Scan2CAD raster to vector conversion software

REVIEW:

Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40 large format scanner

April 2009

Introduction

Scanners4CAD were supplied with a Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40e (express colour) large format scanner running Colortrac's ScanWorks software to review.

Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40 large format scanner
The Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40
large format scanner.

The SmartLF Ci 40 is Colortrac's fourth generation large format CIS (Contact Image Sensor) scanner. Colortrac's earlier SmartLF 4080 and Cx 40 CIS large format scanners were the first to offer groundbreaking price and performance benefits to cost-conscious buyers. Colortrac's success did much to popularise CIS scanning at a time when others derided this imaging technology.

Today there are a growing number of wide format CIS scanner models to choose from. All share a media transport design based on multiple roller technology. Here documents are fed into the front of the scanner and exit at the rear. Alone among this herd is the SmartLF Ci 40.

Unlike all other scanners, the Ci 40 has just one very large solid roller or drum. Colortrac call this media transport technology a "clamshell" design, a reference to the shape of the rounded hood and the way it opens up. In the Ci 40, the document is fed face-up into the scanner. Uniquely, it is then pulled in by the drum, not by rollers, turned around the drum and made to exit at the front.

Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40 clamshell design
The Ci 40's "clamshell" design.

Colortrac claim with some justification that the new Ci 40 is "the 21st Century's first radical innovation in large format scanning". It is also the first Colortrac scanner to receive an ENERGY STAR® qualification and to have Gigabit Ethernet network connectivity.

The Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40 is a dedicated technical document scanner. It is also the least expensive sheet-fed large format colour scanner available today. This will make it particularly attractive to AEC, CAD and GIS users. Having enthused about its potential, some say too enthusiastically, we have been eagerly wanting to get to grips with it.

Our eagerness led Colortrac to supply a pre-production test model. Eventually, Colortrac made available a full production model for evaluation.

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