Comparison Plustek OpticFilm 8100 vs Epson Perfection V600 Photo

— Tablet. In such scanners, the material to be scanned is placed over a special glass surface, under which a photo sensor moves; the original itself does not move. Flatbed models are the most "omnivorous": they have no restrictions on the thickness of the scanned material and usually allow you to work not only with individual sheets, but also with pages and covers of books and magazines, product labels, etc. Their disadvantage is their significant dimensions — the working surface of the scanner must be no smaller than the supported format (see "Format").

— Lengthy. In pull- through scanners, the photo sensor is stationary, and the scanned material moves relative to it using the feed mechanism. They are much more compact than tablet counterparts (see above), because. of the requirements for the dimensions of the scanner in this case, in fact, only the width remains. Such scanners make it much easier to process long materials; in addition, they are often equipped with automatic document feeders(see below for more details), which makes it much easier to work with a large amount of materials. On the other hand, the feed mechanism can only work with single sheets and will not cope with books and other bulky media.

— Tablet / lingering. The most versatile models that combine the advantages of both designs. They have both an open...ing lid with a glass surface below it, which allows you to work with bulky media (like flatbed models), and a transport mechanism that makes it easier to work with long originals and single sheets (like in broaching designs). They are equipped with two optical sensors and in some cases you can even use both at the same time. The disadvantages of such scanners are significant cost and dimensions, and therefore they are usually used in the professional field, where you often have to scan large volumes of dissimilar materials.

— Slide scanner. These scanners differ from all previous types due to the peculiarities of the processed originals — they are designed to work with transparent materials (slides), such as photographic film. Other scanners equipped with slide modules (see "Slide module") can work with slides, but it is specialized models that provide the best quality.

— Manual. The name of this type is due to the fact that such a scanner must be manually moved over the scanned surface during operation. This is not as convenient as using flatbed or broaching models (see above), especially when working with a large amount of materials. At the same time, the dimensions of hand-held scanners are even smaller than those of broaching ones, while they do not have such a drawback as a limitation on the thickness of the processed materials. Such a device can "take" an image even from a large object that cannot be placed in a flatbed scanner — for example, a box.

— A0. The largest sheet size specified by the ISO 216 standard is 1189x841 mm (4 times the size of a newspaper spread). It is found exclusively in broaching-type devices (see above), belonging to the professional class.

— A1. Sheet size 594x841 mm. For a number of reasons, this option has not received much distribution in scanners.

— A3. Sheet size 297x420 mm, i.e. 2 times larger than the standard landscape. Support for this format allows you to scan quite large materials, such as an entire spread of a magazine or a page of a newspaper, in one pass.

— A4. Standard landscape sheet 210x297 mm, the most common paper format today, especially in office documentation. Most scanners have this format, it is enough for most personal and work tasks.

— A5. 148x210 mm, in other words — half of a standard landscape sheet. Scanners for this format are compact, but they are very rare, because. working with the popular A4 format on them is at least inconvenient.

— A6. 105x148 mm, a quarter of a standard landscape sheet. Such scanners are small in size and are convenient for working with photographs, where the standard print size (10x15 cm) is approximately equal to A6, but today they are almost never used for the same reasons as A5 (see...above).

Specifies the maximum size allowed for scanning. Note that the actual size of the maximum scan area (see below) may be larger than the paper size specified in the specifications. And in broaching models (see "Type") the size of the processed materials is generally limited only by the width of the scanner. In fact, manufacturers indicate the maximum size in order to make it easier for the user to determine the capabilities of the scanner and its compatibility with popular paper sizes.

The highest resolution of the digital image generated by the scanner during operation. Specified in dots per inch — dpi (dots per inch).

The higher the scan resolution, the higher the resolution of the resulting image will be (with the same size of the source material) and the more accurately small details will be transmitted on it. On the other hand, high resolution noticeably affects the price of the scanner, increases the processing time and the size of the resulting file — despite the fact that the real need for high detail is not always present, and in some cases it is even unnecessary (for example, when processing an image with small artifacts, not visible at low detail). Therefore, when choosing by this parameter, you should not chase high resolution values — you should proceed from the real need and the specifics of the intended use of the scanner.

The simplest modern scanners have a resolution of about 300x300 dpi — this is quite enough for text recognition with an average font size. And in high-end professional models, this figure can exceed 7000x7000 dpi.

The maximum image size that the scanner can process at one time, both horizontally and vertically. You should pay attention to this parameter if you need the exact dimensions of the scanner's working area, down to a millimetre: although standard formats are used to designate these dimensions (see "Format"), in fact the dimensions may differ from them.

The maximum optical density of a dark image that the scanner can distinguish from pure black. Optical density characterizes how much of the light falling on the image was reflected (for opaque images) or transmitted (for transparent). The higher the optical density, the less light the object reflects / transmits. Accordingly, the higher the optical density of the scanner, the higher its sensitivity and the better it is suitable for working with dark images.

The number of shades of grey that the scanner recognizes. You should pay attention to this parameter if you plan to actively work with complex black-and-white materials (for example, photographs) — the more shades, the higher the quality of the digitized image. To date, the average is considered to be 512 shades — this approximately corresponds to the capabilities of the human eye. Models with a lower indicator belong to the entry level, more advanced ones “understand” 1024 shades.

The maximum power consumed by the scanner during operation. The higher the power, the more energy the scanner consumes, but this only applies to the scanning process itself — in standby mode, power consumption is negligible. And even at the peak in most models, the power is so low that in fact this parameter has practically no effect on electricity bills and is more of an auxiliary value (for example, it is used to calculate the total power of devices connected to an uninterruptible power supply).