Image Access WideTEK CIS scanner Contex large format scanners

Scanners4CAD eMagazine - June / July 2007

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UPDATE: Colortrac's CopySmart gets new drivers and spectrophotometer support.
AWARD WINNERS: KIP and Contex win Wide-Format Imaging Top Product Awards.
FOLLOWUP: The HP DesignJet 4500 scanner.
NETWORKING: Coming soon to Big Screen near you!
BOTTOM LINE: Cock-a-doodle-doo. Colortrac crow their growing success!
THE MARKET: Graphtec GB cut prices again!

23rd July 2007

UPDATE: Colortrac's CopySmart gets new drivers and spectrophotometer support.

CopySmart gets new drivers and spectrophotometer support

Colortrac's excellent and affordable ScanWorks software is the best software we've used to date for scanning and editing large format technical drawings. Its stablemate, CopySmart, is a "colour management system" for reprographics users who need accurate colour matching between the original drawing, scanned image and the printed result.

As colour management is irrelevant to most CAD users with only a black and white scanning requirement, CopySmart is not an application that most CAD users need. However if you are a Colortrac user and do have a requirement for colour management, CopySmart's low price and powerful features make it an ideal companion to ScanWorks.

NEW Mutoh RJ series and Canon iPF8000 drivers released

Colortrac have recently added new direct driver support for Mutoh RJ901 (24") and RJ900 (44") printers, as well as the popular Canon iPF8000 wide format inkjet printer to CopySmart. These drivers enable CopySmart to print to these Mutoh and Canon wide format inkjet printers direct.

Unlike Windows printer drivers, direct driver support is claimed to minimise paper consumption by only using what is necessary; guarantee a high-level of colour copying performance; and ensure that for users who need a 1:1 copy (most people) the copy is made at the same size as the original. CopySmart also supports scaling, multiple copies, step-and-repeat (a technique for printing multiple copies of the same image), panelling (the ability to print an image in parts that can later be fitted together) and annotation.

All drivers are free to registered CopySmart users. The latest v1.3G2 can be downloaded.

The Canon iPF8000's superb quality prints coupled with an aggressive low price has seen its sales boom. It makes sense for Colortrac to extend support to this popular product. It is designed primarily for reprographics use (photography, fine art, poster and signmaking) but is making inroads in technical drawing offices.

CopySmart gets GM Eye-One spectrophotometer support for enhanced colour profiling

Colortrac have added an interface to CopySmart for the GretagMacbeth Eye-One spectrophotometer (a device for measuring the wavelength of light, i.e. colour). Colortrac hope that the GM Eye-One's precision will improve colour accuracy beyond what is currently achieved with their SmartLF scanner range.

All devices handle colour in a different way. They may use different colour spaces (for example RGB or CMYK) or support wider or narrower ranges of colours. In order to match colours across a scanner/printer system descriptions of the ways that the scanner and printer handle colours have to be created. These descriptions are called "device profiles". To create a device profile, a target (chart of known colours) is scanned or printed. The colours that are scanned or printed are measured and compared to the original known colours and the relationship between the scanned or printed colours and the known colours is calculated.

The benefit of CopySmart's new spectrophotometer support is that users will be able to create more accurate device profiles for printers.

In CopySmart at present, printed targets are scanned using the SmartLF scanner and the scanned colours are used to build up the printer's device profile. With spectrophotometer support, users will be able to build up the printer's device profile by measuring the colours on the printed target using a spectrophotometer instead of by scanning. Colortrac claim that SmartLF scanners running CopySmart "as is" are already able to match colours to a very high standard but will be even better with the enhanced quality obtained from a professional colour spectrophotometer.

Colortrac state that the anticipated release date of CopySmart with support for the Gretag-Macbeth Eye-One spectrophotometer is "sometime in July 2007". For CopySmart users without access to a spectrophotometer the existing profiling system remains. This has been improved in the latest CopySmart v1.3G2 release. Support for other spectrophotometers from different manufacturers may be added at a later date depending on how the Eye-One is received.

The GM Eye-One was developed by GretagMacbeth AG of Switzerland. GretagMacbeth AG is now owned by the X-Rite organization, a world leader in colour measurement technology solutions that comprise of software, hardware and services for the verification, communication and management of colour in a variety of applications. X-rite serves a wide range of industries including digital imaging, traditional printing, industrial colour and appearance, retail colour matching, etc.

