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The Scanner I Am Using
I was satisfied with the results of my old pictures scanned with a flatbed scanner
until I bought the Olympus
ES-10 film scanner a couple of months ago. This scanner is a member of their Photo
Studio, which also includes Olympus' Centurion S APS camera.
I got mine from CMPExpress - over
the Net, after searching and comparing the prices over C|NET
Shopper site. The price was a little over $300 in December 1998.
I'm always curious about the interior of machines so I took apart my
scanner the third day it arrived. The design is very simple - that's why it's cheap, and I
believe it'll become even cheaper in, say, 6 months.
 The head,
body, and tail of the scanner - this is like snapping apart a steamed shrimp: head, body,
and tail alike. Only that a shrimp doesn't have that many accessories. |
The construction is simple. Left - One PCT board, two SCSI sockets, some moving parts.
The light source and the CCD sensor are fixed together as a component. Right - The motor
is used to drive the light source and the CCD sensor across the film, through a guide
beneath the brass rod. The black wheel is part of the focusing gear.
How's This Scanner?
What I like of it
 | Compact and cheap, yet produces reasonably good result. |
| Easy to install and use. You just plug all the cables into the device and it starts
working, although SCSI settings may be a little problematic to non-professionals. |
| Prompt response. Previewing takes only 8 seconds. When you change the exposure
compensation etc., the preview display changes accordingly. |
What I don't like
| The software is very primitive. There's no Windows NT support in their device driver;
you can't save your settings with it; TWAIN interface image transfer is extremely slow;
insufficient documentation... |
| The negative film holder. You can't easily place the film strip into it, especially when
the film is curly. The ideal adapter should be able to move the film through the scanning
area, so I can fee it with a complete roll of film and it scans the pictures automatically
- I know the APS adapter is capable of doing so, why didn't they put this feature into the
35mm adapter as well? |
| The preview window is too small - should be resizable. |
Other Reviews
C|NET
rates it a home scanner. ZD Net also
recommends it for digital photo enthusiasts.
For a comprehensive review of this little scanner, refer to Imaging Resource.
Using the Scanner
I use Adobe Photoshop 5.0 to get images from the scanner and process them.
Steps to import images into Photoshop
- Go File/Import... in Photoshop and the TWAIN interface of the scanner driver will
appear.
- Hit the Preview button and the preview image appears within 8 seconds (SCSI
version).
- Adjust, if necessary, Exposure Compensation, and color balance, gamma curve, etc.
- Select needed resolution. In a usual scan I just hit the 1770dpi button and
expect a 11.5M file to be produced.
- Hit the Scan button to start scanning.
- (This is the annoying part) Close the scanning window by clicking its close button - why
can't Photoshop do it automatically? I know Microsoft PhotoDraw does this quite well.
Automating the job
Photoshop features limited capability to automate the image processing job. But some
jobs, like scanning the picture, adjust levels and curves, you can't rely on a machine to
do them.
I use Photoshop actions to do some automation. You can use my actions if you
feel like them.
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