Image Access WideTEK CIS scanner Contex large format scanners

REVIEW:

Contex SD4490 large format scanner

September 2008, updated March 2009

Introduction

Scanners4CAD were supplied with a Contex SD4490 large format scanner running Contex's new Nextimage Scan+Copy software to review.

Contex SD4490 large format scanner
The Contex SD4490
large format scanner.

The SD Series is a significant product development. It is Contex's first generation of large format CIS (Contact Image Sensor) scanners. Previously all Contex scanners used CCD (Charged Couple Device) technology.

It is now widely recognised that CCD's high colour gamut best suits colour graphics scanning while CIS's sharpness makes it better suited to scanning technical drawings. Publicly, it took Contex some time to accept this argument. However, behind the scenes they were busy developing the SD Series with the aim of bringing out a CIS-based wide format scanner that was better specified than the competition.

As CAD users specialising in raster to vector conversion we have long favoured CIS technology's more affordable ability to provide sharp images and separate fine details. One feature that assists such definition is optical resolution. In the past we have debated the true optical resolution of some Contex CCD scanners. With the CIS-based SD Series there is no longer any debate. The Contex SD Series is the first "true" 1200 dpi optical resolution large format scanner.

We were keen to see the benefits which its unrivalled 1200 dpi optical resolution brings to scanning technical drawings at lower resolutions. Other features we wanted to test were just how fast the scanner is and in particular how productive it is when using the new Nextimage scanning software.

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