Colortrac - http://www.colortrac.com
X-rite, Inc - http://www.xrite.com

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23rd July 2007

AWARD WINNERS: KIP and Contex win Wide-Format Imaging Top Product Awards.

KIP and Contex win Wide-Format Imaging Top Product Awards

Readers of Wide-Format Imaging magazine have voted the KIP 3000 multi-function system the best engineering printer and the Contex Crystal G600 42" professional scanner the best 24"+ scanner.

Readers were asked to vote for those "breakthrough products that have caused the most excitement in the industry and have been a valuable asset to their businesses over the last year". In all, 27 categories were chosen for WFI readers to vote on as well as a Top Product. The voting in a number of the categories was so close there were three ties.

As Wide-Format Imaging is not a CAD publication its reprographics readers votes and their winning products do not necessarily represent the best solution for scanning technical drawings and maps, etc. Further, we do not know how the competition was structured, how many readers actually voted or which products were included in the competition. This information is unavailable on Wide-Format Imaging's web site.

Without some qualified information about the nature of the competition, the results are less useful than they might be. Nonetheless, here is some information on two products which readers of Wide-Format Imaging have identified as being best in their field.

Category: Engineering Printer

Winner: KIP 3000

The KIP 3000 is a digital wide format copying, network printing and scan-to-file system. It can scan and print black and white (monochrome) documents and also scan in colour. This modular system is available in three configurations:

Digital Copy System
Digital Copier + Network Printing System
Digital Copier + Network Printer + Scan-to-File System

The KIP 3000's scanning system is based on the Graphtec SK200 colour scanner which offers 600 dpi optical resolution and 24-bit colour imaging technology. When linked to a colour inkjet printer, the KIP 3000 can reproduce a wide range of large format full colour tasks. Essentially, the KIP 3000 is a black and white printer with a colour scanner and some network capability.

Scanners4CAD believe that the KIP 3000 is growing in popularity with CAD users and we hope to cover it with its own full review in future.

Category: Scanner (24-inches +)

Winner: Contex Crystal G600 42-inch Scanner

The Contex Crystal G600 is a 42" colour and monochrome CCD technology scanner. The 42" imaging area handles large colour posters, architectural sketches, detailed maps and drawings at 508 dpi resolution and at speeds of up to 12 inches per second (ips) in monochrome and 3 ips in colour.

In common with other Contex scanners the Crystal is Energy Saver and RoHS compliant. It features Contex's All-Wheel-Drive technology for smoothly handling valuable originals, and Automatic Thickness Adjustment Control (ATAC) that allows scanning of documents up to 15mm (0.6") thick.

KIP 3000 - http://www.kipamerica.com
Contex Crystal - http://www.contex.com/scanners/CRYSTAL_G600
Wide-Format Imaging - http://www.wide-formatimaging.com

Wide-Format Imaging serves wide and grand-format imaging professionals by reporting on industry news, trends, products, services and management issues. It reaches the print-for-pay market (sign shops, screen printers, digital print shops, reprographics firms, service bureaus, quick printers, color photo labs, and exhibit builders) and in-plant wide- and grand-format imagers.

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16th July 2007

FOLLOWUP: The HP DesignJet 4500 scanner.

The HP Designjet 4500 scanner is the successor to the HP Designjet 4200 (see HI-TEC GRAVEYARD: HP discontinue HP Designjet 4200 scanner).

The HP Designjet 4500 claims to "streamline workflow and improve productivity by bringing colour scanning in-house to complement your large-format printing. It integrates easily into your existing environment and with a variety of third-party scan applications". It sounds great. We investigate.

HP DJ 4500 MFP

The HP Designjet 4500 scanner. List £14040 (UK) / $18995 (US).
Includes preconfigured printer drivers for HP Designjet 5000/5500, 4000/4500, 1000 and 500/800 series printers, a 15" touch-screen monitor with Pentium 4 2.3 GHz processor, software, a small keyboard, a floorstand and an on-site warranty.

Purple words on a grey background!

We downloaded and printed out HP UK's technical data sheets. Maybe because HP have thousands of products but only one wide format scanner their HP 4500 technical documentation is not as helpful as it could be. Perhaps we just wanted too much information. Whatever!

