Microtek ScanMaker 4700

Mid-priced scanners are progressively offering more for the money, with 1,200ppi resolution and bundled transparency adaptors now commonplace. However, Microtek fell down in the resolution tests of our last scanner group test as the ScanMaker V6USL (see Labs issue 66, p131) had a 600ppi bottleneck. This cost £150 at the time, but with the new Microtek ScanMaker 4700 you get 1,200ppi for around the same price.

The consumer-orientated scanner revolution has dictated that Microtek places the obligatory four shortcut buttons across the front of the unit. TWAIN software comes in the form of Microtek's ScanWizard 5, which is comprehensive to use and has useful components such as gamma correction and colour balance in the advanced options.

With its 1,200ppi optical resolution, we expected an improvement over the V6USL, and the 4700 didn't disappoint, managing a horizontal MTF measurement of 0.54, and 0.49 vertically. This makes for a total of 1.03, which is a great improvement over the V6USL, but still behind the stunning 1.16 achieved by Canon's CanoScan FB1210U (reviewed issue 71, p178), and the 1.12 from the A-Listed Acer 1240UT (reviewed issue 73, p188).

The colour accuracy tests also show a major improvement, with the overall error rate of 3.51 making it almost perfect to the human eye. However, the average result doesn't tell the whole story, because although white shades were almost spot-on, with a negligible 0.05, the magenta hue had a disturbingly high error rate of 10.03, which would be visible on close inspection.

The signal-to-noise ratio tests showed it below par given the amount of noise visible to the naked eye. The end result of 20.65 is the lowest yet, which is disappointing, as Microtek's V6USL was in the top four of our last scanner group test, with a ratio of 80.72.

But things start to get better with scanning speed, which, thanks to the 4700's single-pass mechanism is one of its main selling points. The Microtek scanned an 8 x 10in photograph at 1,200ppi in eight minutes, two seconds, beating the 13 minutes from the Acer 1240UT, and being 55 seconds quicker than the HP 5370C (reviewed issue 75, p174), which was noted for its speed. If you drop the resolution to 600ppi, it scans the same sized photograph in just one minute, 56 seconds.

The ScanMaker 4700 doesn't come with a transparency adaptor as standard, but an optional unit is available from Microtek for £34. With an optical density rating of 3.3D transparency scanning will be satisfactory. However, this brings the combined total to £187, which is uncompetitive compared with the HP and Acer. These both cost just £159 and come with transparency adaptors as standard.

If you don't need a transparency adaptor the Microtek ScanMaker 4700 initially looks like a good deal, being cheaper than the HP and Acer. However, while the speed, resolution and colour accuracy results were good enough, the signal-to-noise ratio was disappointing. The 4700 isn't bad, but you can get better quality results and a lot more features by spending that little bit more.

Author: Ben Hardwidge