-button functions: as the second reviewer noted, after choosing a one-button function a CanoScan-generated option list appears requiring the user to “Select program to launch for this action”. On my computer there are four options, and I must choose MP Navigator EX from the list. I thought that after the first time I chose the launch program that it would be remembered. It wasn’t, so I searched every screen and the user guide, and have not found a way to alter this. It is a definite nuisance that I hope Canon will fix with an update soon.
When scanning, one must place the object upside down on platen to receive a vertical product. In general, the platen is roomy, allowing all but about 1mm on each side left to right of useable space. From cursory scans, it appears there is very little surface area that will not be useable on this scanner (unlike my Epson), which equates to less fidgeting with the original on placement.
Unlike the previous reviewer, once I changed my default file location for saves, all my auto scans saved to that location.
I also haven’t found the buttons to be hard to press, or to move the scanner (I have a glass desktop). I do find that after you press the button there is a small lag time before the scan operation begins, so it’s easy to think you didn’t really press it hard enough.
There is no light on the scanner, as it is always on when the computer is, since it is powered by the USB, not a power cord.
I scanned an 8×10 professional color portrait on auto scan, with the following results:
- it saved to my correct location, with a subfolder created by current date (a changeable option)
- the end file size was 1533 kb (auto mode scans at 300 dpi)
- only 1-2 mm of the photo was cut off by auto cropping…a very acceptable result
- the detail and quality seemed excellent on the screen
In general, cropping has been very precise on photos and documents.
I did scan a book to test the shadow reduction feature and was disappointed. Not only was there still a shadow, but the text was unreadable at the center. I did successive scans, pressing harder on the spine first with the scanner lid, and then under the lid with my hand, with little overall improvement. Later, I found on option in the software to “turn on” the shadow adjustment, so I tried the scan again with no improvement. Perhaps there is more to be discovered still with the software to implement this feature properly…
As I haven’t had a new scanner for a number of years, I decided to try the OCR function, hoping that perhaps the industry had made strides in this regard. It was sorely lacking, making profuse spelling errors, handling italics and small caps fonts poorly. Overall, still a dysfunctional function.
My one pause for concern that caused me to give this scanner only four stars is a glitch that occurred with the scanner’s hardware interface. After successfully scanning for 1-2 hours straight without any system flaws, I left the computer for an hour or so. Upon coming back and trying a one-button function I received a ScanGear Error: “Cannot communicate with scanner, Cable may be disconnected or scanner may be turned off. Check status, scanner driver will be closed.” I closed and reopened software, and restarted the computer. No improvement. The scanner did not show up on Device Manager. Finally I removed and replaced the USB connection to the computer and the scanner was again recognized. There was no function made by a user; however, perhaps a screen saver coming on or the computer going into sleep mode may have initiated this error. I am hoping this is not a repetitive problem.
I waited several weeks to purchase this scanner, and the first review was slow to come. I finally decided to purchase and provide a review for others–a risk these days, especially with Vista 64. Overall, I think this will be a good product. It is certainly fast–much faster than my Epson–and a step saver for anyone with consecutive documents to scan.
Review by Stoney for Canon LiDE200 Color Image Scanner (2924B002)
Rating:
With a few caveats, this is a great little scanner. The best part is that it actually fits in my Targus computer case WITH my laptop. It weighs only 2-3 pds, and runs off USB power—no converter brick to haul around. Scans are sharp and fast.
Unfortunately, the particular design of scanner is that (unlike most fat desktop scanners) it cannot scan 3D objects, therefore text near the spine of a book, which is not in actual and absolute contact with the glass, is very blurry. Nor can you just press down the book—this seems to warp the glass causing blurriness elsewhere on the page, and may even jam the scanning mechanism. Also, the lid is non-removable, which means that you may be out-of-luck if you need to scan part of a large object.
Despite these limitations, the price and exceptional portability may make this series of scanners the choice for scanning books—because books which need to be scanned are usually non-circulating items in libraries or archives.
Compared to other scanners the “frame” framing the glass surface is low and only ca 3/8″ wide on the right side. So, if you have a circa 1/2″ inside margin, and place the right side of the scanner at the edge of a table, you can scan many books easily. You can get in tighter (to within 3/8″) by using a peice of stiff, 1/16″ thick, cardboard, ca 8 3/8″ X 11″, placed behind each page before scanning—it is a pain, but it works.
Your original must be ABSOLUTELY flat. Since the lid is light, a weight placed on top of the lid can help insure that the original is in full contact with the glass. A ca 1″ thick book is about the right weight.
The foam “pressure pad” in the lid is a bit too soft to insure that some originals (such as stiff letters or receipts which have been folded) are pressed sufficiently flat. If you notice this problem place a 8 1/2″ X 11″ piece of stiff cardboard and close the lid (or a thin book) directly on top of your original.
Although some reviews imply that books thicker than 1″ cannot be scanned, because the “EZ-lid” only adjust to accomodate items up to 1″ thick—in fact, and despite the instructions, it is not essential to close the lid at all—so there is no practical limit on book thickness. Caveat—if you don’t close the lid, and if the entire glass surface is not covered by your book, then cover or shade any exposed glass from bright light (e.g., sunlight through a window or a very bright desk lamp). You can tape a strip of ordinary paper in place for this purpose, if necessary.
Other reviewers have complained about not being able to scan at greater than 1200 dpi. If you want to scan at, say 2400 dpi, you have to type the value in manually in the driver software. However, such scans are slow, and I have found no actual improvement in resolution (detail recorded).
It is true that the scanner draws power only when scanning. That is NOT a great advantage when used with a portable computer as one reviewer implies. At least with my ThinkPad—scanning to a portable running on battery-power very seriously slows down scanning. Plan on having your portable plugged into an AC outlet if you plan to scan more than a few pages.