Their technical brochure left us with many unanswered questions:

  • The HP Designjet 4500 has a built-in processor - built in where, exactly?
  • Its networking capability - how and with what?
  • Its support for other OS (operating systems) - how exactly?
  • Its supplied software - what does it come with?
  • Its "integration" with third party software - like...?

We searched for more information in the US and found a US HP brochure with a technical illustration that indicates that the HP 4500's built-in processor is built into the scanner. (Wrong! It's actually built into the external monitor.) We wondered whether the HP 4500 is a new generation scanner like the Image Access WideTEK (BB+H Infinity in the USA) and Contex Puma G600 iJET, which include their own built-in processors?

UK brochure
US brochure with a misleading illustration that shows the PC built into the scanner.

We decided to call HP UK direct and get the facts.

No direction home, like a rolling stone!

HP UK apologised and told us that they had "no information available on this product".

HP said they must refer us to one of their UK resellers but apologised again for being unable to tell us which of their large format resellers sold the HP Designjet 4500 scanner. HP gave us the namer of a reseller "who might sell it". When we contacted this reseller we were confused because the company answering the phone was not the one we had been referred to by HP. HP had not updated their database with the company's change of name.

What has this to do with large format scanners? Everything! If you are making a large investment in technology you expect to be able to talk to someone who can give you technical answers to your questions or who can at least refer you directly to a knowledgeable person. According to the reseller that HP referred us to "HP are absolutely useless. We never use them for technical information. Try Art Systems".

Art Systems are a UK distributor of HP printers and scanners, as well as distributors of Contex scanners. They helped us to clear up the confusion.

Talking 'bout my generation!

The HP 4500 is NOT a new generation scanner like the Image Access WideTEK or the Contex Puma. It is an OEM'd Contex Chroma G600 Plus in HP's standard charcoal grey rather than Contex's trademark cream.

Contrary to the impression we got from its brochures the HP 4500 does not have a built-in processor. It is supplied with an external host PC built into the 15" colour touch-screen and connected to the scanner by Firewire.

The supplied PC comprises an Intel Pentium 4 2.3 GHz processor with 1 GB RAM, 30 GB hard disk drive and Windows XP. It supports 10 / 100Base-T networking (but not 1000Base-T, today's standard) with TCP/IP protocols that allow it to scan to any PC on the network with any operating system. It also includes a DVD-Reader/Writer and a small keyboard.

The supplied PC includes a copy of Contex's JETImage Pro scan to copy software "morphed into an HP fashion" with preconfigured software drivers for HP Designjet 500/800, 1000, 4000/4500 and 5000/5500 series printers. This will have appeal for professionals who already have an HP Designjet printer and who feel they can now benefit from a scanner. Recognising the power of the HP brand name the HP 4500 brochure says "rather than mixing different brands, simply add the HP Designjet 4500 scanner to the HP Designjet products that you already know and trust".

We asked Art Systems whether the scanner could be used with other printers such as the increasingly popular Canon range. Yes, it can. One way would be to use the supplied software to save a scanned file in a special "hot" directory. A RIP program "watching" the "hot" directory would then convert the file into a print file and send it to your printer of choice. Alternatively, you could connect the scanner to a second host PC and install a "normal" copy of Contex's JETImage Pro to do the printing.

The HP 4500 is designed to be easy to operate via its touch screen and its brochure emphasises copy settings such as reduce/enlarge, a choice of copy qualities and colour calibration. So far it sounds more like a scanner for copying than a scanner for CAD, although the brochure states that the scanner "integrates easily" with "a variety of industry leading third party scan applications" including "raster to vector conversion".

The supplied PC is "locked down", which means that the software installed on it cannot be modified or added to without a special password supplied by an HP engineer. So how is this integration with other applications achieved? According to Art Systems it's done using the supplied Contex WIDEsystemNET network driver. This allows other PCs to share the scanner and allows software such as Photoshop loaded on these other PCs to scan from the scanner via TWAIN.

All I really wanna dooo...

Like all Contex manufactured scanners, the HP 4500 uses CCD technology. The HP brochure gives scan speeds of 76 mm/sec (3 in/sec) in colour and 25.4 mm/sec (10 in/sec) in black and white, at 200 dpi. It's refreshing to see HP stating that scan speed is measured at "200 dpi" and not "400 dpi Turbo" as used in the Contex literature. It's also refreshing to see HP correctly referring to the scanner's optical resolution as 508 dpi and not using the confusing "real dpi" convention favoured by Contex, who describe their 508 dpi scanners as having "600 dpi" resolution.

