Microtek ScanMaker 5600

In days gone by, we had to ward people off scanner boxes with ridiculously inflated interpolated resolutions like 2,400ppi, when the optical resolution was more likely to be 300ppi. But even the hardest glance at the front of the Microtek ScanMaker 5600's box won't reveal a distortion of the truth - it's a genuine 2,400ppi scanner and it only costs £155.

There's a simple explanation for this - feature stripping. The 5600 is USB 1.1 only, has no transparency adaptor and no notable software bundle. The latter is slightly frustrating as, while Mac users get Photoshop 5 LE in the bundle, PC users are stuck with the more limited Adobe PhotoDeluxe 4.

However, this is made up for in a small way by the superb TWAIN software. It's intuitive from the word go, and even the advanced mode tells you exactly what you want, with all the options in sensible places. What's more, enhancements and filters like unsharp mask and increased gamma are switched off by default, so you can play around with the raw scan to start with.

Like Epson and HP's high-resolution scanners, the Microtek's CCD uses six rows of sensors instead of three to achieve the 2,400ppi optical resolution. However, our scientific tests at this resolution were disappointing, with an overall MTF of 1.0 compared to the HP ScanJet 7450C's 1.24 (see Reviews, issue 80, p162) and the Epson Perfection 2450 Photo's 1.13 (see Reviews, issue 89, p129).

Nevertheless, in our 2,400ppi real-world photo test, the Microtek's scan was almost indistinguishable from the Epson's, although it was noticeably more blurred when zooming in. The more important issue was colour accuracy, and this was in greater evidence in our 150ppi skin tones test, where the Microtek's results looked bland and washed out compared to the Epson's deep, rich and more accurate colours.

Colour accuracy is the Microtek's main problem, and the proof of the pudding was in our scientific test. The error rate of 8.24, while acceptable overall, had been bumped up severely by inaccurate green and cyan results. The other colours were all fine, with error rates invisible to the human eye, but the cyan error rate of 31.73 is way off track, even compared to the Epson's 14.44. In its favour, the Microtek's signal-to-noise ratio of 138.5 was superb next to the Epson's 95.72.

In terms of overall quality, the ScanMaker 5600 is still on the ball, but it lacks the Epson's modern connectivity. A transparency adaptor can be added for an extra £43, which would still be a cheaper bundle than the Epson. But the bigger hurdle is speed, especially if you want to scan at the full resolution.

Unlike the IEEE-1394- and USB 2-equipped Epson, the Microtek is still limited by its single USB 1.1 interface. It took 24 minutes, 36 seconds to scan in a 2,400ppi 8 x 10in photo, while the Epson only took 15 minutes, 23 seconds on USB 2. Similarly, an A4 300ppi scan took 35 seconds on the Microtek, but only 15 seconds on the Epson.

To be fair to the ScanMaker 5600, the quality is more than adequate for the money. But when the Epson Perfection 2450 Photo can be bought at a current street price of £224 from dabs.com, you'd be much better off saving up your pennies. Not only does the Epson provide modern and fast connectivity, but the scan quality is also superior and you get Adobe Photoshop Elements thrown in too.

Author: Ben Hardwidge