Bertl Contex sd4400 series User manual

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5-10 ips monochrome; 0-3 ips color

Wide-Format Scanner

Contex SD4400 Series

What’s Inside

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Table of Contents

Introduction ..........................................................................................................4

Contex History........................................................................................... 4

Contex SD4400 Series.............................................................................. 4

Contex Family of Scanners....................................................................... 5

Contex Upgrade Policy ............................................................................. 5

What BERTL Tested ................................................................................. 5

Setup & Installation..............................................................................................6

Getting Setup............................................................................................6

Scanner Calibration................................................................................... 7

Features & Benefits .............................................................................................8

WIDEsystemNET......................................................................................... 9

Sharing A Scanner .................................................................................. 10

Nextimage ............................................................................................... 11

Nextimage Scanning ............................................................................... 11

Nextimage Viewing..................................................................................14

Maintenance..... ..................................................................................................16

Consumables .......................................................................................... 16

Scan Quality......... ..............................................................................................18

Scanner Accuracy ................................................................................... 18

Text Sharpness ....................................................................................... 18

Color Fringing.......................................................................................... 19

Color Accuracy........................................................................................ 19

Line Pair Resolution Test ........................................................................ 20

Panchromatic Test .................................................................................. 21

Adaptive Thresholding ............................................................................ 22

Scan Performance.............................................................................................. 23

Scan Speed Tests................................................................................... 23

Black and White Performance ................................................................ 23

Grayscale Performance .......................................................................... 24

Color Performance .................................................................................. 24

Performance Conclusion......................................................................... 25

Summary ...................................................................................................26

Recommendations .................................................................................. 26

Pros and Cons….................................................................................... 26

Feature Charts ........................................................................................ 27

About BERTL ...................................................................................................29

Introduction

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ABOUT BERTL’S GALAXY© STAR RATING

BERTL understands how difficult it is to choose one office-imaging device over another and

strives to make this an easier choice for the consumer. That said, how does a consumer decide

between two or more devices that carry the same BERTL 3-, 4-, or 5-star rating?

Category Criteria:

Build Quality: An analysis of the construction quality of the major components that the user must

interact with on a regular basis (e.g., paper tray, access covers, suppliers, etc.)

Finish: The productivity penalty (punch, staple, booklets) based on tests and finishing

specifications and effectiveness based on a sliding scale benchmark when compared to that of

other finishing systems found on other devices.

Ease of Use: Ease of maintenance (adding paper, toner, misfeeds, cleaning) and ease of using

the documentation, help, control panel, print drivers, and client utilities analysis when compared

to a sliding scale benchmark on the ease of use of other devices.

Media Handling: Throughput specifications and evaluations based on a sliding scale benchmark

when compared with the handling of special media (e.g., oversize, thick, or coated stock) found

on other devices.

Line Pairs/mm: A measure of how many lines the scanner can resolve over an inch or mm — the

higher the better.

Scanning Accuracy: A measure of both the horizontal and vertical scanning precision and color

accuracy if applicable.

Performance: An overall performance index performed over a variety of different modes, e.g.,

black and white performance, color performance, graytone performance, etc.

Image Quality: The quality of business color images (text, dot, line, halftone, and solid quality)

based on tests and a subjective rating on the quality of continuous tones (photos) when

compared to a sliding scale benchmark based on the continuous tone quality of other devices.

Features: The feature set compared to a sliding scale benchmark based on the feature set found

on other devices.

Price: MSRP of a system configured with network printing, copying, scanning, and media

trays/rolls (wide format) configuration.

BERTL Galaxy© Star Rating

Contex SD4400 Series

0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0

Price

Features

Image Quality

Performance

Scan ning A ccuracy

Line Pairs/mm

Media Handling

Ease of Use

Finishing

Build Quality

Introduction

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Contex SD4400

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Contex Corporation released the Contex SD4400 series in

June 2008 as a full color and monochrome solution for

large-format scanning and copying. It is Contex’s first

scanner based on the Contact Image Sensor (CIS), a

competing technology to Contex’s Charge Couple Devices

(CCD)–based HD scanner. The SD4400 series is

available in four different models or configurations, but all

are based on the same new core CIS technology. The

SD4400 series is a 44” wide scanner with 1200 dpi optical

scanning resolution, the highest in the wide-format

industry. The four models have basically the same

specifications with the exception of the monochrome and

color speed. The entry model is the SD4410, which is a

fast monochrome scanner. The SD4430 is a color scanner

with moderate monochrome and color performance. The

SD4450 adds higher color and monochrome performance,

and finally the SD4490 has the highest color performance.

