Microtek ScanMaker 5700 review

The ScanMaker 5700 fits neatly into the middle of Microtek's mid-range/corporate bracket, but is the joint most expensive on test along with HP's Scanjet 7400c. Considering the price, its specification isn't overly impressive. It has an optical resolution of 1,200ppi where others boast 2,400ppi, and has a slightly lower input colour depth of 42-bit. Where it pulls back some kudos is the large-format, integrated transparency adaptor, which allows transparencies up to 4 x 5in to be scanned.

Installation presented us with a couple of problems. The drivers for the supplied FireWire card wouldn't install properly on our Windows XP system and this resulted in a second problem where turning on the scanner with the FireWire cable connected caused the PC to reboot. We only managed to solve this by using drivers from our Adaptec FireWire PCI card.

Thanks to the FireWire connection, the 5700 was commendably fast when scanning images at 300ppi or greater, managing the A4 photo in 25 seconds - almost the quickest on test. However, at lower resolutions, the benefit of FireWire's huge bandwidth was lost, since the speed of the scanner's mechanics was the limiting factor. So, the 150ppi A4 text took 19 seconds to scan, three seconds slower than the ScanMaker 3800.

In our scientific tests, the 5700 managed an overall sharpness score of 1.04MTF - a fair but not great result. The signal-to-noise ratio was more disappointing. At 40:1, it was less than half that of its cheaper sibling and way behind the similarly priced Epson Perfection 2450 Photo.

During the analysis of the scientific tests, we noticed a distinct shift towards green, and this also showed up clearly in our test photos. This problem was most evident on the 10 x 8in jewellery photo, but is correctable using the bundled Photoshop Elements. Despite this issue, the colour accuracy of the A4 photo wasn't too bad. However, there was a lot of banding in the darker areas - a fault unique to this scanner and disappointing given the high price.

The quality of the two transparency scans was also worse than we'd expected. Too much yellow made skin tones look jaundiced. Also, while the shellfish scan looked fine from a distance, zooming in revealed a disturbing amount of strange colour noise in the darker areas. The Canon D2400UF was superb in comparison.

Given the price, we expected a lot more from the 5700. Merely being quick wasn't enough and, since this is the Microtek's only real advantage over the Epson Perfection 2450 Photo and Canon D2400UF, we recommend either of these over the ScanMaker 5700.