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Canon's Canoscan D2400U is an A4 USB flatbed scanner that also handles transparencies with optional adapters. It scans up to 2,400spi horizontally across a target with its six-line CCD scanning head, and up to 4,800spi vertically.
It also reaches 9,600spi over a small area with software interpolation. The bit depth is up to 48-bit for colour scans and up to 16-bit for greyscale.
The optional transparency adapters are priced at £50.21 (ex. VAT) when purchased separately, but the CanoScan D2400U and adapters bundled together is £279.99 (ex. VAT). It makes sense to buy the two adapters because the scanner's built-in dust and scratch removal filter only works with film. One holds 35mm film strips and mounted slides, while a second holds 4in x 5in. film.
Two software tools are provided for scanning. The first is the TWAIN driver ScanGear CS-U, which is used with the supplied copy of Photoshop 5.0 LE. Its toolbar provides basic controls such as automatic tonal adjustment.
A panel to the right of the preview image allows many other adjustments, including resolution and image dimensions. There are pre-sets for various output devices and you can save settings as new pre-sets. A button takes you to advanced mode for greater control over settings including brightness and tone.
The second scanning tool is ScanGear Toolbox, a standalone application launched when you press one of the scanner's two buttons. Its focus is on quick and simple scanning. The options are reduced, but still include control over colour mode, resolution, file type and a few other parameters.
The scanner's front panel button tells ScanGear Toolbox to scan from the platen. The button in the centre of the lid tells it to scan film using a light source built into the lid.
Canon has also included its dust and scratch removal system, called Film Automatic Retouching and Enhancement. The amount of retouching can be set to soft, medium, hard or off. It does a good job of removing dust and scratches, especially high contrast imperfections.
It won't catch everything, but what it does find it removes well with little loss of detail. It's important to note that this only works with colour positive and negative film. This means you're unlikely to be able to use it to repair old family photographs and you can't use it at all unless you buy the film adapters.
Besides Photoshop 5.0 LE, the rather useful software bundle includes ScanSoft's OmniPage Pro for OCR, ArcSoft's PhotoBase image database and Canon's PhotoRecord for printing photographs. Equivalent Macintosh programs are provided on the installation CDRom.
The D2400U delivers very good quality images with a high level of user control, while the combination of ScanGear Toolbox and USB connectivity makes it straightforward for novices as well.
Price: (as reviewed, ex. VAT) £237.45
Contact: Canon 0800 252 223
www.canon.co.uk
See also:
Speedy scanning is the name of the game with the CanoScan D1250U2F. 31 May 2002
All Scanners
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