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Re:Scanners

To: newsletters@autox.team.net
Subject: Re:Scanners
From: "Joe Laurito" <TRGLORY@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 96 20:47:08 UT
TATERRY asked about scanners for newsletters.........

I have been publishing the Central PA Triumph News for about a year now. I 
originally got a hand held scanner because the price was right and I was 
trying to save the club a few bucks. Well, I ended up wasting the club's money 
by going cheap. The results I got from this piece of garbage were so bad that 
I just stopped using it in order to avoid embarrassing myself in print any 
further. I advise editors not to make the same mistake.

I have been getting my prints developed at the local CVS drug store where they 
can make a Konica floppy disk. The results I get from these are excellent, but 
as was noted, at 4 bucks a roll this starts to get pretty salty as the year 
goes by.

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled onto a scanner quite by accident while 
cruising the Internet. This unit is a full featured flatbed scanner called 
OpticPro 4800P made by Plustek (found them at www.plustek.com). At the time I 
ordered, the price was $299 + S&H; this is the lowest price I have ever seen 
for a flatbed. And there is no configuration to do or cards to install in your 
computer; you plug it into the printer port and then plug your printer into 
the scanner. Standard disclaimer applies - I have no connection with the 
company......blah, blah, blah.

The last issue of the newsletter was produced with images from this and the 
results were excellent. You can prescan your image, crop it, change the 
contrast, brightness, etc., and get it just the way you want it before you 
scan in color or grayscale. The picture comes out perfect every time; there 
are never any jerks, skips or distortions that you get when using a hand held. 
I can also put books on it and copy pages, which is something you can't do 
with a sheet feed scanner.

An added bonus is that I get articles sent in the mail to me for publication. 
I previously had to sit here and retype the whole thing for the newsletter. 
Now I just put the page into the scanner and use the OCR software to convert 
it into a WORD document that I can insert right into the publisher program. 

I am happy as a clam! If you can afford the $300, I recommend going this 
route; it may be the cheaper alternative in the long run.

Joe Laurito, Editor
CPTC Triumph News
trglory@msn.com

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