The SD4400 series is positioned as a range of affordable

scanners serving the CAD, AEC, GIS, and reprographics

markets.

CONTEX HISTORY

Contex was originally founded in 1923 and was for many

years involved in the design and manufacture of inventive

and "time-saving" business machines such as printing

machines, mechanical and electronic calculators, and

electrostatic copiers. These machines were distributed

and sold worldwide under the Rex-Rotary and Gestetner

brand names.

In the early 1980s, the company repositioned itself and

laid the foundation for the establishment of Contex

Scanning Technology. In 1986, the company began

development of modular scanning technology. In 1988,

Contex introduced its first black and white (monochrome)

large-format scanner, and presented a complete line of

black and white scanners in 1990. Contex introduced its

first wide-format color scanners in 1996, and its scanner

line now encompasses models with 18", 25", 36", 42", and

54" all-in-one wide scanning capability in both color and

black and white. In 2008, Contex released its first scanner

based on the CIS technology, offering both of the

competing CCD and CIS scanning technologies to the

market.

CONTEX SD4400 Series

BERTL tested the SD4400 series, which is offered in non-

upgradable version, breaking Contex traditional offering of

both a Base and a Plus scanner version of its individual

scanner models. The SD4490 is the top model of the SD

series and is priced at $13,750, including the scanner

($12,450), the scanner stand ($600), and Contex’s new

Nextimage scanning software ($700). The SD4450 is

priced at $11,750, the SD4430 at $10,250, and finally the

entry monochrome SD4410 model at $9,550.

The Contex SD4400 series is backed by a two-year

warranty, where the first 6 months is on site, the next 6

months is return to depot for both parts and labor, and

finally the last 12 months only covers the parts. Contex

offers an optional service upgrade for an on-site warranty

for as many as 5 years.

The 44” SD4400 series doesn’t fill a gap on Contex’s well

developed and mature CCD lines with scanners ranging

from 25” to 54”. Instead the SD4400 series represents

Contex’s first move into the competing CIS scanning

technology. Contex positioned the SD4400 series towards

AEC, CAD, and GIS markets as the primary segments,

and the lower-end reprographic and graphic segment as

secondary, not matching quite the fidelity of the High

Definition (HD) and more expensive series. Furthermore

the SD4400 series is the first 1,200 dpi optical resolution

wide-format scanner on the market, offering twice the

optical resolution of any competing scanner. Lastly Contex

has developed a new data transfer technology called

xDTR over a USB 2.0 interface, getting nearly twice the

transfer speed of previous scanner models and enabling

scanning at 3 ips in color without overloading the USB 2.0

interface.

The SD4400 series has six approximately 8.5” CIS image-

capturing elements placed in an overlapping zigzag

pattern to avoid any gaps in the 44” wide scan line. The

SD series also follows the industry trend by offering face

up scanning instead of the previous standard face down

approach. The CIS element is placed in the top of the

scanner, and the controller, interface board, and power

supply are located on the right side of the scanner in the

operator panel area.

Introduction

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Contex SD4400

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Device Features Summary

List Price $9,550-13,750

Monochrome Speed 5-10 ips* at 200 dpi

Color Speed 0-3 ips at 200 dpi

Scanning Method 48-bit CIS technology

Optical Resolution 1,200 dpi

Maximum Resolution 9,600 dpi

Document Size Paper width up to 44”/

1118 mm; unlimited scan length

Maximum Media

Thickness Up to 0.04”/1 mm

Interface USB 2.0 with xDTR technology

Note: Price includes the scanner, scanner stand, and

Nextimage scanning software, plus a 6-month, on-site

warranty in the United States.

* ips = inches per second.

CONTEX FAMILY OF SCANNERS

The SD4400 series is a family of three wide-format color

scanners and one monochrome scanner, all based on the

same hardware platform that consists of the SD4410

monochrome scanner, the SD4430 entry scanner

performance, the SD4450 faster scanner performance,

and the SD4490 with the fastest scanner performance.

