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

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.