[Athen] Current high-speed scanners

[Todd Schwanke]

Thank you Gaeir.  Very thorough and detailed!
Todd

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Gaeir Dietrich
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 2:13 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: RE: [Athen] Current high-speed scanners


> Can you provide any more specifics on features where the dedicated

scanners perform better than the office networked copiers (e.g. Canon and Sharp, not including low cost multifunctions)?

Typically, these are some of the issues:
Less control over DPI--usually copiers have a very narrow range of options (or only one) for the dots per inch. Although we generally use 300 DPI for scanning books, there are times you need 600 DPI (with Infty Reader for math, especially) and also times you need 200 or less (reference books and very thin papers).

Less control over brightness and contrast--usually the controls on copiers are quite dumbed-down; maybe 3-5 up and 3-5 down. A real scanner gives you control over very small increments, which is crucial with some hard to scan papers.

Less control over margins--high-end scanners do a very good job of detecting the paper size and removing the "black margins."

No color drop-out/enhancement--color drop-out is a "must have" feature for dealing with modern books and I have not seen a copier yet that has it, as is color scanning itself. Color copiers are much more expensive than what most campuses are using with the "multi-use machine."

Fewer scan-quality enhancements--typically copiers do not have as many options to deskew, despeckle, and filter as the dedicated scanners do.

Scan quality less good--this measure is very subjective, but in my experience, copiers just do not create as high quality a scan (at whatever
DPI/settings) as the dedicated scanners do.

Less control over document feeding--copiers do not generally handle mixing paper sizes well, whereas dedicated scanners often include this feature; in addition, many of the copiers do not hold as many pages as the scanners.

Accessibility--many copiers present problematic accessibility for both folks who are blind and who have mobility impairments. The controls are often touch pads (may be inaccessible without vision) and are generally on the top of the machine (may be hard for folks in wheelchairs). The Canons and Fujitsus (I have not tested others) are both fully accessible and easy to use.

Breakage--copiers break down frequently after there first year or two in service, whereas I know of Canon 5080C scanners that have been in continuous use for the last eight years with no issues at all--and the 9080C seems to be even better. 

Cleaning--Clean rollers and clean glass are crucial for good scanning. It is far easier to keep your Canon clean than it is a copier (fewer moving parts). Also, you can do the cleaning yourself--you do not violate the warranty as you might with a copier.

Just remember that copiers are basically copiers. They do not have to add features to add the scanning. Scanning is part of the copying process, already. (After all, that's how the copier transfers the picture of the page to another piece of paper.) Why have a stand-alone scanner at all? Because they do add additional features, functionality, and quality over what you get with a copier. It's that simple. 

Also on your question 2 below...part of the reason you need to push down the spine is to block the light so you get a good scan. You can get the same result by draping a black (over very dark) heavy piece of cloth over the scanner (dark blue or black towels work great). This blocks the light, and you get a good clear scan. The OCR programs can usually handle the curvature when the scan is clear.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich
High Tech Center Training Unit of the
California Community Colleges
De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
www.htctu.net
408-996-6043

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


-----Original Message-----
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Todd Schwanke
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 11:30 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: RE: [Athen] Current high-speed scanners

Several different follow-ups...

1) Thank you Gaeir.  Can you provide any more specifics on features where the dedicated scanners perform better than the office networked copiers (e.g. Canon and Sharp, not including low cost multifunctions)?

2) For those who are using the Fujitsu 6770 with the flatbed, is the flatbed strong enough to support pressing down on a bound book to flatten the pages when it is not possible to remove the binding without warping the platen?

3) For those using the Canon 9080/9050/7550 scanners, a) What are you using as a supplemental flatbed scanner? b) is anyone using the optional  Flatbed Scanner Unit 101 or the larger Flatbed Scanner Unit 201 with these scanners?

4) Is anyone successfully using a Plustek OptiBook scanner to scan bound books?  If so, which model(s)?  And, if not, what model(s)?

