posted on February 19, 2002 02:40:21 PM
I recently bought a Lexmark scan/copy/printer all-in-one. I love the increased speed I'm getting when printing and scanning, but I'm also having a problem with the scanner. With my old one, I just plopped a sports card on the scanner bed and scanned it. The scan always came through well-centered even if I placed it on the bed crooked, and only the card itself would be scanned. With my new scanner, it's almost like a 'WYSIWYG' scan. If I place it on the bed crooked, it scans crooked. Furthermore, on cards with a white border, the border is apparently blending in with the background of the scanner lid because it cuts off borders.
I've tried taping a piece of dark paper to the scanner lid, which works fine except that the scanner attempts to save the entire length of the bed as its file and I have to constanly adjust size. Since I'm trying to find the quickest way to scan lots of items, that becomes very inefficient.
From time to time I come across an auction where the seller mentions that his/her scanner is cutting off something from the photo, so I know others have run into this. If anybody has any tips on how to resolve the white border problem and/or crooked scan problem, I'd sure appreciate hearing them.
posted on February 19, 2002 03:10:53 PM
I know this doesn't help with the scanner problem, but if you really have lots of items then you might want to consider a digital camera.
They are so much faster you will wonder why you waited so long. I can take photo's of everything from movie posters to postcards and small jewelry items -- and do it in 1/10th of the time it takes any scanner to scan.
posted on February 19, 2002 03:15:19 PM
I have an Epson scanner, and yes, it tries to scan the whole bed.
But, the software that came with it allows me to preview and "select" the area to scan.
I need this with my comic books that have whiter borders as well, because they blend into the background.
It takes a few seconds longer to select the image, but it's better than getting everything.
You should try Lexmark's support site on the web. They should be able to help you out with this. At the very least, they should be able to tell you which third-party software will work with the scanner to do what you want.
posted on February 19, 2002 03:42:40 PM
i used to have just a flatbed scanner and it works well.
then i switch to a hwp combo like yours lexmark,scanner is slow and lousy and clumsy ,so is printing and copying.i wonder if it has to do with the combo feature?
posted on February 19, 2002 04:33:08 PM
In general a multifunction machine is just an average scanner, an average printer, and average fax machine.
I would say the problem is the software you were using with your other scanner suits you much better and did a lot of the work for you. Whereas this new multifunction machine no longer does that due to it's average software.
A digital camera is a good idea, but that takes some work getting the area to photograph to be well lit enough and good enough to take a decent picture.
posted on February 19, 2002 06:14:19 PM
I have worn out one flat bed scanner and have a new one and use Microsoft Photo editor software. Unlike my old scanner my new one is USB connected. It “smokes” and my only problem is I sometimes need a dark background. I have a camera also and on some objects I have to use it but the picture are “different”. When I have a choice I scan. I also use a large purple towel with the lid up on some items and you would be surprised how well items turn out such as books, minor scales etc. I will never give up my flat bed and software.(PS clean the scanner glass often)
posted on February 19, 2002 07:26:30 PM
I used Photo Editor with my last scanner also. I just got that software set up to use with my new one and hopefully that will solve some of my problems.
I've solved the problem of the white borders by simply leaving the scanner lid open. It creates a dark border, which only leaves the issue of having to crop the picture afterwards.
Personally, I think this printer/scanner combo is great, it's just getting used to some things that are different from my last scanner.
posted on February 19, 2002 07:53:16 PM
I recently purchased a Xerox WorkCenter 950 (?) all-in-one. So far I've only used the scanner. I like it for scanning books, jewel case inserts and software boxes. If I put the item on the glass crooked, the scan comes out crooked. I can't imagine any way to fix that, but it's not really a problem, it just takes a little care to set the item down straight. After I scan, I crop the picture very carefully so the picture comes out rectangular anyway.
Like a digital camera, the scanner was a great investment and has helped improve my ads and speed up listing time. A good HP 1200 dpi scanner can be had new for under $100.
Regarding the scan, I'm not sure if you "prescan" but that is the best way to get only the area you want and not the whole area. You have to call the scanner from within your photo editor to prescan.
posted on February 19, 2002 08:01:38 PM
If you're displaying a white item on a white page background, add a thin border around the image (<img src="..." border="1">)
I've just learned about pre-scanning tonight and that looks like it's going to work well. I've tried using Photo Editor with my new scanner, but I get some type of Memory Reference error every time I try to scan from within PE. There's a software program that came with the scanner that doesn't work as nicely as PE, but will get the job done.
posted on February 19, 2002 11:12:02 PM
'Same thing happens with my Fractal Design Painter program, which is an excellent paint program, but every time I try to acquire from my digital camera or scanner, the damn thing crashes. I use Photoshop 6.0 for most of my graphics work.
posted on February 19, 2002 11:48:39 PM
Paperport by Scansoft will let you straighten a crooked image with 1 click. You can also resize on the fly and drag and drop to printers, fax software, ocr, etc.
posted on February 21, 2002 04:16:30 PM
desquirrel,
Have you tried any of Scansoft's other software packages? Papersort looks a little pricey and it does look like they have other packages available that might do the trick for less.
posted on February 21, 2002 07:44:26 PM
Paperport is a jack of all trades program that is designed for ease of use. Scansoft has other products that go deeper into specific areas. Omnipage 11 is excellent, but Abbey FineReader is probbaly a little better. Textbridge is disc. Omniform is fabulous in creating electronic forms.
A low cost program to look at is Jasc Paint Shop Pro. This is a very powerful, yet inexpensive, program for manipulating images. But for example, in the instance you mentioned about crooked images, You can rotate images, but you have to estimate how much and finnagle around. Paperport you give a click and the image rotates to make horiz. lines level. You can also catalog images, etc, etc. It all depends on what you need and how much you're willing to invest.
posted on February 23, 2002 09:48:53 PM
As I was reading this post, the CBS network radio news "reported" that photoshop will be coming out with a new version, approximately April, cost @ $600 for new users, $150 for upgraders.
Now, how this is "news" is one question, but I have had several software programs, and photoshop is by far the best and easiest to use. Now, I do not use 2 percent of its capabilities, but there are "lite" versions out there that I presume do what I need. ONce a photo is scanned, I resize it, reduce the image quality to downsize the file, and otherwise manipulate it as needed, including rotation. A great program.
Every photo I put on ebay is downsized so that it is no taller than 400 pixels or wider than 600 pixels. This resizes it so that it will fit in the viewing area of a 12" monitor without having to move the image from side to side to see the entire thing.
posted on February 24, 2002 07:27:39 AMThis resizes it so that it will fit in the viewing area of a 12" monitor without having to move the image from side to side to see the entire thing.
Is there really such a thing as a 12" monitor, and if so, does anyone really have one?
posted on February 25, 2002 02:22:41 PMNow, how this is "news" is one question...
big article in the SF Chronicle today. Apple love/hate Adobe relationship. I think PS 7 is "news" because it runs under Mac OSX now and Mac Graphic Professionals have been waiting to upgrade to X because PS needed to be run in Classic mode until this new version.
I'm still hacking away with 5.5 but PS is well worth it if you want to invest and spend some time learning it.
