Legal Size Scanner thread. 48 48

[Tony S]

So, I know AIOs are not ideal for scanning slabs, but I don't have room for an extra scanner at the moment. In reading through recent posts, I notice that a few people have had some success using the HP8600. Is this the best of the current AIOs on the market for scanning slabs?

 

I cannot answer your question directly What I do know is that good scans of encapsulated books has to do with the type of sensor used. Contact Image Sensors (CIS) are cheaper and smaller and what is used in inexpensive scanners and All In One Machines. These sensors have no depth of field. They can "see" what is laying flat on the glass. Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) are more like a tiny camera and have a depth of field. They can clearly image an item inside a slab

 

I searched high and low for an AIO that used CCD technology and never found anything. So I gave up and bought a scanner with CCD. Maybe there are some AIO machines that use CCD tech, but I couldn't find them.

 

The 8600 uses CIS. That info is hard to find. Anymore, if it is not mentioned what is used you should expect CIS as CCD is more expensive. If the 8600 is giving better scans of slabs than most AIO's, likely it has to do with scanning software.

 

Edited June 16, 2014 by Tony S

[jmg3637]

my research came up with the same results. At least for the HP's ALL of the AIOs use the CIS technology. some of the stand alone scanners use the CCD.

 

I ended up buying the 8600. Here are some test scans I just did today. All of the scans were done at only 200 dpi

 

First a basic comic

 

 

Now the Front of a CGC Slab

 

 

And finally the back of the same book

 

Not sure if there are any settings I can fine tune to make the SLABs look better

 

 

[skypinkblu]

I just found this "white paper" on the two forms.

 

I thought I was doing pretty well understanding Tony's explanation until I starting looking at the chart at the bottom.

http://www.imageaccess.de/?page=WhitePapersCCDOrCIS〈=en

[General Zod]

I saw somewhere that an HP 8200 was recommended. I finally got the eBay seller to answer and she said the flatbed was only 11 x 8.5.

 

Is the 8250 the larger size in the series? I have a very old G4010 that does OK, but of course the entire slab does not fit...and it's pretty slow.

 

Looking at the specs on Amazon and they have the same 8.5 x 14 scan area, the only thing I saw different was the 8250 had the auto feeder on top.

 

 

Thanks, maybe she made an error.

 

She did. I plan to pick up a HP 8200 some day.

[Tony S]

I just found this "white paper" on the two forms.

 

I thought I was doing pretty well understanding Tony's explanation until I starting looking at the chart at the bottom.

http://www.imageaccess.de/?page=WhitePapersCCDOrCIS〈=en

 

The article itself is long and quite technical. But for the purpose of scanning slabbed comic books, the chart at the bottom has only one spec collectors need to be concerned about. Focal Depth. The focal depth of CCD is 10x to 30x greater than CIS. (3 to 5 millimeter (mm) Vs .1 to .3 mm.

 

.3 (3/10) of a MM is about 1/100 of an inch. 5 mm is about 1/5 of an inch It is hard to measure exactly without proper tools, but it appears CGC's slabs hold a comic about 1/8 of an inch from the surface. CCD's are able to focus on the comic inside a slab. CIS's cannot. With a CIS sensor, a comic book inside a slab is simply not close enough to the sensor.

 

This is why the test scan posted up of the slabbed Star Trek comic looks soft and out of focus. With a CIS sensor, the book - in a slab - is to far away.

[The Kaptain]

What are we all going to do when the last of the old school CCD scanners dies in about 10 years?

[awakeintheashes]

Thanks for the scans and the insights regarding the differences of the two technologies. Very useful information.

[Tony S]

What are we all going to do when the last of the old school CCD scanners dies in about 10 years?

Pay more. They still make CCD scanners. Epson makes a good number of scanners with CCD technology with prices starting around $200. Unfortunately, the large format CCD scanners - something that can scan a slabbed comic - get damn pricey. Like $1500.

 

 

[jmg3637]

If you buy an OLDER scanner, be aware that if you upgrade to windows 8 or beyond it is likely that the machine will not be compatible.

 

Here is the Star Trek Slab scanned @ 600 by 600

 

 

As expected the images are the same and both are 621x1024 pixels

 

 

Edited June 17, 2014 by jmg3637

[jmg3637]

this may be the limitation of having a FREE photobucket account.

 

the first Star Trek scan started out at a reasonable 330k on my computer.

the 600x600 increased to 1.62 mg.

 

I kicked the quality all the way up and got a 3rd scan that was over 20mgs prior to upload.

 

 

 

size of the image is still 621x1024

 

last try this is linking out to original sized image, whatever that means

 

 

Edited June 17, 2014 by jmg3637

[thunsicker]

If you buy an OLDER scanner, be aware that if you upgrade to windows 8 or beyond it is likely that the machine will not be compatible.

 

Or to the latest version of Mac OSX. That said you can always get third party scanner software. When they don't care if you upgrade your scanner or not they do a much better job of upgrading their software.

