Wide Format Imaging

The number of available flatbed scanners in the C-size 18" X 24" category is limited. I found only two vendors that offer such a solution. One of them is the new GTCO Calcomp (www.gtcocalcomp.com) ScanPlus 5 ATF1824A flatbed scanner designed for the photo and graphic arts market.

Why might you need a large, flatbed scanner? If you have fragile artwork, you might only trust a flatbed scanner to safely scan the image or perhaps you need to scan a page out of an oversized book. The possibility of the original being damaged in a traditional wide-format scanner where the document moves through the scanner simply is not an acceptable risk. Flatbed scanners are also showing up in nontraditional uses, such as scanning fabrics and proofing for the pre-press industry.

Priced at $11,900, including the WIDEimage^NET scanner software, this scanner is certainly more expensive and potential customers might have sticker shock. However, this scanner includes sophisticated scanning technology that you don't find in any of the desktop scanners you can buy at your local Best Buy or Staples store.

GTCO CALCOMP ScanPlus 5 ATF1824A Flatbed Scanner At a Glance

ATF-1824A
MSRP (includes WIDEimage^NET - $11,900
Speed: Black and White (ips) - 10
Speed: Color (ips) - 3
Optical Resolution/Maximum resolution (dpi) - 400/9600dpi

*The GTCO Calcomp series of scanners comes standard with two years on-site service warranty within the USA. Outside the USA, the warranty covers a two-year parts-only warranty.

Getting Set Up

The scanner arrives in one cardboard crate holding the scanner. For a C-size scanner it has a fairly large footprint of 51" x 9" x 24" (wxhxd) but did fit on my office desk. Weighing in at 77lb, it's best to have two people to lift it out of the box.

Three Flexible Scanner Configurations

The ATF1824A scanner works in three different configurations:

• As a standalone copier configuration where the scanner is connected directly to a printer via the USB interface or LAN. The scanner contains its own processor, driver and memory and all operations are controlled from the scanner control panel.
• As a network scanner where the scanner is connected to the LAN and either controlled from the scanner's small control panel or from a PC on the network.
• As a traditional scanner where the scanner is connected via a USB interface to a PC. The scanner software WIDEimageNET is used to operate the scanner in this configuration.

Built into the scanner controller is a scan-to-file application and scan-to-print application that allows the scanner to act as a self-contained system in a copier configuration, or as a true LAN scanner. In order words, you do not need a PC at all. You can simply walk up to the scanner and push a few buttons to generate a copy to a printer or scan to your local PC attached anywhere on the local network. This is one of the better approaches I have seen. However, there is a price to pay for network scanning - performance and scanning features.

A LAN is not nearly as fast as a direct connection via a USB Interface. I tested a 300dpi C-size color document scanning to my local PC via USB at 16 seconds vs 62 seconds it took to scan via the LAN. Even though the scans were slower via the LAN, the time was still good compared to the speed of other flatbed scanners.