To aggressively price position to various segments,

Contex spun the SD4410, SD4430, and SD4450 models

from the SD4490 model. These scanners are identical in

hardware except for the color scanner performance.

The Contex SD4400 series consists of four different 1,200

dpi optical scanners, with no upgrade path and with

different color performance, but aggressive pricing.

Contex offers the new Nextimage scanning software to

use in connection with the SD4400 series. This software is

Contex’s own scanning software and supports

professional scan-to-file, scan-to-print, and viewing

operations.

According to Contex, some of the SD4400 series

scanners’ advantages include:

•1,200 dpi true optical resolution

•Up to 10 ips monochrome speed

•Up to 3 ips color speed enable by a USB 2.0 xDTR

technology

•Compact and lightweight design

•Contact Image Sensor (CIS) technology

•Instant-on, scanner-ready technology

•Face up scanning

•44” color and monochrome scanner

•Maintenance and service friendly

CONTEX UPGRADE POLICY

Contex has a liberal upgrade policy, and customers can

freely download and install new software and firmware

updates directly from Contex at http://support.contex.com/.

WHAT BERTL TESTED

BERTL tested the SD4410, SD4430, SD4450 and

SD4490 models with the stand and the Nextimage

scanning software. The price for the tested equipment

ranges between $9,550 and $13,750. Due to the hardware

similarities of the four models, they are all described in a

single report.

BERTL uses its own standardized test procedure to test

all wide-format scanners, ensuring uniform and

independent treatment of wide-format scanners across

scanner manufacturers.

Setup and Installation

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GETTING SET UP

The scanner arrives in two cardboard crates containing

the scanner and the scanner stand. The scanner stand is

easy to assemble, even if you’re alone on the job. The

two-page assembly instructions are clear and easy to

follow. The next part of the assembly process was placing

the scanner on the stand. Weighing in at less than 66 lbs

(30 kg), it can be done by one person, but it’s easier for

two people to lift the scanner and secure it to the stand.

Once assembled, you connect the scanner to the

computer using a USB 2.0 interface.

Before you turn the scanner on, install all the three

software components: the WIDEsystemNET tool kit

containing the scanner drivers, Nextimage scanning

software, and the scanner maintenance calibration tool.

During installation of these utilities, you can choose from

among nine supported languages, including English,

Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Japanese,

Korean, and simplified Chinese.

The computer needs to be rebooted after the installation

of all software components. Once the device is turned on,

the Microsoft Windows operating system automatically

recognizes the scanner. After going through the usual

Windows steps in searching for the best scanner driver,

your new scanner system should be up and running.

BERTL analysts downloaded the newest, most current

scanner firmware available directly from Contex’s Web

site. The upgrade automatically finds the scanner and

starts downloading the correct new firmware. We were up

and running within five minutes.

The Quick Getting Started Guide is all you need.

WHAT WE LIKED

•The installation procedure is easy to follow. It can be

performed by anyone in an organization who has

average experience in installing new software and

hardware on a computer.

•Instructions for assembly and installation are easy to

follow and understand.

•Typical assembly time is 10-15 minutes.

•Typical software installation time is a total of 10

minutes for Scanner Maintenance, WIDEsystem, and

Nextimage.

•Easy and automated firmware upgrade procedure.

WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE

•BERTL would like to see an application install

manager for installing all the software packages in

one operation.

Setup and Installation

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SCANNER CALIBRATION

After you install the software, you must conduct a series of

scanner calibrations in order to ensure that the scanner

delivers optimal scanning quality. Calibration is

straightforward, especially with the included illustrated

setup guide that is designed to provide a language-free

visualization of the calibration procedure. The SD4400

series has six CIS elements, and the first step is to ensure

that all cameras are aligned correctly both horizontally and

vertically.

Before beginning calibration, clean the transparent contact

plates located inside the scanner and the surface of the

document scanning table. Any dust or dirt on these

surfaces may affect the calibration results and the

resulting image quality. Also check that the calibration

sheet is free of dust or dirt.

The Scanner Calibration wizard is a fully automated tool

for calibrating the SD series of scanners.

The scanner calibration process is handled by a wizard

that guides you through the different steps. You only need

to load the calibration sheet into the scanner when

directed to do so, and the wizard completes the task.