[Tony S]

If you buy an OLDER scanner, be aware that if you upgrade to windows 8 or beyond it is likely that the machine will not be compatible.

 

Some companies are better about updating drivers than others. And if the equipment is "pro level" drivers are more likely still to be updated.

 

HP has drivers all the way through Win 8.1 64 bit for the 8300. Probably for the entire 8000 series, but I didn't check.

 

[GACollectibles]

From all the feedback to date it looks the HP line is compatible(CCD) up to the 8350 model, correct? Anything after that appears to have the CIS scanner

[GACollectibles]

Here is a list(Thanks Sharon!) from this thread of scanners that people have confirmed as compatible for slabs using the CCD format, many suggest using Vuescan for best editing tool.

 

Epson GT-2000

HP 7310 

HP 7400 (7710 is the actual number for a search)

HP 7410 All-in-one. 

HP 7780 AIO

HP Scanjet 8200?? (may not be legal size)

HP 8250

HP 8300

HP 8350

HP 8390 (according to HP specs)

Microtek Scanmaker i800 plus

Microtek V6UPL 

Microteks 9600-9700-9800 

 

 

Most new off the shelf units are CIS format, will be blurry(see HP 8600 example above). Editing will not eliminate the blurriness.

 

Edited June 19, 2014 by GACollectibles

[skypinkblu]

Andrew, the 8200 may not be large size. I've been looking it up since there was one on eBay and at least one is marked 8.5x 11.

[GACollectibles]

Andrew, the 8200 may not be large size. I've been looking it up since there was one on eBay and at least one is marked 8.5x 11.

 

From Amazon product description:

 

HP ScanJet 8200 Professional Image Scanner

 

"With the ability to scan items up to 8.5 x 14 inches in size"

 

Are there two different versions of the 8200?

[skypinkblu]

I dunno, I just know that the seller of this insists it's 8.5 x 11 and she sells computer equipment.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/141312883621?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[GACollectibles]

I dunno, I just know that the seller of this insists it's 8.5 x 11 and she sells computer equipment.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/141312883621?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 

Hey, I didn't put it on the list

[GACollectibles]

HP specifications for hp scanjet 8200 digital flatbed scanner

 

Link

 

Maximum Document Scan Size

 

8.5 x 14 in

 

Very odd because the pics from that listing don't appear to be of a legal size scanning bed. I'll mark it as ??.

[Aces]

PCmag.com says it's legal size

 

 

 

Business scanners generally have faster throughput, more robust construction, and a better duty cycle than graphics scanners, but the strong emphasis on text scanning often comes at the expense of image quality and capability. The HP ScanJet 8200 ($499 list) is a solidly built, sensibly designed unit that gives users excellent text as well as high-quality photo scans.

 

Hewlett-Packard endowed the 8200 with specs usually considered appropriate for a graphics scanner: 48-bit color, 4,800 pixels per inch (ppi), a USB 2.0 interface, a built-in 35-mm transparency adapter, and photo and image software. On the business side, the 8200 accommodates up to legal-size originals (8.5 by 14 inches), comes with NewSoft's Presto! BizCard 4.0 for scanning business cards and IRIS's Readiris Pro 8, an OCR program that preserves text, graphics, and formatting.

 

The 19-pound 8200 is gray on dark gray and, at 7.7 by 15.7 by 22.6 (HWD), large. The cover opens sideways rather than front to back, which requires more desktop real estate but is more convenient for use in a busy office. There's no hardware lock, so the scanner is ready to operate right out of the box, but you'll want to be careful if you move it around much. Inside the cover is the transparency adapter, which when not in use, is covered by a removable white board. The front panel has 12 buttons, including six one-touch controls that are preprogrammed with settings for scanning text and pictures, sending text directly to the OCR engine, automatically filing the scanned image, and e-mailing or printing the scan. The other six include Power, Cancel, and Destination (for sending scans to a user-specified application), as well as buttons for setting the number of copies, choosing color or black-and-white originals, and for changing the preprogrammed settings of the other one-touch buttons. An unlit 16-digit LCD control panel displays the scanner's status and error messages.

 

Setup is fast and trouble-free. HP's Scan Director offers a simple, intuitive interface that requires no special skills to understand and operate. Scanning is both quiet and quick. An 8.5- by 11-inch prescan took less than 5 seconds on our tests, a 300-ppi text scan for OCR took 18 seconds, and a 300-ppi photograph scanned in 15 seconds. The one-touch buttons work well and are quite easy to customize. Straight text OCR scans were very accurate, but the software had minor difficulty on formatted pages, especially headlines. HP's graphics tools are light and limited but adequate. Our test photo scan exhibited accurate colors and excellent detail.

 

The 8200 is available in two additional configurations. The $899 8250 is identical to the 8200 except for a 15-ppm duplex automatic document feeder (ADF) and additional software. The $1,499 8290 comes with a 25-ppm ADF plus a SCSI interface and document management enhancements. Although it won't satisfy the needs of graphics professionals, the 8200 is excellent for offices that require both business and photo scans from a single, easy-to-use, hassle-free device.