Large Format Scanners

A large format scanner is a special scanner that, as the name suggests, is used for digitising large scale images. Typically, such scanners are sheet-fed or roll-fed. Sometimes, these are very large flatbed scanners. This type of scanner used to be quite costly. With the introduction of easier printing formats, however, the price has come down and the scanners have become easier to use.

Large format document scanners come in a wide variety, and choosing from them according to your need is as demanding yet worthwhile task. Most document scanners are of flatbed type. They come in color as well as black and white. Black and white scanners are much cheaper and would suffice for much of the day-to-day office document management.
Large format scanner software is required for scanning extremely large documents and most of this software comes with several features groups. Most of them have high and low resolution options. They are able to store data in three different color modes, colored, grayscale and black and white. They enable the user to store the files as PDF, TIFF, PNG, BMP, JPEG among numerous other more esoteric formats.

Leading manufacturers of large format flatbed scanners in the USA include ACTion Imaging Solutions (formed by the merger of ANAtech, Colortrac, and Tangent), Altek Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Purup-Eskofot Inc., and Vidar systems.

Tips to Buy Scanner
1. Flatbed: Flatbed scanners use either the charged coupled device (CCD) or the contact image sensor (CIS) technology. CIS-based scanners are a recent innovation. Although CIS models produce slightly lower-quality scans than their CCD counterpart, they have two benefits: smaller file sizes and lesser power consumption. Many entry-level devices use the CIS; higher-end flatbeds typically use the older CCD technology.
2. Resolution: resolution refers to the amount of information, calculated in dots per inch, that the scanner can read. More dots equals higher the resolution, and thus better-looking scans (low-resolution scans sometimes have big and obvious squares of pixels). For resolution its better if you choose at least 2400-dpi optical, Scanners with this level of resolution and color depth allow you to make reprints using state-of-the-art photo printers that will be almost indistinguishable from reprints made by photo outlets.
3. One-touch buttons are a plus: Find a model that has preprogrammed buttons for photo scanning, e-mailing, and other common tasks. One-touch buttons can save you time and effort if you scan a lot of items.
4. Advanced options get big jobs done: For business users and others who do high-volume or specialty scanning, advanced options such as automatic document feeders, transparency adapters, and a scan bed large enough for legal-size documents can make all the difference. Legal-size scan beds are also a huge plus for scanning large illustrations, diagrams, paintings, and labels (on product boxes, for instance), as well as tabloid-size pages.

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Large Format Scanners