Flatbed scanner issue/question.

[Alzarius]

I doubt this is any sort of problem, but... Why is it that no matter what I scan with my flatbed, it looks wonderful, scans flawlessly, yet... the ACTUAL physical scanned size of the item is at least 4 or 5 times larger than the item itself. it SAYS it's say, 8inches x 11inches, yet viewing the actual size in anything, picture viewer, photoshop, etc, the thing usually requires me to scroll to see the whole thing and even just comparing it side by side, original to scanned, the scanned version is gigantic. I know I can change the output size, however, depending on screen resolution, this too is not a viable option as the same scan shrink in 800x600 screen res is a different size from the same scan in 1024x768 screen res. The scanner SAYS 100% size, original, output scan 3x5/8x12/whatever, but the scanned size... ugh. My questions are...

1. Why in the world does it do this? Since my first scanner to my current one, an HP 3570c, they all do it.

2. Is there some way to get the scanner to scan say a 3x5 card and have it BE 3x5, not 12x20<as a rough example of the size i normally would see>?

Current screen resolution is 1024x768, and operating system is Windows XP Professional. Any insight into this oddness would be greatly appreciated.

[Bovon]

Originally posted by Alzarius


1. Why in the world does it do this? Since my first scanner to my current one, an HP 3570c, they all do it.

I donno why. all I have seen do this

2. Is there some way to get the scanner to scan say a 3x5 card and have it BE 3x5, not 12x20<as a rough example of the size i normally would see>?

Well, I don't think so because 3X5 is only relative to the viewer. Your screen resolution will figure into this..a 3X5 image on your resolution of 1024x768 would be quite different viewable on mine which I run at 800x600.

Why not take some pic, scan it and try to see what you can do..experiment a little..who cares if you mess it up..then after you are thru..just delete it

Current screen resolution is 1024x768, and operating system is Windows XP Professional. Any insight into this oddness would be greatly appreciated.

I am interested in answers here myself, but I just let the scanner set the image up like it wants to, then reduce that output to what I want it to be and set the image extension in the image viewing software when I save it.

[MJCfromCT]

if the scanner spits back a huge image, there are several things you can do.

First off, huge image = high quality = closer to the original than a smaller, lower quality image

If the image is huge, and you want it to be considerably smaller, you can resize the photo in many programs, such as Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, or even in Paint if you want to save your pennies

[sarbear]

It all depends on the screen resolution and but more importantly what resolution you scanned the picture at.

As a web designer I make all my images and scan them at 72 pixels per inch. That is the most accurate to size when you view the scanned picture at 100% on a computer screen, but of course it depends on what resolution you have your monitor set at. (more importantly any higher ppi on a screen is wasted bytes) On my computer a 72 dpi image that is 3.66 inches in real life looks to be about 2.875 inches on the screen , my screen resolution is 1152x864. But if I printed the picture it would be 3.66 inches wide.

But if you are planning to print the scanned picture you would scan it a higher resolution to get better quality prints and in case you want to blow up the pictures. 150 dots per inch is fine for most desktop printers. But print designers usually scan to at least 300 dpi. The same picture from above when increased to 150 ppi, went from 264 pixels wide to 550 pixels wide, but is still 3.66 inches printed but 'looks' 6 inches wide on the screen.

Sorry to make a long explanation, but I tend to be thorough

Sarbear

[dave-harper]

Don't worry SarBear ( and welcome ! )
Okay Alzarius get out the calculator

the easiest way to figure is that a monitor is 75 d.p.i. ( maybe 100 for smaller screen but higher res )
so a 75 scan is 1:1 ( 100 will be 33% bigger and 150 scan - 2x )

you don't even want to think about the new 3200 scanners

it seems such a pain to scan multiple times for web page (preview/med/large )(say 75,150,300) and then for lo/hi res (600,1200) printing also

a 1200 dpi color inkjet though is only 50? buck nowadays
----------------------------
internet explorer will auto fit images now
and any graphic viewer will fit width/height or to window
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????? for any photoshop gurus -- will it batch produce a series of images copies -- say 600 to 75 from a 1200 orig ?????

[Bovon]

Originally posted by sarbear
Sorry to make a long explanation, but I tend to be thorough

Sarbear

Great...exactly what we needed to know. And, no problem on lengthy replies..I do the same, many people do not "read" the same thing as I write at times.. technological "stuff" can easily be taken out of context.

[Alzarius]

Well, that certainly explains everything. I was never quite sure what the deal was. I also found, at least on my end, that if in pre scanning, I reduced the image size say... to 45% to get it close to actual size visualy on the screen, the quality was not so good, but if I scanned it at 100% then after scanning I shrunk it, then the quality was far far better. So, I'll just be doing what I've been doing then, except now I have a formula for sizing everything properly now, lol. Thanks for all the replies and all the great information. This has been bugging me forever.

[sarbear]

Dave,

Yes photoshop can batch change the resolutions on photos. The way I would do it is to create an action in photoshop then make it a droplet or a droplet straight in imageready. The functionality between the programs are a little different so it depends on exactly what you want to do.

Sarbear