The HP 4500 accepts a variety of media types - paper, vellum, Mylar, sepia, blueprints, plastic, film, laminate, board, cardboard, etc. to a maximum scan width of 1067mm (42") and a maximum media thickness of 15.2 mm (0.6").

The HP 4500's US list price of $18,995 is approximately £9500. Yet it has a UK list price of £14040, approximately £4500 or $9000 more. UK buyers who shop around on the internet will find the HP Designjet 4500 discounted and selling for under £9000. This price includes the 15" touch screen with integrated PC, software, floorstand and on-site warranty (one year in the US, two in the UK) - almost always expensive additional extras with other scanners.

Conclusion

Through popular choice the HP Designjet printer has become the most popular make of inkjet printer amongst CAD users. Indeed, HP and CAD go together like ABC....

CAD users with larger budgets who believe that the HP brand name offers certainty and reliability will see the HP Designjet 4500 scanner as an attractive product to acquire, particularly with an existing HP printer. The fact that it includes a PC, floorstand, software and on-site warranty makes it more so.

However, the fact that the HP Designjet 4500 is set up for use with HP's printers and comes with a version of Contex's JETimage Pro scan to copy software rather than their WIDEimage scan to file software leads us to conclude that it is aimed more at the copying market than at CAD users wanting to scan drawings for archiving or raster to vector conversion.

It's a nice idea - an HP Designjet scanner with an HP Designjet printer - but at this price the HP Designjet 4500 scanner is best suited to CAD users with a high volume copying requirement. The average CAD user, the cost and performance conscious guy who popularised the HP Designjet series of printers, will almost certainly look for a more affordable scanner to connect to their HP Designjet or other make of printer.

UK CAD users interested in the HP 4500 should contact Dave Hindle at Art Systems.
Tel: 0870 224 3612
Email: dave.hindle@artsystems.ltd.uk

We have added the HP Designjet 4500 to our large format scanner comparison chart.

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9th July 2007

NETWORKING: Coming soon to Big Screen near you!

Pros and Cons of networking a large format scanner The pros and cons of networking large format scanners

In the 25 or so years since wide format scanners first became available their cost of ownership has fallen dramatically while performance has rocketed. One area that has changed little is the need to run the scanner from its own dedicated host PC.

The convention is that all viewing and image editing of the scan will be done on the host PC and if the scan is to go anywhere else for viewing or editing it must be copied across the network or onto a CD. This process is indirect and slow. Networking offers the prospect of sending or receiving the scanned image directly wherever you require it. What's wrong with that?

A lot, apparently! Depending on what large format scanner they sell resellers hold strong opinions about large format scanner networking. Express an interest in networking and you can expect a variety of responses, from incredulity and amusement to mockery and abuse! We discuss some of the arguments for and against networking large format scanners below.

Main reasons for networking large format scanners

We recently experienced a situation where a reseller laughed and questioned "Why on earth would you want to network a large format scanner?" Well....

The main reasons for networking a wide format scanner are:

  • You can share a single scanner among multiple PCs

  • You can scan direct to your own PC, another PC or to an FTP site
    There's no need to manually transfer files once drawings are scanned.

    Further, in a large company the scanner can be kept in the Plan Room from where drawings can be scanned and "pushed" direct to users who have requested them by phone or email.

  • No one's work gets interrupted
    In our small office my PC is closest to the scanner. As a result, my PC was volunteered to become the host PC for the scanners we've been testing. The disadvantage for me is that every time anyone wants to scan I must stop what I am doing or go and work on someone else's PC. When we got a networking scanner the problem went away. Anyone who wanted to scan could simply do so straight from their own PC without interrupting me.

  • The scanner can be placed anywhere in the office
    There's no need to place it near a PC.

These reasons all have productivity or space benefits. Networking means your PC is at the heart of the office scan, print and copy system - and so is Tom, Dick and Harriet's.

Further benefits from new devices!