The calibration takes you through five steps:

Horizontal and vertical stitching

Basic calibration

Graytone calibration

Camera matching

Color calibration

The Scanner Calibration wizard, which comes with the

scanner, performs the five calibration steps.

After the scanning calibration process, we ran our stitching

test chart to detect horizontal and vertical stitching

problems. We didn’t observe any horizontal or vertical

stitching problems.

The picture below shows a perfect horizontal and vertical

alignment between cameras. The 45° angled lines are

used for vertical alignment. When vertical alignment is not

set properly, it shows up as jagged angle lines. A

horizontal stitching problem shows up when the horizontal

line is not straight.

Stitching test chart: We did not observe any

horizontal or vertical stitching problems.

The whole calibration procedure process took about 20

minutes to complete.

Setup and Installation

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WHAT WE LIKED

•The calibration procedure is the most comprehensive

and automated in the wide-format scanner industry.

•The calibration procedure is well documented and

easy to perform.

•Typical calibration time is 20 minutes.

•A scanner operator does not need to understand the

various calibration steps, and as such, calibration can

be performed by an operator who does not have

specific knowledge of color calibration.

WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE

•BERTL would like the scanner to automatically detect

the need for calibration when it detects degradation in

scanning quality, or dust and dirt on the mechanism.

Features and Benefits

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WIDESYSTEMNET

WIDEsystemNET is a software application that monitors the

health of the scanner and allows the scanner operator to

control miscellaneous global functions such as stand-by

(power saving) and scanner sharing in a local area

network (LAN) environment. It also enables the operator

to control the one-touch scanner button on the scanner’s

control panel.

WIDEsystemNET controls:

•The overall status of the scanner.

•Scanner information such as firmware release,

scanner uptime, serial number, scanner model, etc.

•Use of the scanner; for example, it tracks how many

inches have been scanned, how many inches of roller

movement have occurred, and the like.

•Set up of which application should be launched when

the scanner operator touches the one-touch button on

the control panel.

•The sharing of a scanner between users on the LAN.

Users can share the scanner with other users in the

same way that a local attached printer can be shared

with other computer workstations and users. This is a

great feature when more than one department needs

to share a scanner.

It is critical to have easy access to the scanner status and

logs in order to facilitate service and estimate the

remaining life of the scanner consumable parts (lamps,

glass plate, rollers), so that proper replacement parts can

be purchased prior to the parts’ failure point, ensuring

uninterruptible operation and maximum uptime.

The SD4400 series complies with the ENERGY STAR®

2007 rating specifications, using less than 5W in stand-by

mode. Spending a large portion of time in the low-power

sleep mode not only saves energy, but also helps the

scanner equipment run cooler and lasts longer.

The Log tab page in WIDEsystemNET provide scanning

usage information’s which can help plan for schedule

maintenance e.g. recalibration.

Log provide information about Lamp Light on hours and

scanned and roller movement information.

Features and Benefits

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Contex SD4400

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SHARING A SCANNER

One of the SD4400 series scanner’s major advantages is

that it can be shared among different users on the same

local area network (LAN).

The picture above shows a typical installation of a scanner

in a LAN environment. The scanner is connected to the

computer and the Scan Server, via a USB 2.0 connection.

If the scanner operator wishes to share the scanner on the

network, they can set it up so that other users can use it,

or they can enable scanning to a designated scan folder

on to another computer workstation. In the former case,

users utilize the scanner similar to how they utilize a

shared network printer. In the latter case, the user on the

LAN that is configured to receive scanned documents can

protect against unauthorized scanning by password-

protecting the scan folder.

WHAT WE LIKED

•BERTL found WIDEsystemNET to be a powerful

scanning tool for controlling, monitoring, and sharing

the scanner among users and departments.

•WIDEsystemNET enables users to quickly see scanner

status and view an error log, which is crucial for fast

problem resolution.

WIDEsystemNET scanner share settings.

WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE

•BERTL does not have any recommendations for

improvement.

Features and Benefits

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NEXTIMAGE

Nextimage has a completely new design and replaces

Contex’s older WideimageNET and JETimageNET scanning

and printing software.

Nextimage can operate in three different modes, which

are selected on the Task bar:

Scan

Copy

File

On the top left is the Menu bar for setting default options

and printer options. The top right has the Undo/Redo

buttons. Then to left are the preview tools’ buttons like

Zoom, Measure, and Reposition the frame. To the right is

the Settings panel, in the lower left are the Overview

window and Detail view of the image, and finally in the

lower right are the main action buttons for scanning: Batch

Scanning, Previewing, Canceling, or Printing.

