Re[4]: Query-Color Scanner (#272316)

[Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM]

>> I ended up creating a
>> custom list entry that always gives me 24-bit color and 1600 dpi scans,
and
>> I just reduce everything later.

>        How, please?


It's under the "Custom" menu from the DeskScan driver (which is what
Photoshop calls when you acquire it as a TWAIN scanner). You create a print
path and plug in your "printer's" resolution and assorted other data. In
yet another bizarre attempt to be helpful, HP uses the specified printer to
govern the resolution of the scan, yet the "Linotronic" setting only yields
635 dpi, and there no higher resolution printer in the default set.
Apparently they haven't heard of the concept of image libraries, where you
store images for use in later creations, for output devices you might not
think you'll be using. (Case in point: our VP delivered a paper and needed
print-quality images of 1600 dpi or better. Since we typically do overheads
and occasionally do slides, 150-300 dpi is fine for our purposes. But I
store images in highest possible and reduce to a useful level for the
purpose at hand, so we could handle it. If we'd been using this scanner's
idea, we'd have had to go back to the photos and rescan every time we
wanted to change the output quality.)

One of my pet peeves (can't you tell?) is software developers who think
they know so much more about what I do than I do, and who think I should
change my work style to fit what they think it should be. It wouldn't have
been difficult at all to simply include a "best possible" button or menu
choice. And a better option would be to have a set of choices based on the
optical resolution of the scanner: Max Optical, 2X, 3x, and so on up to the
Max Interpolated value.

The idea of limiting the scan by output device is great if all you're going
to do is use the scanner like a glorified copy machine. (This *may* be what
HP has in mind; they include software which does just that. It scans and
prints, directly, without saving the image to disc.) If you're going to do
any sort of image manipulation at all, you need to scan at the resolution
that will give you the best results, then adjust for output device
limitations, if necessary.

There, that's the end of my rant about HP scanners. Promise. In a nutshell,
I think they're wonderful hardware, handicapped by bad software. And to add
insult to injury, they don't believe in shipping Photoshop with the
scanner, so unless you have it, you're going to be out another large chunk
of change buying the software you'll need to get the most from it. <Insert
Adobe Express ad here: Dignified gentleman with large nose holds up CD-ROM.
"Photoshop. Don't sit down to scan without it!">


Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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