Most scanners can be made to network if appropriate software is installed onto the host PC and onto the PCs that you want to scan to. However an emerging new generation of wide format network scanners - the Image Access WideTEK and the Contex Puma G600 iJET - promise to free the user from the chains of performing all scan operations tied to a host PC. They do so by including a PC built into the heart of the scanning system - the scanner!

Some of the benefits of not having a host PC are:

  • A PC optimised for scanning is included in the cost of the scanner

    You don't have the expense of buying a fast, high-spec PC to run the scanner optimally and you don't have to "waste" a PC by dedicating it to scanner use.

  • You can scan faster

    Most PCs accept and process scanned data slower than the scanner can scan. Processing scanned data within the scanner itself removes this bottleneck, particularly if the scan can then be transmitted to the receiving PC via a fast 1000Base-T Ethernet connection.

  • There's no need to switch the host PC on before you can scan

  • The scanner is potentially very versatile

    Both the WideTEK and the Puma's scanning software can be accessed by a standard web browser. This frees them from the need for drivers and scanning software that are dependent on specific operating systems. This means they can be run from any PC with any OS without the need to install anything first.

With a PC in your scanner a scan's ready to go when a scans got to go!

Why some resellers say "NO!" to network scanning

The following are the most common criticisms you are likely to hear about network scanning.

  • "It's too slow!"

    Slow data transmission was the main historic objection to networking wide format scanners. Although Graphtec IS and CS scanners are theoretically network enabled, Graphtec GB do not promote this feature because they say it is slow and "chokes up the network".

    However, 1000Base-T network cards are now supplied as standard in most new PCs. 1000Base-T is 100 times faster than old 10Base-T network connectivity and is also faster than both USB2 and Firewire - the normal methods of connecting a scanner to a host PC. Our in-house tests showed an Image Access WideTEK running over a network to be considerably faster than a Colortrac SmartLF Cx 40e or Graphtec ScanPrint running standalone, particularly when scanning large colour drawings. So, network scanning can be very fast.

  • "You still have to go to the scanner to scan"

    The scenario painted by resellers voicing this criticism goes something like this. Your office is on the fifth floor. The networked scanner is on the ground floor. To make a scan you have to go to the ground floor, put your drawing into the scanner, go back to the fifth floor and do your scan. While you are going back to the fifth floor, a colleague will have removed your drawing from the scanner and replaced it with his own, so the scan that you make is not of the drawing you intended. Even if the scan is of the drawing you intended, you still have to go all the way back to the ground floor afterwards to collect your scanned drawing.

    We agree that network scanning wouldn't be terribly useful in this scenario, although with the current media focus on obesity extra exercise in the workplace could rapidly become a selling point! However, the "you still have to go to the scanner to scan" scenario does miss a couple of points.

    First, accessing a shared scanner doesn't necessarily mean multiple trips to another floor. Many drawing offices contain a number of workstations and printers in a single room. Allowing them to share a network scanner makes perfect sense.

    Second, modern network scanners like the WideTEK and Puma have touch screens or panels that allow scans to be sent direct from the scanner to any workstation on the network. So even in the fifth floor - ground floor scenario only one trip to the network scanner is necessary. Further, if the scanner is kept in a Plan Room no visit to the scanner is necessary at all - scans can simply be "pushed" direct to the user by Plan Room staff.

    Finally, Contex's networking software displays the status of any network scanner. This should prevent anyone from removing a drawing while someone else is trying to scan and "pull" a drawing into their system remotely.

  • "It's so easy to copy scans across the network from a host PC. Why bother with network scanning?"

    Sure it's easy but it does add an extra step into the process and suffers from the disadvantage of needing a host PC. Nor is it quick! Once the scanned image finally gets to your workstation it still has to be opened. This could take time depending on how big the file is. The easiest and quickest solution is to scan directly to your workstation and into the software you want to edit the image in. This is easier said than done.

  • "A USB switch is better than networking"

    We have been told of a Colortrac SmartLF user who has connected his scanner to three PCs via a USB switch.

    The limitation of a USB switch is that the connected PCs need to be in close proximity to the switch and the scanner. USB cables are limited on full speed devices to 5m maximum, and 5m doesn't go very far when you are running cables behind desks and along walls so no-one trips over them. Ethernet cables can run much further - up to 30m for the WideTEK.

