Mustek A3 Scanexpress 1200

[wurstisart]

Hello Group...

I appologize up front if this was discussed already, but I could not find it.

Does anybody use the Mustek A3 Scanner ?

 

I was wondering what the best setting would be to scan original art ?

I want to scan my complete collection, and since there are quite some pages I want to make sure I only have to do it once !

 

Thanks.

Andy

[Claudio]

I had one before and 100x100 is what I think I had it set at. It provides an excellent scan without taking up too much memory. It also makes it easier for people to see on CAF (if you post there). I have a cable connection and I hate having to wait a whole 20 seconds or so for a page to load that has super high resolution.

[NelsonAI]

I just picked up the same scanner and have been testing it out since last night. The settings when compared to my other scanner seem fairly basic:

 

Scan Mode: Color, Grey, Line Art

Resolution: Normal, Fine, Super Fine

 

I chose Color and Fine.

It takes just a few seconds to scan a 11 x 17 page and looks perfectly fine for a CAF post.

 

I don't see options like 100 x 100. Am I missing something or did they simplify the settings menu? I'm not complaining since the scan looks great and it's easy to use right out of the box.

 

Cheers!

N

 

 

 

[wurstisart]

I assume you do it through the tool they provided. called "pannel".

how big do your files get ?

 

did you ever try the gray scan mode ?

 

i don't see the 100 x 100 either.

 

Thanks for your help.

[NelsonAI]

When I click on "panel", it beeps but no pop up menu appears.

 

I haven't had time to play around in detail last nightI since I literally hooked this thing up late last night. Color / Fine mode works best for my needs.

 

From Color and Fine mode, the scanned image is saved as a TIF file. The 11 x 17 pages are approximately 20MB - 22 MB. That will eat away into your storage space quickly but are full 11 x 17 images. Gray mode is about 15 MB.

 

I have a generic editor from my last scanner where I can convert the TIF file into a JPG file. The JPG files are about 1 MB each. These look fine on CAF. I haven't tested the editing software that came with this scanner yet.

 

If you go to my CAF gallery, see link below my signature line, and look at the last 2 covers I posted, you can see how my scans came out as a JPG file. I had used a digital camera but swapped out those images with the scans.

 

Gray mode is okay but I prefer using Color mode because it will reflect the true condition of the art. Color mode highlights any color differences, stains, whiteout, etc. Some test scans I ran picked up the blue pencil the artist used just fine.

Line Art mode stinks so I don't use it at all.

 

I suspect 100 x 100 refers to Normal mode which is about 100 dpi (dots per inch)resolution. Fine is about 200 dpi. Super fine is about 300 dpi. Any of the modes work fine for CAF.

 

Hopefully, I'll have more time over the weekend. Based on my initial tests, this basic A3 sized scanner works well for OA collectors on a budget. Total cost was about $170 shipped. I bought it through Amazon. (thumbs u

 

 

Cheers!

N

[wurstisart]

Here is the latest on how I scan my pieces :

I use the setting for color scans and for the resolution I use the setting fine.

This gives me a pretty good color scan, however the file size is about 20 MB !

 

The scan itself only takes a couple of seconds.

 

So before posting on my website or on CAF or here, I use the free PixResizer Software (google it and you will find it) and I then resize the pages.

 

You can also apply a "Gray" setting in the PixResizer so that the pages come out in black and white.

 

The size of the files is afterwards also significantly smaller and the quality of the scan is still there.

 

Check it out...

[PhiGam-migration]

very informative! thank you