| The Digital Darkroom: Scanners by Crimson Star |
Some Things Never Change Scanner technology has not changed, nor will it change in the near future. Read my original article Digital Darkroom Basics, Part 3: Scanners. Everything is the same, except for prices. Beware Of Bargains My previous article explained how to select a scanner that would meet your requirements. Today, even cheap scanners have great specs. Here are some tips to keep you out of trouble. Cheap scanners connect to your parallel port. Your printer connects to the back of the scanner. This setup will cause strange problems because printer drivers are not built to be used this way. Always run your printer directly from the printer port. Buy an add-in parallel port card for your scanner. If your scanner and add-in card both support "EPP" mode, then the scanner will run faster provided you also use a high-speed cable. Some scanners now connect using the Universal Serial Bus (USB). Do not buy one of these scanners. The drivers are not reliable. Scanners that use SCSI connections are the most reliable and trouble-free. Some SCSI scanners include a SCSI controller card and a cable, others do not. If you need to buy a SCSI controller, buy an entry-level Adaptec model, such as the 1520. This is a SCSI-2 card. Scanners actually operate at SCSI-1 speeds, but use the better SCSI-2 command set that lets you turn them on/off while the computer is running. You do not need SCSI-3, Wide SCSI, UltraWide SCSI or anything expensive unless you also plan to install high performance SCSI hard drives or other special equipment. Cheap scanners usually come with cheap software. The best scanners come with Adobe PhotoShop, which adds about $700 to their price. If you wish to learn professional digital techniques, you will need PhotoShop. If not, the cheap software will do fine and is a bargain. Make sure your scanner drivers and software work with your operating system! Cheap software may work with MS Windows 95, but not Windows 98 or NT 4.0. Look for software that runs on anything, in case you upgrade your computer in the near future. As you dive deeper into digital photography, you will discover the joys of upgrading. First, you will run out of system RAM. While 32-mb will be enough to start, everything will be slow. Upgrade to 64-mb when you can afford it, or more if you want to print 8x10 photos at 1440-dpi. You can get by with an older Pentium 133, but anything less will drive you crazy. If you do use a Pentium motherboard, consider upgrading to a Pentium 233 MMX or compatible. If you already have a Pentium II or similar you should be fine. Ask Questions Still confused? Look around my web site for additional tips. Please send me an e-mail if you have specific questions. I will be happy to answer them or point you toward other web sites with scanner information. You can also ask questions in the "Cracker Barrel" section of the PSI web site. Epson Stylus Photo 700 I just bought this printer last month. Is it any good? Does it produce photo-quality prints? Should you buy one? Good news -- this must be the best printer in its price range. The printer driver for MS Windows NT produces very good colors. At higher printing resolutions, there is no banding. Photos printed at 3.5in x 5in on glossy paper look as good as "drugstore" prints. Bad news -- Epson printers use lots of ink. The prints wrinkle slightly as the ink dries. This model uses very small ink nozzles that clog overnight. It must be cleaned every day, or you will waste lots of paper trying to adjust the color before you realize that one of the six colors is not printing at all. Wear earplugs when you turn this printer on! Prints are very expensive. I printed about twenty sheets with various sized images, which finished the color cartridge! Even so, it you want to experiment with digital photos this printer is the place to start. Next month I will start a new series dealing with eCommerce and your web site.
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