Opticbook 3600 -- Some Initial Thoughts

[johndavidwood]

I just ordered and recieved an Opticbook 3600. A few have asked me to
post what I thought of this scanner.

First of all I do not believe that there is a good online review out
there. I plan to post a very comprehensive review and setup some
webspace devoted to a thorough rundown of the product. I think the most
annoying thing was that several reviews complain about this scanner's
photo scanning ability. For those who don't know, it is a specialty
book scanner. If you want to scan photos, please don't buy a specialty
book scanner.

Here are my INITIAL thoughts. I will have to spend some more time
evaulating certain aspects...

The GOOD:

- For scanning text, the scanner is lightning fast

- Though many people online did not -- I liked the button layout

- Placing the book in the scanner is very easy and fast

- Page rotation is very useful even though most software will do this

The BAD:

- My BIGGEST complaint: I expected to be able to scan full pages
properly but found that many books lost some detail close to the
margin.

- REPEAT - Some books LOSE information close to the margins even though
the scanner has been aligned properly - this should not be happening in
a specialty book scanner IMHO!!

- After about 12 hours (not of continuous scanning--of just being
plugged in, powersaving), there was a yellowish tint being added to the
edge of the scanned images. I was fit to be tied. I unplugged the
scanner for 24 hours and the tint seemed to be MOSTLY gone.

- The inside of the scanner is filthy and will need cleaning if I want
to scan pages without dust/artifacts.

- The outside of the scanner seems to pick up artifacts much more
easily than my Epson 1670 (which miraculously hides them from me or
removes them most of the time.)

- The software is TOTAL COMPLETE SHIT. The "scan to" formats have no
USEFUL options, and the software feels the need to be in the sytem tray
all the time.

- There is zero documentation -- I didn't care about this, but many
people might. Repeat, zero.


WOULD I BUY THIS AGAIN? Nope, definately not. Not at the price I paid
for it (C$230).


That's all for now... I do hope to have a proper, thorough review up
soon on the WWW.

JDW

 

[Don]

I'm not familiar with this scanner but a couple of general
observations.

- My BIGGEST complaint: I expected to be able to scan full pages
properly but found that many books lost some detail close to the
margin.

That appears as loss of focus, possibly because the margins were not
as flat as the rest of the page. It's similar to the effect when
photocopying a thick book and the area around the spine gets
distorted.

- After about 12 hours (not of continuous scanning--of just being
plugged in, powersaving), there was a yellowish tint being added to the
edge of the scanned images. I was fit to be tied. I unplugged the
scanner for 24 hours and the tint seemed to be MOSTLY gone.

That sounds like the scanner needs to recalibrate due to temperature
changes. Most scanner software does that automatically after a certain
period of time.

If that is the problem all you need to do is power the scanner down
and after a few seconds (allowing time for capacitors to drain) turn
it back on again. As a part of its startup procedure the scanner
should recalibrate removing any temperature induced casts.

Don.

 

[johndavidwood]

That appears as loss of focus, possibly because the margins were not

as flat as the rest of the page. It's similar to the effect when
photocopying a thick book and the area around the spine gets
distorted.

That is certainly not the problem, but thanks. You should take a look
at some pictures of the scanner first. The scanner is sort of "missing
a side" so you can put books perfectly flat without ruining the spine.
The problem is clearly the scanner not being able to scan all the way
to the margins... their advertising material is very deceptive... it
seems that they are claiming that their scanner will scan whole pages
all the way to the margin in their advertising but they aren't, they
are claiming that their scanner will ILLUMINATE every tiny portion of
the margin (to eliminate shadows... somewhat useful I guess, but it
would be more useful to be able to scan text on the edges of pages
considering the premium price for the scanner -- I am lucky to have got
a deal, but even still I paid about 250% more than a very good home
scanner)

JDW

 

[Don]

That is certainly not the problem, but thanks. You should take a look
at some pictures of the scanner first. The scanner is sort of "missing
a side" so you can put books perfectly flat without ruining the spine.
The problem is clearly the scanner not being able to scan all the way
to the margins... their advertising material is very deceptive... it
seems that they are claiming that their scanner will scan whole pages
all the way to the margin in their advertising but they aren't, they
are claiming that their scanner will ILLUMINATE every tiny portion of
the margin (to eliminate shadows... somewhat useful I guess, but it
would be more useful to be able to scan text on the edges of pages
considering the premium price for the scanner -- I am lucky to have got
a deal, but even still I paid about 250% more than a very good home
scanner)

Oh, I see. I suppose you could ask for your money back if the scanner
doesn't perform as advertised.

For what is worth, I remember a scanner (Epson, I think) where the
frame with the glass is removable (but it remains tethered to the main
unit) so it can be placed on top of whatever is being scanned. This
makes it easier to scan books or other such material that can't be
placed on the glass (too heavy, for example).

It's probably too late now, especially if you don't get your money
back, but just in case, that may be another option because you can
center this scanner frame on top the book and scan in the whole page.

Don.