If you want the best possible scans, you should save to tif—but the only tif files the scanner driver produces are huge uncompressed tif files. Solution: scan from a graphics program which allows you to save files as loss-less tif (LZW compression) which will produce files as small as 1/20 the size with no loss in detail.
If it is incovenient to scan from a graphics program, you can scan to JPG. JPG files are always degraded by compression, but if saved nominally uncompressed, degredation does not become significant unless you repeatedly edit and save the files. Solution: scan as jpg, but convert the files to LZW tif before editing them in any way. LZW tif and uncompressed jpg files of the same image are about the same size
PDF images generally default to ca 300dpi jpg-like compression—acceptable for most photos, but not for text. If you are scanning a mixture of images and text, scan as tif files at 1200 dpi and use Adobe Acrobat (or other pdf editor) to convert the tif files to pdf. Most pdf editors allow you to select the graphics quality—select “highest quality” — OR a specific dpi — OR disable “downsampling”.
If you scan half-tone (screened) photos from books, magazines, etc. You can use Gausian blur (in your graphics editing program) to improve (descreen) them for viewing and printing. Use the lowest possible value which eliminates the dot pattern: typically, 4 pixels at 1200 dpi, 2 pixels at 600 dpi.
The very best scans are produced by setting the tone curve manually, with all of the various options “off”. Pre-defining tone curves for your particular project makes the process a little easier. Unfortunately, you have to “summon” your pre-defined tone curve for each scan. You can define user tone curves, or the all of the scanning settings (including the tone curve) under user names. Note particularly, pay attention when defining “all of the settings” that some of the settings, particularly color, resolution, and auto-tone have not reverted to the defaults. You have to define things in a particular order, or the defaults reset—-very annoying.
Don’t panic about the scary “unlock the scanner before using” notice in the instructions. If you try to scan with the scanner locked, it will tell you, “unlock me”. If so, just unlock it.
This review was original written about the discontinued Canoscan LiDE 90. After several thousand scans, the LiDE 90 began showing irregularities (as faint moire patterns) only when half-tone photos were scanned at 1200dpi and then descreened. So, I purchased an LiDE 200 as a replacement, since I scan everything at 1200 dpi. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two model is that the LiDE 200 is quieter, and perhaps slightly slower. Although the automatic scanning function has nominally been improved, I use instead the “advanced settings”. The “advanced settings” portion of the program is unchanged. If there is no difference between the LiDE 90 and the LiDE 200, is there really any difference between an LiDE 100 and LiDE 200? I doubt it.
After setting up the “preferences” in the “advanced settings” of the LiDE 200 driver, I found that I could not change the options. I had to remove then reinstall the software to be able to change the “preferences”. So, take care setting up preferences. The only changes I made were to select Preferences > Preview > “Automatically Execute Preview” and “Display the last Frame on Previewed Image”.
Suggestion to the Canon designers: If the frame was flush with the surface of the glass, and the frame was a little narrower, at least on one side, this would be a great book scanner. The awkward drivers need major improvement.
Review by Daniel L. Urbanski for Canon LiDE200 Color Image Scanner (2924B002)
Rating:
I have used this for a few months now, I had family photo’s from the 1940′s to date, thousands of photo’s to place on a disk. This scanner worked so quickly and quietly I was extremely pleased to leave this review. The quality of the scans, went far beyond my expectations, and the software was adequate for most photos that need retouched.
I’ve gone through thick yearbooks, newspaper clippings, and shiny magazines and consistently was impressed with the quality of each photo. I’ve used the scan for 3,200 plus photo’s to date and I still have three large stacks of various size photo’s to go. If I run into a glich in the future I’ll update this review, if not then this continues to be one hell of a first rate scanner.
Review by M. J. Grumet for Canon LiDE200 Color Image Scanner (2924B002)
Rating:
My Epson Perfection 4490 was the best scanner I ever owned–for the first year. At two years it has become dysfunctional. Back when it worked it did great transparencies, but it was a feature I rarely used.
So I was willing to get the little CanoScan LiDE 200. I’m tempted to give it three stars, but I’ll go with the premise that the compactness comes at a price.
The Canon installed easily enough in Windows XP. On my desktop computer it runs pretty quickly. The software has some inconveniences relative to the Epson (when the Epson worked). The Canon can zoom in better for cropping on previews. I could not find a 4800 dpi setting, although I can set it to 1200 dpi and magnify. For scanning documents and prints this much resolution is rarely needed. Scans look sharp at 600 dpi, but a bit soft at 1200.
The illumination and detectors that make it compact and make it possible to be powered by the USB cord are different from the models that have their own power cord. The source material has to be right against the glass to scan sharply. If there is a gap it will be out of focus. Scanning from my laptop (done mainly for experimental purpose) is very slow.
The Canon scans upside down, compared to other scanners I have used. It seems strange at first, but it makes sense. It allows you to align the top of the document to the edge that is closest to you.
In the advanced driver mode, for making black and white scans it is possible to adjust the sensitivity. The Epson could do that too. Some HP’s that I owned before the Epson couldn’t.
For now the LiDE 200 does what I want well enough with a little bit less clutter than some bulkier scanners. The bulkier scanners do have more capability.
Edit: New laptop experiment
When I first tried the CanoScan 200 with my laptop, I plugged it into my Kensington 4 port hub. That performance was very sluggish.
For my new experiment I unplugged the hub and attached the CanoScan’s USB cable directly to a laptop port. Performance was greatly improved, comparible to the desktop.
On my desktop computer I have an abundance of USB ports (I have a PCI card full of them installed), so I have not experimented with a USB hub and the desktop. My laptop experiments were done with the laptop powered by its AC adapter.