Decent scanner *IF* you get a good deal
Written: Jul 16 '01 (Updated Aug 04 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Price. Media-handling capabilities.
Cons: "Typical" Price. Quirky. Bundled software.
The Bottom Line: If you can scrounge up a great deal, say $400 or LESS, then the ScanPremio ST is worth it. If not, look elsewhere.
|
|
|
| brendang's Full Review: Acer ScanPremio ST |
It's FINISHED! After a month of leaving this review unfinished, I finally got back to it and completed it. Thanks to all who refrained from giving me bad marks for my poor form. Feel free to critique to your heart's content now. While I was feeling prolific, I also did a large Epinion on the Panasonic PV-DV100 MiniDV Camcorder, if you're interested.
Introduction
For quite some time my wife and I had been looking for a flatbed scanner capable of producing high quality results from transparencies as well as reflective sources (ie: slides, negatives and prints). The truly ideal solution is to have two completely separate scanners, a high-quality flatbed for prints and other "reflective" items, and something like a Nikon CoolScan or Minolta Dimage for transparencies. Without question, this is still the best route to take if you have the money and demand the best results. Unfortunately for us, we can't justify the expense, especially in light of the fact that you can get your prints or slides on Kodak's PhotoCD for just a few bucks more than the cost of standard developing. Most photo development houses also offer the Kodak PhotoCD *PRO*, which offers ultra-high resolution images perfect for going to press with. All you need do is touch up your image from the PhotoCD and away you go. Trust me when I say, if you plan on scanning your photos be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN to get a PhotoCD for ALL of your developed rolls of film from henceforth. Simply put, the scans on a PhotoCD are superior to ANYTHING you will be able to produce on your own, even using a high-end scanner. It also saves you tremendous time and money in the long run because all of your photos are already in a digital format on the PhotoCD so you should never have to scan any new photos.
The Impetus
That said, our primary reason for wanting such a scanner was to scan the THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of slides, prints and negatives that exist in our current photo library for use in videos, greeting cards, calendars, etc. Many of these were taken before the introduction of the PhotoCD or other such services. We also only just learned the true value of the PhotoCD service so we only just started to use it (like within the past two months;). Needless to say, we're up to our gills in photos that need scanning.
A Little Lesson
Whether you're a professional or an avid amateur photographer, or you simply are the type who likes to do everything right, you'll want to shoot SLIDE film. Prints are nice for showing your kids pictures to grandma and grandpa, but any serious photographer will tell you that the ideal scanning source is a transparency and NOT a print (a regular photo developed on photo paper). The greatest reason for this is CONTRAST! A print photo is what is known as "reflective" because the image, and it's corresponding colors, etc are REFLECTING light at different wavelengths enabling what you and I perceive to be colors, contrast, and so on. A print contains SUBSTANTIALLY less contrast than does a slide or a negative piece of film because a slide or a negative uses light that PASSES THROUGH it to show color and contrast. Roughly speaking, if I'm remembering correctly, actual film, whether positive or negative, contains 20-TIMES the color and contrast information than a paper print. This is why, in publishing, a printer will ALWAYS want a transparency to scan from rather than a print. Granted, eventually the finished product is printed to paper at resolutions lower than a print photograph, but you can often tell when a piece of artwork in print was taken from a print or a transparency.
Obligatory Self-Aggrandizement
A few years back, in another life it seems, I was a magazine publisher. I am thoroughly familiar with the level of quality necessary to produce print-quality output at 133-LPI or better. A consumer, even a "pro-sumer", flatbed scanner just won't cut it. And, contrary to marketing claims, it is NOT ABOUT THE RESOLUTION. As least not that much anyway. It's more about density and contrast and a flatbed just can't produce higher-end print quality results. At least not yet.
Something About the Scanner
That said, let's get to the ScanPremio ST. We already know that it's not up to the level of the $1,000+ slide scanners, and it's foolish to expect such performance from a flatbed, never mind one that lists for $600 US. Bearing that in mind, it actually does a more-than-satisfactory job at scanning transparent media. After wrestling with it for five or more hours, we were finally able to tweak it enough to get consistently reliable, and relatively faithful reproductions from transparencies - a few slides and a lot of color negatives.
The Software
That brings me to one of our biggest gripes. The "Miroscan" software that's bundled with the ST is just one step above child's play. If you're serious about your scans, Miro will surely disappoint. I guess the bottom line is getting the images into your computer where you can have at them with Photoshop and whatnot, but Miro simply doesn't offer enough options and flexibility during the scanning process. I've read references to a Miroscan "Pro" but I can't find any such monster for the PC (I think it's Mac only). I haven't personally looked, but if you can find a higher-end Twain package that has "pro" features, you're probably going to be happier.
Does it work?
Yes! Especially for reflective art, such as photographs and the such. It produces exceptional quality reproduction from reflective sources. From what I've read about the ST, this seems to be its strong suit. Again, calibrating your monitor and printer (if you're outputting) is absolutely essential. Then calibrate the Miroscan software with a few different "test" scans from contrast-heavy photographs. As always, flatbed scanners are a BEAR to keep clean. Not only is dust your perpetual enemy, one you will NEVER defeat, but no matter how hard you try, your oily fingertips always seem to graze the glass surface of the scanner. It's doubly a problem with the ST as the inside of the covering lid is glass, which houses the pass-through light when scanning transparencies. Keep your scanner OFF and COVERED at ALL TIMES when you're not using it! Get a good quality camera lens cleaning cloth and a couple of cans of compressed air (ie: Dust Off) so you can spray, wipe, and spray again to remove all of the dust particles you can. Then do the same with whatever you're scanning. It's a tedious process, but believe me, it's even MORE tedious removing dust particles from your scans in Photoshop.
The Hardware
We immediately tossed the included SCSI card when it wouldn't work with Windows 2000. We tried an Adaptec AHA2910 and AHA2930 with it and, for some reason, the ST never functioned properly. It wasn't until we plugged it into an AHA2940U/UW that it worked flawlessly, or at least as it should. This may be a system-specific problem, so I can't say that anyone else would encounter this problem, but one thing's for sure, if you're using Windows 2000 (and probably XP) you're going to need to use a more "mainstream" SCSI adapter, which could add to your cost.
The accessories, mainly the film, slide and transparency holders, sort of just "lay" there. They don't fit snugly or "snap" into place on the bed of the scanner. It's definately a bizzarre arrangement that could've been engineered much better. It's just like anything however, once you get used to using it the way it is, you just don't notice any more.
The Bottom Line
The Acer ScanPremio ST is a nice little scanner. I got ours through eBay, brand new from a dealer, for roughly $350 INCLUDING shipping. For that price, nothing can touch this scanner. I never would've paid $450 or more for the ST, simply because there are better options out there for another $100-250 dollars, but at $350 it was too good to pass up. Since our scans are mostly for the web and our own video and printing projects we have little to complain about, and the ST is more than capable for these type of requirements. It's a big scanner, so be prepared to make plenty of room for it as well.
Of all places to buy it, the Acer web site has the best deal I've seen, outside of eBay. They are selling a fully accessorized refurb, with full warranty, for about $400 I think, if it's still available. At that price it's probably a great option. At more than that, there are too many competitors who are probably a little better, mainly Epson and Canon, and would be worth the extra money.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 350
Interface: SCSI
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
brendang
|
|
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 3 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.