As with all current software, the trend is to avoid pop-up

dialog boxes for common settings and instead have

collapsible and expanding menu choices, as seen in the

panel settings to the right, to reduce screen clutter and

allow the users to view the preferred settings.

Although we only tested the Nextimage scanning

software, Contex does offer a copy option for scan-to-print

functionality, which is sold as Nextimage SCAN+COPY for

$1,500. This copy option is seemingly integrated in to the

same user interface as Nextimage.

Tools->Options is where you set the default unit of

measurement and the default paper types you want to

see, such as ISO A & B, ANSI or ARCH, or both.

The Options dialog box is one of the few dialog boxes in

the software, and it is used to set the default options for

the operations of Nextimage.

Nextimage Scanning

The Scan mode of Nextimage operates all scanning

activities. The Settings panel changes to accommodate all

available settings while scanning.

The scan parameters are logically divided into four areas:

Preset

Scan

Image Adjustment

Output File

Preset contains a previous defined preset for a list of

common documents types, e.g., B/W line drawing, Color

CAD and MAP, Color Poster, etc. Initially Contex provides

six preset defaults; however the operator can add new

presets at his or her discretion. This feature is handy for

creating a uniform and standardized scanning operation.

Features and Benefits

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The Scan box shows the size and the scanning resolution

of the document to be scanned, but it also can be further

expanded to control all the scanning parameters. This is a

very nice feature. Instead of having an all or nothing

approach, you can expand the settings levels to different

detail views, allowing you to avoid clutter in your monitor

and only see the settings that match your need.

The Scan Settings box fully expanded.

The input size is the default set to auto sizing, but the

dropdown menu lists all standard paper sizes. If you want

custom sizes, you can input the length and width in the

expandable mode.

The scanning resolution can be set between 50 dpi and

9600 dpi for the SD4400 series of scanners in steps of

one dpi increment.

The Image Adjustment contains all image parameter

settings for the scan. Scanning modes include 24-bit color,

Grayscale, B/W, Band B/W adaptive. As for the Scan

setting, the Image adjustment can be expanded on three

levels.

Image Type is the color composition of the scanning, e.g.,

color, black and white, or grayscale. Levels control the

brightness, contrast, and gamma, and it has a more

advanced level where the black/white point can be set.

All the controls are dynamic. We did scan a newspaper

and within a few seconds we found the best setting for the

white point cleaning up the newspaper scanning and avoid

the bleeding through from the newspaper opposite side.

Features and Benefits

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The white point setting is a fast way of cleaning up

newspaper scanning.

The Color menu, which only shows up for color scanning,

allows you to set the RGB level for each channel and

enhanced gray level options.

Sharpen/Smoothen will either sharpen or blur the image.

Map scanning usually improves when sharpening

increases, making contour lines easy to see.

Rotate/Mirror are rarely used options, but they can allow

you scan an ANSI E size (34”x44”) in landscape mode

and then rotate it automatically after the scan process.

The Resize option is a nice new feature where you can

scale or resize the image after scanning to a fixed

standard drawing size like ANSI E (34”x44”). This

automates the process of scanning older drawings in

different sizes and then standardizing the output of all

drawings to the same size.

Output File selects the destination for your scan and the

file format. The number of possible file formats has been

limited considerably, and now Nextimage only offers the

most common standards for file formats:

JPEG

PDF

BMP

TIFF

For black and white scanning, there are also CALS, and

for color there is also the newer JPEG 2000 file format.

Nothing more, nothing less. We like the simple approach

and the realization that 99% of all users out there will use

one of these formats.

Another innovative approach is that Nextimage allows you

to automatically generate an output file name, which is

very useful for indexing scanned files. When you put your

cursor in the file name or save in field, you can hit the

Insert button and select a list of Insert fields like time and

day or a counter that adds up for every scan.

The Insert Fields option can automatically generate output

file names, a nice feature for batch scanning.

