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REPORTS & EVALUATIONS:

BERTL to produce large format scanner reports.

BERTL to produce large format scanner reports

Henrik Vestermark, the prolific scanning industry commentator and consultant, has been appointed Director of Wide-Format Analysis at BERTL (Business Equipment Research & Test Laboratories).

BERTL are soon to publish large format scanners reports. In order to bring this forward and to add some credibility to the process, BERTL have been working with Vestermark to set up credible product testing criteria and procedures for their new for-sale reports.

BERTL have been a source for independent product evaluation reports and comparative analyses on digital imaging devices and workflow solutions for over 15 years. With more than 5,000 products covered to date, BERTL are now collaborating with Vestermark to plug one of the few remaining holes in their product portfolio - the coverage of standalone wide format scanners and scanning software.

Scanners4CAD believe the large format scanner industry has a need for independent and authoritive product evaluations and reports. Some manufacturers make claims for their products which we think are wrong and misleading. Vestermark has previously stated a desire to do something that will "keep the scanner manufacturers honest". If he can do this BERTL will have the full support of Scanners4CAD.

Vestermark has a lot of experience with wide format scanners. He was previously a Contex VP for North America and currently sells GTCO Calcomp scanners, a Contex OEM'ed product, and Paradigm Imaging's Wide Format Copy Solutions through his company, The Other Solutions. He has written reports for Contex and has evaluated many large format scanners for leading magazines, like Cadalyst, Desktop Engineering, GeoSpatial Solutions, Scanners4CAD and Wide-Format Imaging, etc., using objective criteria.

BERTL claim that at all times their primary focus is the end user. BERTL prohibits any manufacturer-control over its product evaluations, and bases its opinions, ratings and awards on a combination of rigorous analysis and worldwide customer satisfaction research. On the face of it, it appears that BERTL and Vestermark make a good fit.

"Up until now BERTL haven't produced any wide format scanner test reports" says Vestermark. "However, they were looking around to do so and contacted me because they could see that I wrote reports in magazines and had opinions on the wide format industry. I see my association with BERTL as another way of getting independent standalone scanner reports out into the market".

Vestermark is now assisting BERTL in setting up a uniform procedure for testing wide format scanners and report writing designed to ensure that BERTL will cover the subject in a professional manner free of manufacture inteference. At present, Vestermark is working with BERTL to obtain scanners from all the major manufacturers - Colortrac, Contex, Graphtec and Image Access - as well as their OEMs, like Bowe Bell & Howell, GTCO Calcomp, HP, KIP, Oce, Vidar, etc. - for product evaluation.

"I just started working with BERTL" says Vestermark. "I am pleased that BERTL have asked me to work with them to address the need for objective, independent information about the wide format scanners. The first report will be out within a month. Hopefully, over the next six months we will get sufficient reports out to address the majority of large format scanners in the marketplace".

In order to ensure that testing will be applied in an equal way to all products from the different scanner vendors, Vestermark has written a test procedure for BERTL. This will cover areas such as:

  • Horizontal and vertical accuracy
  • Line pairs per mm and sharpness
  • Colour and graytone accuracy
  • Panchromatic test
  • Speed tests - B/W, graytone and colour
  • Adaptive thresholding

Other areas to be covered include features, ease of use and value/price. Vestermark claims that BERTL's will be "the first attempt in the industry to give a scanner review a rating based on how much value you get for the price you pay. In other words, features, quality and performance will be measured against the price you pay."

We wish Vestermark and BERTL well in the production of independent and objective reports even though we are already wondering exactly how useful they will be to the average CAD user planning to scan simple black and white or colour technical drawings which do not require the same sophisticated scanners that are used for spectacular colour artwork. Somehow the simple needs of CAD users must be accommodated.

We shall reserve judgement and wait-and-see. Whatever BERTL write, we hope they do so with clarity. Too much is written about scanners by specialists for specialists.

In today's new market for scanners for CAD and technical drawings few new users have used a scanner before. Increasingly, as large format scanners become more justifiable at lower prices they are being bought by CAD people with no previous scanner experience. If BERTL are writing for the smaller, more technical reprographics scanner market, they risk confusing the wider CAD market.

Scanning advice needs to be simplified and the benefits made clearer. The common CAD man has enough on his screen without needing to learn an entirely new vocabulary - or even the time to understand how to use his scanner. There is a great need for scanning training to help new users understand the basics and achieve scan quality. A well-written and understandable BERTL report could go a long way to improving the standard of scanning by providing new users with instructive, practical information - before they buy a scanner. We hope so!

Finally, we would like to say that we believe that reports, while quicker to read, are not half as good an indicator of a product's quality as getting a practical hands-on evaluation of a scanner with your own drawings and then examing the results at your leisure. Vestermark has the final say. "BERTL reports will come in handy prior to any hands-on demo by helping end-users short-list a few suppliers."

So, with some reservations and great expectations, Scanners4CAD wish BERTL and Vestermark good luck.

Updated: 24/10/07

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