Can scanner serve as copier?
In the process of shopping researching a new printer, I noticed the proliferation of mulitipurpse machines. I got to thinking that a copier would be convenient for making copies of the occasional receipt, recipe, instruction page, etc. But now I?m concerned about some of the compromises involved in a multi-purpose printer and may get a dedicated photo printer instead. My question: Could a scanner substitute for a copier? I know its a stretch but hear me out. I would only use it once in a while. The time involved in scanning and then printing it out is not really an issue. What is an issue is the quality of the copy. For example, would the quality of a scanned and printed cash register receipt be similar to a photo-copied one? I realize that scanners are for copying graphics, not text. But if the text is legible for the occasional such use I?d probably just get separate stand-alone printer and a cheap scanner. Finally, I would use the scanner for its real purpose but don?t need high quality.
Comments
In the last four years I had one problem where I scanned a form, filled it out on my computer in GraphicConverter then printed it. The government agent who reviewed the document complained about it but he accepted it anyway (not in the US).
The problem is that it's a painfull process, that will ask time, even if the result may be incredibily good.
In my office i started to use the scanner for copying, the result was good with my powerlook 3 and my HP 4000, but the waste of time terrible. So i bought a fax copyer from Ricoh, and it's far much better : just have to press on a button ...
By the way, I see on the Costco website that the Lexmark Printrio is on sale for $59. I know its an entry level machine but it does include flatbed scanner. Normal price is $89 with $30 rebate till Sunday. I'm almost disappointed that it's an instant rebate, I wouldn't need to copy the receipt!
But it seems that mail-in rebates are proliferating so it would come in handy soon enough.
I'd suggest you look at Graphic Converter for changing image formats. It is shareware, cheaper than PS elements and very highly regarded. Just go to Version Tracker and read the extensive comments.
PSE has been a very nice program for me so far, no crashes, even runs adequately on a 466 G3 iBook.
<strong>Scanners and inkjets reproduce things better than most copiers can.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Eh? Okay, maybe a crappy old analogue copier you can pick up for a few hundred bucks, but a decent digital device (and a digital copier is basically a laser printer with a scanner attached) will piss all over an inkjet from 50 yards away without breaking a sweat. Toner is a much more controllable substance than ink, so the reproduction is always going to be more accurate, even before you take into account such unpleasant variables as moisture content, ink bleed, substrate texture and composition...
Anyway, to answer reynard's original question, for the kind of purposes you're looking at, a scanner/printer combination is going to serve you just fine. As neutrino23 says, scanners tend to dump out TIFF files (unless they're fancy ones that do PDF or JPEG), so you just open it in something as basic as Preview and print away.
The real problem is the limitation of the printers. Most lasers don't go edge-to-edge, so if you copy an 8.5x11 piece of paper and then print it, you're croping at the edges. For small things, that's not an issue.
Simply scan into, e.g., Adobe Acrobat and save it as pdf. There you have your digital "copy". Should you ever need a copy of your receipt on paper (most of the time you don't), *then* you print it out...
(pdf "print quality" is fine, make sure you back up your hard drive)
martin
<strong>If you simply need to make "copies" of the occasional receipt, recipe, instruction page, etc., why are you even worried about a printer?
Simply scan into, e.g., Adobe Acrobat and save it as pdf. There you have your digital "copy". Should you ever need a copy of your receipt on paper (most of the time you don't), *then* you print it out...
(pdf "print quality" is fine, make sure you back up your hard drive)
</strong><hr></blockquote>
This is true. If copies aren't a big deal, then you can just save them on disk. Of course, if they're not important, why are you making copies? And of course, hopefully you have a backup policy. (Everyone has a backup policy, right?)
If you talk about the function of using a scanner/printer like a copy machine, then the limitations I mention apply.
<strong>
This is true. If copies aren't a big deal, then you can just save them on disk. Of course, if they're not important, why are you making copies? And of course, hopefully you have a backup policy. (Everyone has a backup policy, right?)
If you talk about the function of using a scanner/printer like a copy machine, then the limitations I mention apply.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Those "occasional copies of receipts" (e.g., original sent in for mail-in-rebate) aren't important if everything goes smoothly, you only need them if the company handling the rebate screws it up...
(I guess in Germany/Austria/Switzerland you will always have the original receipt, since mail-in-rebate doesn't exist there... (die gruene Hoelle" ;-) )
I agree, cropping on the edges when "copying" can be a problem if the printer can't print full-bleed. On most multifunction machines mentioned in the post that started this thread you can enlarge/reduce, so you just print at, say, 90% and get it all.
I recently tested the copying feature on some of the multifunction machines at a local Office Depot: HP 6100 and d-series (d135, d145) both copied fine, text on copies was crisp, d-series hit the grayscales better and output looked "smoother" when copying color original to b/w copy. Also, d-135 ($399) copied much, much faster than 6100 ($299). Another cheap ink-jet multifunction, the Brother MFC-5200c ($349), had fuzzy text and is not recommended.
I think I might get the d-135, I like the shhet feeder for the scanner (-->paperless office) and the way it holds up (I'm at the Office Depot every other week, and have gotten sample printout/copies from the same machine over a period of 2 1/2 months with no perceptible decrease in print quality.)
It may seem expensive to buy a multifunction machine for your home ($400 + ink refills) vs. paying 8cents per copy at Kinkos, but think about the time you save (and keeping your brain clear for other things... when you think "copy", you immediately have one...)
martin
P.S.: I still have a SCSI scanner and an old Apple StyleWriter, but THAT is definitely too slow...