Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Issues

[richard13]

I got this scanner almost 3 months ago but, to be honest, I haven't used it much since as I've been fairly unimpressed. Given the nearly universal praise for this scanner I am a bit confused. Hopefully someone can help me here.

On one hand it is fast. Faster than I would think a document scanner could be. But realistically, I don't care much about speed. I care more about convenience and scan quality.

First, all of my scans, regardless of how careful I am in loading documents, come out ever so slightly crooked. It isn't by much but it is noticeable.

Second, the scan quality is not what I would consider great. The text is readable but it's not nearly as clean and crisp as the original document. I have tried fiddling with the settings but haven't found any that completely clear this up.

Third, any folding or creasing of the original document will surely show up in the scan. Folds that are barely noticeable on the original will show up as bands or dark markings on the scan.

This is my first document scanner (only had flatbed scanners before this). Are these things normal? Is this what I should expect of this scanner or document scanners in general? Or are these problems not normal and should I just return it and try again?

Thanks for your help!

 

[MinkyMomo]

In my day job, I work with high-speed document scanners that cost many, many thousands of dollars, and even those generated skewed images all the time. The paper isn't perfectly flat and the feed mechanism tends to grab the leading edge unevenly. That's just the way they are... I'm not familiar with the ScanSnap software suite, but check for a "deskew" option, and lower the contrast to minimize banding; there might be a "remove gutter" option that could help too. As for getting better scans of text, play with the unsharp mask settings, if available.

 

[richard13]

In my day job, I work with high-speed document scanners that cost many, many thousands of dollars, and even those generated skewed images all the time. The paper isn't perfectly flat and the feed mechanism tends to grab the leading edge unevenly. That's just the way they are... I'm not familiar with the ScanSnap software suite, but check for a "deskew" option, and lower the contrast to minimize banding; there might be a "remove gutter" option that could help too. As for getting better scans of text, play with the unsharp mask settings, if available.

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll take a look into this stuff.