Scanning large pictures

HP Scanjet 4670 is a replacement for the simple ScanJet 4570 flatbed scanner,

and is quite a revamp with lots of interesting features. For one, it doesn’t

follow the conventional flatbed design; instead it has a vertical holder that

lets you squeeze the scanner into very little space. It has a see-through

polycarbonate window instead of the usual opaque lid, so that you can see what

you’re scanning. The scanner glass is chemically hardened to make it more

resistant to shock and scratches than regular scanners. It even comes with a

transparent materials adapter for scanning 35 mm slides and negatives. The

scanner has an optical resolution of 2400 dpi, and 48-bit color depth. 

The scanner’s performance is also good, both in speed and quality. It took

around 76 secs to scan a full-page color image and 29 secs to scan a postcard

size image at 200 dpi. The quality of these images was also very sharp and

clear.

It weighs only 1.4 kg, and you can move it out of its cradle and scan nearby

documents. This way you take the scanner to the documents instead of vice versa,

which can be good for scanning heavy books that are inconvenient to put on the

scanner, or even posters that are stuck on a wall.

Don’t mistake it for a mobile scanner though, because it remains connected

to the PC with a USB cable, and also to the mains with a power adapter. The

scanner has four buttons, which let you send scanned images directly to an

installed printer, e-mail or to a website.

In addition to the default HP Photo and Imaging software, the scanner comes

bundled with ArcSoft Panorama Maker to stitch larger documents/pictures into one

and ReadIris Pro OCR software. Overall, a good scanner for SMBs or for people

who are on the lookout for stylish products.