Canon CanoScan LiDE210 Color Image Scanner (4508B002) Reviews
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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. br /br /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. br /br /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 often non-circulating items in libraries or archives. br /br /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. br /br /If you do not plan to carry the scanner around much, you might consider a Canon LiDe 700. It has 2 major advantages. The right edge is actually flush with the glass surface (hurrah!!)---albeit there is still an unnecessarily wide margin. The lid opens 180 degrees, so you can scan portions of a large object. br /br /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. br /br /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 (even with a book on top of the lid). If you notice this problem, then place a 8 1/2" X 11" piece of stiff cardboard (or a thin book) directly on top of your original, and close the lidbr /br /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 typing paper in place for this purpose, if necessary. br /br /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 very slow, and I have found no actual improvement in resolution (detail recorded). br /br /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. br /br /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. br /br /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 br /br /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". br /br /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, 4-5 pixels at 1200 dpi, 2-2.5 pixels at 600 dpi. True the scanning program itself has such a function, but offers no control of the degree of bluring.br /br /The very best scans are produced by using the "advanced settings", and 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. 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. br /br /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. br /br /This review was original written for the Lide 90 and subsequently the 200, but since the only differences between these and the 210 is improvements to the automatic scanning function (which I do not use), this review applies just as well to the 210.br /br /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, which exhibited the same problem after another thousand or so scans, so I purchased and LiDE 100. The misalignment is not noticeable in scanned text or scanned continuous tone images br /br /The scanners seem to have inadequate buffers, so that if you scan a full page in greyscale at 1200 dpi, or color at 300 dpi or higher, the scanner stops and starts many times when scanning a single page. It is the stopping and starting which takes up most of the time, which means that the REAL total difference in scanning times between the models is negligable. I suspect that it is also the stopping and starting which causes the wear and "stuttering" which causes the moire patterns, and ultimately wear on the mechanism. For example, if you scan a 2" x 2" half-toned photo, instead of a full page, the scanner scans in one sweep with no stopping and starting---and no moire patterns, even if it produces moire patterns scanning large photos. In my experience, the LiDE 100 scans slower than a LiDE 200, but stops and starts less (presumably because the buffer can keep up with the slower scanning speaed). So, the REAL scanning speed of the 100 is as fast (or nearly as fast) as the 200, and I suspect that it will be much less likely to develop these problems. I suspect that the same applies to the 110/210---the 110 is probably the prefered scanner for people like me who regularly scan half-tone (screened) images at 1200 dpi. But if you do NOT regularly scan half-tone photos, then this doesn't matter to you.br /br /As far as I can tell, the only difference between the models is nominal improvements in the automatic settings. The "advanced settings" portion of the program is unchanged, probably even in the 210. Claims of higher speed for higher model numbers are misleading, but the "slower" scanners are noticeably quieter.br /br /It is a bit ridiculous that the drivers are not common between models. For example if you upgrade/downgrade from a 200 to a 100 (as I did), you have to deinstall the old drivers and install new drivers---even though the driver programs are identical. Moreover, the (identical) drivers are incompatible with each other. If you install the drivers for a LiDE 100, you cannot use a LiDE 200 on the computer without replacing the drivers. I would like to have continued using the 200 for routine scanning, and the 100 for high-res scanning of half-tone images---but I can't, I can use one scanner or the other, not both.br /br /Suggestion to the Canon designers: If the frame was flush with the surface of the glass, and the frame (or margin) was narrower (less than 1/4 inch), at least on one side, this would be a great book scanner. The awkward drivers need major improvement.
Canon CanoScan LiDE210 Color Image Scanner (4508B002) Feature
- "Auto Scan Mode" automatically adjusts settings by detecting what you are scanning
- High-speed letter size color scanning in approx. 10 seconds
- Just one USB cable for data and power
- Advanced Z-lid expansion top for scanning bulky items
- All-new Auto Document Fix delivers area-by-area color correction for beautiful, easy-to-view scans, automatically
Ultra Compact Scanner with Vertical Scanning and Up to 2400 dpi
Go tO Store Now !!
Good scanner, so-so software. - Camilo Moreno - New York, NY United States
I tried to figure out how to get the best scan when using pictures and the results with the software were pretty mediocre, a color copy machine would do better. In the other hand, when you choose auto scan from "Canon Solution Menu EX", you get a descent scan.br /I don't use to write reviews from all the products I buy from Amazon.com but this time I thought it was necessary because the quality of the software is unacceptable.
new canoscan is a winner - james -
awesome scan speed, excellent bundled software, value for yor dollar, you can't go wrong choosing this product.
Oct 28, 2010 07:14:04
