Is it possible to print and scan with the same device?

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Is scanning the reverse of the printing process? Canon, one of the companies that have accumulated the largest numbers of patent rights in the world, apparently thinks so. Therefore, for some time now it has been marketing several ink jet printer models that can be turned into scanners.

A printer and a scanner in one single unit is nothing new, actually. Most multifunction devices, such as the faxes that can also print and scan, have been around since a few years ago. I even bought an AcerFax once that could also function as a scanner and a modem for the office where I worked, although I never got to try it out (we have had to junk it already). However, the idea of using a printer cartridge as a scanner head intrigued me. When I first learned that we could convert a Canon printer into a scanner just by changing its cartridge, I wanted to try out one of the printers to see how it worked. Courtesy of PT Datascrip, Canon's distributor for Indonesia, I was able to test drive their Rp 2 million BJC 4310SP printer.

Midrange printer

As a color printer, the petite, 360 DPI BJC 4310SP is a decent one. Thanks to Canon's Photo-Realism technology, it can print great photos using special high-resolution paper and an ink cartridge (it can print photos on plain paper as well). Do not expect speed, though, because printers of this class do not generally come with enough memory to handle the data of large- size color images. In fact, it only has a 26 Kb input buffer. But, for family and SOHO uses, this printer, which Canon puts in the upper mid-range category, does produce crisp color printouts.

My test unit comes with a four-color BJ-22 Photo ink cartridges and a Canon IS-22 Color Scanner cartridge. The printer can use any of four different types of cartridge, including the monochrome BJ-20 cartridge for fast black and white printout as well as the BJ-29F color fluorescent cartridge for special colors.

The printer's power supply is already built inside my test unit, so all it needs is cable power that is similar to the one that you use for your radio and cassette player. Other versions of the same model require an external power supply. Canon positions this printer to compete against HP DeskJet 695 or Epson Stylus 600. That may be a little bit too ambitious, though, because BJC 4310SP's resolution will be the lowest in the group.

Canon emphasizes the economy factor of its Super Printer line, which the SP in 4310SP stands for. Using its Super Economy mode, this printer can print up to 3600 pages with one BJ-20 ink cartridge. We can also print on many different print media, including 3-D stickers, T-shirt transfer and fabric sheets. Canon's Drop Modulation Technology (DMT) enables this printer to shoot out two different sizes of ink drops on to the print media, so that color gradients look smoother and images look finer.

Scanning

To turn the printer into a scanner, all we have to do is take out the ink cartridge and snap in the special Canon IS-22 cartridge. The scanner cartridge also comes with a cartridge container where I should place the ink cartridge to prevent it from drying out. I had to power the printer down and up again before the printer was converted into a scanner.

Installing the scanner program was as simple as loading the Control Panel and running the Install/Remove Programs utility. The program's interface is very simple, as you can see in the accompanying picture. You can scan at three different resolution levels, namely, 90, 180 and 360 DPI. Personally, I do not think there is much use in scanning at the lowest resolution, though.

Before using the scanner for the first time we have to calibrate it by letting it scan the white calibration paper. Scanning the page containing the pictures that you see in the illustration took more than five minutes, unfortunately.

Limitations

Due to the slow scanning process, do not expect that BJC 4310SP can meet your scanning requirement if you work in a library or a document center, for example. Besides, the scanning utility is very limited in its capabilities. You can adjust brightness and contrast of the scanned image, you can improve the quality of the image and even enhance it with the help of tools such as Posterize and Pixelize. but you cannot, for instance, compensate for slightly tilted scan. There is no zoom tools, so you cannot see the details of the scanned image. There is no built-in OCR, either. In general, the available scanning facilities are just the basics.

But if your scanning requirement is very light, this device will do a good job. Bank tellers and company personnel departments can use the scanner to scan in signatures, for example. You can use it to scan a page that you want to fax, too. Although there is an option to scan for OCR purposes, I would not think you would do it either. The scanning itself takes so long already that you might save time by retyping the entire page--if you are a fast typist like me, that is.

Students will love this printer, because the minimal footprint does not take up a lot of desk space. Moreover, having a scanner in their cramped boarding room would enable them to include scanned maps, diagrams and charts in their reports.

Canon has been building quite decent ink jet printers, including this one. However, if you need to scan a lot of pages, you might as well buy the company's flatbed scanners. The new CanoScan FB320P and FB620P both have a gorgeous look, and they can scan at 300 and 600 DPI levels, respectively. You will want more space for them, but you can do far more than you can do with a sheetfed scanner like the converted BJC 4310SP.