Thank you,
Todd


-----Original Message-----
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Gaeir Dietrich
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 10:50 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: RE: [Athen] Current high-speed scanners

The campuses that I work with report that they are generally not satisfied with copier/scanner combos, unless they do very little scanning. Those colleges who scan regularly prefer a dedicated scanner, and we have found the color Canon scanners to be incredible value. The scanning utility that comes with the scanner is fully accessible and provides great flexibility.
We probably have over 60 of them in our system now and nothing buy praise for them. 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich
High Tech Center Training Unit of the
California Community Colleges
De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
www.htctu.net
408-996-6043

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Todd Schwanke
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 8:11 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: RE: [Athen] RE: Current high-speed scanners

  
Is anyone using a recent networked color copier that they would recommend?
If so, could share brand/models and what additional modules or add-ons that they were ordered with that relate to scanning functionality?  
 
 
 
Are you scanning to a file or directly into a software application?
 
 
 
Thanks for all the discussion on this topic, Todd
 
 

 
 
 

>>

 
We're running our  Canon DR-9080C on Windows 7 64 bit.
 
 
 
 --
 
 James Bailey M.S.
 
 Adaptive Tech Coordinator
 
 University of Oregon
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
 
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Hunziker, Dawn A - (hunziker)
 
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 3:03 PM
 
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
 
Subject: RE: [Athen] RE: Current high-speed scanners 
 
 
 
Hi all,
 
 
 
Were there issues that you ran into with the Canon DR-9080C and Windows 7?  
 
 
 
I downloaded new drivers for our Canon  DR-9080C for Windows 7 (x64) and quality of images scanned seems to have been maintained.  The one work-around we had to incorporate for Windows 7 and our work process was to install Microsoft Office Document Imaging from Office 2003, which doesn't interfere with the MS Office 2010 we have installed.
 
 
 
Dawn 
 
 
 
 
 
~~
 
Dawn Hunziker
 
Coordinator, Technology Access
 
 
 
Disability Resource Center
 
520-626-9409
 
hunziker at email.arizona.edu
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
 
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Teresa Haven
 
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 2:49 PM
 
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
 
Subject: RE: [Athen] RE: Current high-speed scanners 
 
 
 
Ah, very good point.  We have had to maintain obsolete boxes to keep running our old Canon scanner, and the university really doesn't like that; if more recent Canons still require older OS versions then we may indeed need to purchase multiple brands to cover all our bases.  Thanks for the reminder.
 
Teresa
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
 
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Ron Stewart
 
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 2:43 PM
 
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
 
Subject: RE: [Athen] RE: Current high-speed scanners 
 
 
 
Hi all.
 
 
 
The major problem is finding ones that work with a modern OS.  I am maintaining an XP pro box to maintain my Canon 9080. I am not willing to spend the additional bucks for a Win7 scanner because I cannot justify it in my current life.
 
 
 
 I would not chose this as my primary production scanner, but it makes a great side scanner.  Good flatbed, and also very useful with texts that need special handing.  For those heavy clay based pages in the art appreciation books this is great since I can choose a top feed vs. a bottom feed.
 
 
 
Just some thoughts but also a good conversation. 
 
 
 
Ron
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
 
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Pielaet, Jon
 
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 2:40 PM
 
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu
 
Subject: [Athen] RE: Current high-speed scanners 
 
 
 
Hi Teresa,
 
 
 
I've been looking into production scanners as well. I used the 9080c's at The University of Montana for years and they grew on me. The 9080c has been replaced by the 9050c which is also a workhorse production scanner. If the 9050c is too expensive the 7550c also from Canon is a great scanner as well.
 
I prefer the Canons because they require so little maintenance. 
 
The Fujitsu scanners are known to be good, but they use up consumables so the overall maintenance costs are higher. (This is only what I have heard from others.)
 
 
 
We just ordered a 7550c here at Clark for alt. format production.  Let us know what you discover.
 