Network scanning software

Contex include proprietary networking software drivers with every scanner they sell. Their WIDEImage scanning software is network enabled. This means that Contex users can network their scanners and scan with the same software whether they are scanning to a host PC or over a network.

Colortrac have no proprietary networking software. The best their resellers can offer is EasyScan with EasyTwain, third party network scanning software from Germany's SCP, a specialist scanning sofware developer. EasyScan is installed on the host PC to drive the Colortrac scanner while Easy Twain is installed on every workstation needing to receive and edit the scanned images.

But, while EasyScan with EasyTwain is undoubtedly capable it has one big disadvantage for the Colortrac user. It cannot directly load and open scanned images into Colortrac's very excellent ScanWorks software, almost certainly the Colortrac scanner user's software of choice.

Thus, Colortrac's flagship software becomes redundant in the EasyScan networked environment. All image viewing and editing must be done in EasyTwain. Unlike Contex users who enjoy the advantage of capturing, opening and editing scanned images in proprietary Contex software that works in a way they are familar with, Colortrac users must learn new tricks with unfamilar software that lacks the best feature of ScanWorks - namely on-the-fly post-scan editing, in particular thresholding.

The WideTEK can either be used direct from its touch screen or from a standard internet browser. In theory using a browser to scan sounds great. In practice, the browser delivers a scan very fast but once you have it there is little you can do with it. Why? Well, browsers don't have good support for zooming, so it's hard to move around a scan to check it. In order to interrogate the scan easily, you need to load it into something like Photoshop. As scans are often very large it may take some time to load. You now lose the speed benefits you'd previously gained.

Printing is also a disappointment. When you print from a browser you get headers and footers at the top and bottom of the sheet. These can be switched off if you know where to look but the scan still doesn't print to scale. The WideTEK does allow non-browser printing to printers that support HP print languages, but Image Access' print philosophy is "buy a professional RIP / third party printing software". In addition, like EasyTwain, the WideTEK does not yet support on-the-fly post-scan editing.

Conclusion

Certainly in our small office, there was a real productivity benefit in having a scanner that allowed us to scan from any PC.

Most scanners can now be networked. However they still need to be connected to a host PC - a speed bottleneck - and they are dependent on special software and drivers. The Image Access WideTEK is the most exciting network development we have seen (we have not yet had hands on experience of the Contex Puma).

The Image Access WideTEK does not require a host PC, drivers or software, can be run from a touch screen or standard internet browser, can be run on any operating system and makes full use of fast 1000Base-T network connectivity. However it is let down at present by limited viewing, image editing and printing tools.

As an ideal, network scanning remains attractive to us. It is an interesting application that is slowly evolving. It does not have all the answers at present but manufacturers like Image Access and Contex are asking questions of both their hardware and software. We look forward to reviewing new developments in a year's time!

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1st June 2007

BOTTOM LINE: Cock-a-doodle-doo. Colortrac crow their growing success!

Colortrac crow their growing success!

Colortrac sales grow by 44%

Colortrac has reported group revenues of a record US $11 million.

Sales of Colortrac wide format scanners have been doubling every two years since 2002 and the results for the latest fiscal year continue that positive trend. Colortrac's star is now firmly set in the ascendant.

The latest figures will hearten Colortrac who have in the past been incensed by the activities of a competitor who provided their financial reports to potential buyers in order to dissuade them from purchasing Colortrac products. At the time Colortrac were investing heaviliy in R&D, an expense that showed in red on their bottom line. Now, according to a Colortrac director "they won't be doing that again!"

Now that Colortrac's innovative R&D has come home to roost, they have reason to crow. International shipments of the SmartLF large format scanner increased by 44% compared to the previous year and were 101% higher than the year ended April 30, 2005. (The SmartLF was introduced in September 2004). s

Perhaps as a result of these figures, Colortrac recently claimed to be the largest CIS scanner manufacturer in the world. Japan's Graphtec, a competitor with Colortrac in the CIS scanner market, disagree. Graphtec, who only manufacture CIS scanners, claim to have sold 10,000 units in the last year, many of them to OEMs, and state that they are now aiming for 25% total market share in 2008. Whatever the truth, the CIS scanner market is booming.

Graham Tinn, Colortrac's Managing Director, adds, "We recognise the individual merits of CIS and CCD sensor technology and are the only manufacturer to use both. This allows us to provide products optimised for technical documents or graphic arts imaging applications".