Detail view is another powerful new feature. The idea is

that most often we are dealing with documents of C, D, or

E-size or even larger. A monitor that displays the whole

image will have to scale it down with a factor of 20 to

make it fit on the screen. With that kind of scaling, you

lose the details. Plus, zooming in and out all the time is a

tedious task. Nextimage offers a new feature call Detail

view, which shows a detail of part of the drawing that you

select in 1:1. You can store as many as 10 detail views

and quickly switch between them or between the Detail

view and Overview view.

Overview view of a blueprint.

Features and Benefits

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Contex SD4400

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Detail 1:1 view of a critical part of the drawing.

This feature is very useful when using the image

adjustment settings to see how it affects the details in

various parts of the drawings.

Nextimage Viewing

Nextimage viewing utilizes the same principle and layout

as for scanning.

The scanning setting has logically been replaced with the

Input File, and an extra Print setting has been added. The

Print setting allows you to print out to any printer attached

to your computer or on the network. It prints using the

Windows driver. For accurate color printing, that is not

enough. You would need the Nextimage SCAN+COPY

option for that need.

The Input File box shows the properties of the viewing file

and allows you to set cropping.

Image Adjustment and Output File are similar to their

counterparts under scanning, which also means that you

can automatically create a new output file using the

<insert Field> feature.

Print gives you a simple selection feature of which printer

to print to, the image quality, and number of copies, giving

you a quick and simple control of your printing process.

Simple and easy printing settings

for all the common daily tasks.

WHAT WE LIKED

•Nextimage is the best scanning software we have

seen. Simple, logical, and easy to use, yet it offers all

the powerful features that you need in the scanning or

viewing process.

•Nextimage scanning software is a professional tool

that gets the job done.

•The multiple Detail view feature is powerful.

Features and Benefits

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Contex SD4400

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•The support of the newer JPEG 2000 standard is

good.

•Batch printing is possible with auto-naming field

inserts.

•The Options Copy feature is integrated into the same

application interface.

•The image adjustment occurs in real time without the

need to re-scan the image.

WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE

•We would like to see pixel-level precision cropping

and alignment of the image.

•We would like to see support of the multiple-page

TIFF file format.

•We would like support of mark-up text and simple

erasing tool for color images.

•We would like to see support for multiple viewing files.

Maintenance

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Page 16

August 2008

Contex SD4400

www.bertl.com

CONSUMABLES

BERTL analysts found it easy to repair the Contex

scanner, with plenty of room for replacing circuit boards.

The main board, interface, and the power supply are on

the right side with plenty of room to access the

components.

Like any other peripheral, a scanner has consumable

parts, although they're insignificant compared to wide-

format printers’ consumables. With scanners, there are

typically three pieces that you should know about:

replacement lights, the white background plate, and the

scanner glass plate. The SD4400 series uses LED lights

that have a lifetime of approximately 50,000 hours, so they

are not really of concern. The scanner glass is also easy

for the user to replace. With the SD4400 series you can

replace the image sensors in a few simple operations.

The SD4400 series has a built-in diagnostic indicator on

the back. If all four lights are green, everything is working

smoothly. If one of the lights turns off, it indicates a failure

of one of the four board internally in the scanner, making

diagnostic faster and possible for the end user to perform.

The light indicates the status of all scanner boards,

making it easy to identify faulty boards.

Daily maintenance is simply a matter of cleaning the

document and feed rollers in the scanner.

The SD4400 series provides easy access for the

daily maintenance of cleaning the rollers.

BERTL estimated that a typical repair time is around 20

minutes.

WHAT WE LIKED

•BERTL likes the scanner’s use of long-life LEDs for

illumination.

•The scanner has easy access for the daily task of

cleaning the rollers.

•That glass plate and sensors can be replaced without

the need for a technician.

•Four diagnostic lights indicate the health of the

scanner.

WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE

•BERTL does not have any recommendations for

improvement in this category.

Scan Quality

document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly

prohibited BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document

Page 17

August 2008

Contex SD4400

www.bertl.com

SCANNER ACCURACY

BERTL analysts performed a series of quality tests on the

scanners. We used our Applied Image (QA-1) test chart

for evaluating the scanner’s horizontal and vertical

accuracy. Instead of measuring the accuracy between two

end points, we instead only measured a random selection

of 6” width. Our test results indicated that:

SD4400 Series Accuracy %

Horizontal 0.15

Vertical 0.03

The vertical result is excellent and is well below the

vendor’s claimed accuracy of 0.1%. The horizontal of

0.15% is clearly below the 0.1% specification but never

the less fully acceptable.

