Canon CanoScan N670U

According to Canon the N670U has the "smallest footprint of any scanner on the market". There's no denying it's compact and light, being only slightly larger than an A4 notepad and about an inch thick.

The secret of the N670U's diminutive size lies in contact image sensor technology which uses LEDs to illuminate the image and does away with the bulk of fluorescent lamps and mirrors used by conventional CCD scanners.

The N670U communicates and derives its power from a USB connector, avoiding the need for a separate power cable, making it ideal for use with a notebook.

Optical resolution is 600dpi and, in common with an increasing number of flatbeds coming onto the market, it scans and internally processes 48bits per pixel and down-samples this to 24bits on output.

The scanner is supplied with a small plastic stand that allows you to mount it vertically. With the scanner like this it's impossible to get anything other than a very light single sheet to stay on the glass. Even then, without the aid of gravity to keep it there scanning quality is severely compromised.

Used the proper way round, the N670U produces excellent results. Critics of CIS claim it produces markedly inferior results to CCD scanners, but the Canon performs admirably on a range of scanning tasks including continuous tone colour prints, screened images and text. Its only failing is poor reproduction where the original isn't absolutely flat against the glass.

Canon's software is first rate and installation and operation of the scanner is simple. There are three configurable front panel buttons and the ScanGear Toolbox desktop utility provides easily configured one-touch options. The software bundle includes ArcSoft PhotoStudio 2000 image editing and Photobase archival software as well as Omnipage OCR software.

Contact: Canon
0800 252 223
www.canon.co.uk.