Peter de Winter-Brown, Colortrac's Sales and Marketing Director, says, "The growth in Colortrac large format scanner shipments is testimony to a healthy, sustainable market achieved through increasing market share, expansion of distribution channels in to new countries and the development of new customers for wide format scanning and copying who previously could not justify such an investment".

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1st June 2007

THE MARKET: Graphtec GB cut prices again!

Graphtec GB cut prices again

Graphtec scanners are now looking much more attractive to the British buyer.

Further to their price cut of October 2006, Graphtec GB have again cut their prices to make their large format scanners more competitive against both Colortrac, arguably the most successful large format scanner supplier in the UK at present, and Contex, the previous market leader.

Effective immediately, the new prices are:

CS600-Pro - £7250 (excl)
42", 600 / 4800 dpi colour, thick media, 24 bit

CS600 - £6800 (excl)
42", 600 / 800 dpi colour, thick media, 24 bit

CS500-Pro - £5600 (excl)
42", 600 / 4800 dpi colour, 24 bit

CS500 - £5200 (excl)
42", 600 / 800 dpi colour, 24 bit

IS200-11Pro - £4700 (excl)
42", 600 / 800 dpi greyscale, 8 bit

Stand for above - £375 (excl)

SP200W-D Desktop Copy System - £4650 (excl)
36", 600 / 1200 dpi colour, 24 bit

SP200W-H High Stand Copy System - £4950 (excl)
36", 600 / 1200 dpi colour, 24 bit

Graphtec scanners are popular devices in North America and Asia but are not yet as well-known or as popular in the UK. This is slowly changing. The new pricing will add to their appeal but it will remain a hard sell given that Graphtec refuse to place spin, puff and gloss on their scanners.

Unlike their rivals, Graphtec do not offer 48-bit colour capture, (a dubious checkbox feature irrelevant to CAD users), or exaggerate their optical resolution (as do Colortrac and Contex). Their scan speeds appear slow because they include processing speed, which Colortrac and Contex's published speeds do not. (In fact, our in-house tests showed the Graphtec SP200W to be faster than the Colortrac Cx 40e when processing speed was taken into account.)

Graphtec's lack of exaggeration about their products but more importantly their lack of a knowledgeable reseller network to carry the flag and preach the message, makes them vulnerable to the exaggerated claims of their rivals who have many resellers looking for a quick and easy sale of the "leading" brands.

In the USA Graphtec scanners are the biggest selling CIS devices, respected by experienced US scanning professionals for the quality of their Japanese engineering, their overall reliability and the quality of the scanned images which they produce. It was Graphtec's US success that drove Contex (who only manufacture CCD scanners) to sit up and take the new generation of CIS scanners seriously. Contex's "CCD vs CIS" white paper is the result of Graphtec's success and the threat that Contex perceived it to be.

If there is a downside it is perhaps Graphtec's scanning software. Their CS and IS scanners are supplied with Scanning Master software which we have not evaluated. The SP200W has Scanning Arts software which is poor for CAD and technical drawings but more useful for office graphics.

Graphtec's new prices are slightly higher than comparable Colortrac models. This will be acceptable to some buyers looking for superior CIS scanner quality, a benefit which Graphtec claim for their scanners, but perhaps not for the majority who believe that scan quality is much the same across the board and that any difference is so slight as to make a low price the primary purchasing consideration.

The UK's wide format scanner market has been neglected by Graphtec GB for several years now as their marketing exclusively favoured the sign and cutting equipment side of Graphtec's product line-up. This should in no way be seen as a reflection on the quality of Graphtec scanners. Graphtec GB's situation is not unlike that of Graphtec USA who have also found the large format scanner market a difficult nut to crack.

Across the pond Paradigm Imaging Inc have seized the opportunity to become the main Graphtec scanner distributor in North America. So great is their success that their market has now been extended non-exclusively to South America and beyond. While Paradigm now OEM Colortrac SmartLF Gx CCD scanners (the ImagePro series) they do not sell SmartLF Cx scanners that use CIS technology similar to Graphtec scanners, Paradigm's cash-cow.

In the absence of a committed UK Graphtec distributor like Paradigm it is now up to Graphtec GB to show UK CAD users why thousands of users worldwide believe Graphtec's scanners offer better value for money.

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