The SD4400 series scanner supports adjustment of

vertical precision. You do that by typing in a known

distance and then adjusting it for precision.

TEXT SHARPNESS

Text sharpness is another test where we look at the

impact of scanning small text size at low, medium, and

high resolutions. As the results to the right show, the SD

series with its 1,200 dpi optical resolution, has no problem

scanning small text characters at low resolutions.

Small text scanned at 200 dpi

Small text scanned at 400 dpi.

Small text scanned at 600 dpi.

The test result is one of the best we have seen lately, and

we contribute this fact to the much higher optical

resolution of the SD series compared to other scanners in

the industry.

WHAT WE LIKED

•BERTL liked the scanner’s vertical accuracy, which

we attributed to the higher geometrical accuracy of

CIS technology-based scanners.

WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE

•We have not recommendation at this time.

Scan Quality

document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly

prohibited BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document

Page 18

August 2008

Contex SD4400

www.bertl.com

COLOR FRINGING

Color fringing test result.

The same image without color fringing.

The Color Fringing test checks how well the RGB channel

is aligned. We do this by scanning the Grayscale Applied

image test chart (QA-1) in color at the optical resolution to

see if there are any visible color-fringing problems.

As shown, there is no visible color fringing.

SD4400 Series Color Fringing

Test Result None

COLOR ACCURACY

For our Color Accuracy test, we used the well-known

ANSI IT8 test chart that is used to calibrate many color

devices.

We scanned the test chart at 300 dpi using the sRGB

color space and a Gamma of 2.2 (default of sRGB). We

then read each patch and compared them with the

reference patches of true color value which determines

the ∆E value indicating how accurately the scanned colors

match the reference chart. The color accuracy score for

the SD4400 series is good.

SD4400 Series ANSI IT8.7 Color Matching

Test Result ∆E=5.1 Average

∆E=13.2 Worst Case

∆E=9.9 95%

Scan Quality

document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly

prohibited BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document

Page 19

August 2008

Contex SD4400

www.bertl.com

LINE PAIR RESOLUTION TEST

Optical resolution is a physical characteristic of a scanner

system, and it describes the ability of a system to

distinguish, detect, and record physical details. However,

there is more to the story than just the sensor in a scanner

system. So when considering scanning quality, we also

have to consider the optical system, Selfoc lens, CIS,

glass plate, and the scanner’s illumination system.

Furthermore, when scanning is not performed at the

highest optical resolution, we must consider how the

scanner performs the actual scaling to the selected

scanning resolution. All of these factors introduce errors

and reduce scanning quality; therefore, optical resolutions

are an indicator of scan quality, not a measure of it.

We use a line pairs per mm (lp/mm) test as a way to

measure spatial resolution. With the lp/mm measure, all

quality factors — such as lenses, optical system, scaling,

and image processing — are taken into account, making

the use of the lp/mm test a better way to measure

scanning quality. In connection with lp/mm, we also like to

measure how well a scanner maintains rapid change in

the image and if it maintains the sharpness instead of just

blurring rapid transition in the image. We use the 50%

point of the Contrast Transfer function to measure the

sharpness of the scanner.

The chart to the right shows the result of the lp/mm test for

resolutions between 100 to 1,200 dpi in steps of 100 dpi.

As expected, we see that with lower resolutions, the

lp/mm goes down, but the curve keeps up fairly well, so

that it maintains lp/mm at lower resolutions. We also note

that the lp/mm peaks at 14.3 lp/mm optical resolution.

This result is excellent, and it is what to expect for a 1,200

dpi optical resolution scanner. When the scanning

resolution is decreased, so are the lp/mm results.

Because most scanner users scan between 200 to 400

dpi, the SD series performs at the same level as other

scanners in that range, even though other vendors’

scanners are of the same or slightly lower optical

resolution.

LP/MM & MTF

100 200 300 400 500 600 800 1000 1200

Dpi

LP/mm

Sharpness

A line pair/mm test at 14.3 lp/mm at optical resolution is

excellent, and the best we have seen in the industry.

SD4400 Series LP/MM

Test Result – Peak 14.3

Test Result – Average 200 -

400 dpi

5.1

Scan Quality

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