I recently purchased the HP PhotSmart scanner (scsi version). I have been having trouble with areas of subtle color gradation with the result that, for instance, some skin areas will appear blotchy . I tried VueScan but it kept crashing. I have a 90Mhz pentium with 32 megs of Ram. Is there some way to correct this or is it just a characteristic of scanners at this price level.

-- David Damroze (Damroze@excite.com), April 15, 1999

Answers

I have the PS Scanner. One thing I found is that it would produce a lot of "noise" in the dark areas. It would also produce some patterning around well lighted fine detail. Both problems could be solved by stepping the scan resolution to 2400 DPI. You problem is described differently then mine - but I would encourage you to try setting the PS software for 2400 to see if that helps. I normally jump straight to 2400 if I think there might be a problem. The only disadvantage is that it makes a really big file - but you can down-sample it in Photoshop with no real loss in quality for printing. You have the SCSI version of the PS scanner - it does 30 bit color depth - which is OK. The newer PS (which is USB Only) is 36 bit - which is certainly better for subtle color graduation.

-- Dan Desjardins (dan.desjardins@avstarnews.com), April 15, 1999.

I have the S20, and have these problems at 2400 dpi as well. HP recommended I send the scanner back, and they will send me a new one. Fair enough. If this doesn't work out, I'll have to palm the S20 off on my nitwit brother in law and shell out for the Nikon.

-- Douglas Nelson (rstorations@new-quest.net), August 17, 2000.