





Choice
of Scanner
The choice of scanner depends
on the purpose of the scan. There are several issues.
- Environment
- in a production environment the choice is determined primarily by productivity
and quality with an emphasis therefore on functionality, while in a design
environment the emphasis is on ease of use, support for creative design
and standard file formats.
- Technical Specifications
- These include scan area, maximum bit-depth, Dmax, sampling resolution
optical and interpolated, on-line controls and productivity issues such
as speed, buffering, degree of automation and networking.
- Required throughput
- Low scanning volumes can’t take advantage of productivity of high end
scanners.
- Quality required
- Scanner should be matched to targeted output quality.
The advantages of different
scanners are listed below.
Drum
Scanners
- High sensitivity and Dmax
- High Resolution
- Low Noise
- High productivity
- Large Format Originals
- Directly produce color
Flatbed Scanners
- Ease of use
- Faster for single original
- Solid State electronics
- Compact physical size
- Price/performance
- Rigid originals separations
As flatbed technology improves
and scanning software becomes more powerful, many of the distinctions will
become less important.