Color Scanners--Scan Masters

"As image quality for flatbed scanners improves, scanning techniques can be borrowed from drum scanners to push image quality to new levels," reports Bill Gillooly, product marketing manager, input systems, at Scitex America.

For example, oil mounting—common in drum scanning—makes scratches invisible, reducing the number of air-film surfaces in the light path and improving contrast and color saturation. "In the past, it was impractical to use oil mounting on a flatbed scanner," Gillooly explains. "When oil mounting, the entire scanner would be tied up, during mounting, scanning and the mandatory cleaning stages—plus the ever-present risk of spilling mounting oil into the scanner itself, with potentially disastrous results."