 
 
Good luck,
 
 
 
 
 
Jon
 
 
 
Jon Pielaet
 
 
 
Clark College
 
Disability Support Services
 
Assistive Technology and IT Accessibility Specialist
 
1933 Fort Vancouver Way
 
Vancouver, WA 98663-3598
 
(360) 992-2314
 
(360) 992-2879 Fax
 
(360) 991-0901 Video Phone
 
jpielaet at clark.edu
 
http://www.clark.edu/dss
 
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
 
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of athen-list-request at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 12:03 PM
 
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu
 
Subject: athen-list Digest, Vol 86, Issue 3
 
 
 
Send athen-list mailing list submissions to
 
                athen-list at u.washington.edu
 
 
 
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
 
                http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list
 
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
 
                athen-list-request at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
 
 
You can reach the person managing the list at
 
                athen-list-owner at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
 
 
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than
 
"Re: Contents of athen-list digest..."
 
 
 
 
 
Today's Topics:
 
 
 
   1. Plustek OpticBook scanners.   (Kenneth Elkind)
 
   2. Current high-speed scanners (Teresa Haven)
 
 
 
 
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
Message: 1
 
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 17:12:42 +0000
 
From: Kenneth Elkind <Kenneth.Elkind at umb.edu>
 
Subject: [Athen] Plustek OpticBook scanners.  
 
To: "'athen-list at u.washington.edu'" <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
 
Message-ID:
 
                
 
<64368B1DFC2F5D4A86AFF5CEAFE2684C787BE2 at SN2PRD0102MB104.prod.exchangelabs.co
 
m>
 
                
 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
 
 
 
Larry,
 
 
 
Have you had any problems with  the Twain interface with Kurzweil 1000, Kurzweil 3000 and Read &  write gold.
 
 
 
Thinking of requesting them for next year.
 
 
 
Kenneth Elkind
 
Assistive Technology Specialist
 
(617) 287- 5243
 
Kenneth.elkind at umb.edu<mailto:Kenneth.elkind at umb.edu>
 
Skype User Number: adaptiveumb
 
 
 
 
 
Adaptive Computer Lab
 
Maximizing Learning Potential
 
 
 
Learn about the Adaptive Computer
 
Lab<http://www.umb.edu/it/getting_services/computer_labs/adaptive_computer_l
 
ab/>
 
 
 
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
 
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
 
URL:
 
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20130306/1
 
4e40698/attachment-0001.htm
 
 
 
------------------------------
 
 
 
Message: 2
 
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 20:00:30 +0000
 
From: Teresa Haven <Teresa.Haven at asu.edu>
 
Subject: [Athen] Current high-speed scanners
 
To: "'Access Technology Higher Education Network'"
 
                <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
 
Message-ID:
 
                
 
<41DBE0E04D07504A86D68558FE7BAB6B0A7C77B9 at exmbt04.asurite.ad.asu.edu>
 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
 
 
 
Greetings, all.  I know this question comes up periodically, but the answers change because the technology keeps changing.  Does anyone have current information/opinions on good options for high-quality, durable, high-speed duplex scanners for alt format production?  We are still running on our Canon DR9080C that we've had for years, but we would like to purchase a new machine to add to our production line and serve as insurance for the day when our old Canon finally bites the dust.  (The last time we had to put in a maintenance call it was down for almost a month, and I can't let that happen again.)  Any suggestions on brands/models I should research are most welcome.
 
Thanks,
 
Teresa
 
 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Teresa LW Haven, Ph.D.
 
Supervisor, Alternative Format Services
 
Disability Resource Center
 
Arizona State University
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
 
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
 
URL:
 
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20130306/b
 
879a474/attachment-0001.htm
 
 
 
------------------------------
 
 
 
_______________________________________________
 
athen-list mailing list
 
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list
 
 
 
 
 
End of athen-list Digest, Vol 86, Issue 3
 
*****************************************
 
_______________________________________________
 
athen-list mailing list
 
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list
 
 
 
_______________________________________________
 
athen-list mailing list
 
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list
 
_______________________________________________
 
athen-list mailing list
 
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list
 
_______________________________________________
 
athen-list mailing list
 
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list
 
_______________________________________________
 
athen-list mailing list
 
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
 
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list
_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list

_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list

_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list

_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
athen-list at mailman1.u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list