flatbed scanner / copier

Factual Questions
1

I am looking for a software package either commercial or shareware that will allow me to essentially use my flatbed scanner as a simple copier. I want to be able to place a sheet on the scanner then on screen specify number of copies and have them print without having to go through a bunch of crappy menus for photo editing.

Does such software exist?

2

My Umax scanner came with software called Vistascan which includes exactly such a program: copier.exe

3

Although I’ve never used it, my Epson scanner came with a similar utility. I think I saw a commercial program for the same purpose in a recent TigerSoft catalog.

4

Mine came with those programs too. But the basic idea was the setting that you gave in the scanner program for ‘destination’, ie: copy, fax, screen, etc.

5

I just use Photoshop with my Epson scanner. There’s an Epson program for direct copies, but AFAIK it only works with a matched set of epson scanner and epson printer.

Making copies with a scanner is a bit slower than using a xerox machine, but I like it better because I can crop and enhance the image contrast so I can correct illegible copies.

Here is a method for making perfect copies from a scanner to a laser printer, with a special acknowlegdement to Photoshop creator John Knoll who taught me this little trick.

Let’s assume you have a 600dpi laser printer. If you have a higher rez printer, like 1200dpi, you really don’t need to double all the rez, most copies are perfect at 600dpi. If you have a 300dpi laser, you can scan at 150dpi resolution. Just remember, scan at half the target printer’s rez.

  1. Scan the image in greyscale 300dpi, try to use the scanner’s settings to make a clear white page with 100% black type. Crop now if necessary.
  2. If your image is perfect, you can skip this step.
    Go to Image->Adjust Levels. Use the white eyedropper icon to click on the whitest area of your scan. If your page has a grey cast, you can click with the white eydropper on a grey background area and zap the grey back to white. You can fiddle here with levels, but the goal is to move the black and white points to increase the contrast of the text, while keeping the page white. Photoshop experts may get better results with the Curves command. All this should take no more than a couple of clicks. Hit OK and go on.
  3. Go to Image->Adjust Levels (again). In the Input Levels row, there are 3 boxes, type 1.25 into the middle box. Hit OK. This changes the gamma of the image to match our next step:
  4. Go to Image->Mode->Bitmap. Set Output to 600dpi, check diffusion dither.
  5. Print.

You now have a dithered 600dpi bitmap image matched to a 600dpi laserprinter output. It will look absolutely horrible onscreen but will print perfectly, it will look just like a xerox copy. As a side benefit, these files are very small, and perfect for keeping on disk (I store them in an Adobe Acrobat file, where I can retrieve them and reprint them when necessary. I also use this technique for producing 210dpi images for digital faxing, and even at 2500dpi for producing negatives for fine art printing.