Comparative Test 9 ink All-in-Ones up to 200 Euros: Scanners: Drivers, speed, quality, depth of field
Technical data and scanner funtions
All nine AIOs have a CIS-Scanner (advantages and disadvantages: Look at paragraph "Depth of field" below). And all have a Twain-driver to scan directly from a program like Photoshop.
| Scanner data | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| max. resolution | Scan via network | OCR- Software | Scan to USB-Stick/Card-Reader (from AIO) | |
| Brother DCP-J515W | 1.200 dpi | yes | Scansoft PaperPort 11 | yes |
| Brother MFC-J615W | 1.200 dpi | yes | Scansoft PaperPort 11 | yes |
| Canon Pixma MG5150 | 1.200 dpi | no network | MP Navigator EX | yes |
| Canon Pixma MG5250 | 2.400 dpi | yes | MP Navigator EX | yes |
| Epson Stylus Office BX525WD | 2.400 dpi | yes | Presto Pagemanager 9 | no |
| Epson Stylus SX620FW | 2.400 dpi | yes | ABBYY FineReader 9 Sprint | yes |
| HP Officejet 6500A E710a | 4.800 dpi | yes | I.R.I.S. | yes |
| HP Photosmart Plus B210a | 1.200 dpi | yes | I.R.I.S. | yes |
| Lexmark Prospect Pro205 | 1.200 dpi | yes | ABBYY Fine Reader Sprint | yes |
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Canon Pixma MG5150 and MG5250: With scan-to-memory card.
Test: Depth of field
All AIO´s in this test are equipped with CIS-scanners (Contact image sensor). They are space-saving and have a low power consumption. Heating phase is short. Disadvantage: Depth of field is very small. A technology with larger depth of field is called CCD (Charged coupled device).
To test depth of field, the lab scans a clock-face, situated a couple of millimeters off the scanners´ glass surface. CCD-scanners are able to scan the clock-face in high definition, CIS-scanner depict objects in high definition only, when they rest directly on the scanner glass. So all pictures are blurred.
Scan-quality: Photos and graphics
Scan quality is tested with an A4-photo developed by a photo lab (picture left side). A special testtarget for scanner tests permits conclusions on color fidelity and resolution.
Our lab scans clippings of the banana with 300 dpi, the test picture (colored squares) with 200 dpi.
Not one of the AIOs in our test is suited for high-class photo scans. Brothers AIOs meet only low demands. HPs have a minor tint.
Scan quality: Text
Scanners are often used to scan text. Not all of them do that in a satisfactory way. For text recognition (OCR) the characters need sufficient contrast and excellent sharpness.
Our lab tests quality of text scans with the cutout word "auf", which is scanned in black and white with 600 dpi.
The reference scan (first photo left side) was generated by an Epson Perfection 4870 photo scanner.
Test: Scanning speeds
Scanning speeds are determined for previews and text:
- Scan preview: If you scan texts or pictures, as a rule you start a preview. We note the time it takes the scanner to display a preview.
- Text scan: We measure the time it takes a scanner to read an A4-page of text with 200 dpi.
| Scan speed (measured) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preview | A4-text scan | |
| Epson Stylus SX620FW | 9 sec. | 18 sec. |
| Epson Stylus Office BX525WD | 9 sec. | 21 sec. |
| Canon Pixma MG5250 | 10 sec. | 20 sec. |
| Canon Pixma MG5150 | 10 sec. | 23 sec. |
| Lexmark Prospect Pro205 | 15 sec. | 32 sec. |
| Brother MFC-J615W | 17 sec. | 22 sec. |
| Brother DCP-J515W | 18 sec. | 22 sec. |
| HP Officejet 6500A E710a | 20 sec. | 23 sec. |
| HP Photosmart Plus B210a | 28 sec. | 30 sec. |
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