Acer Film Scanner manual

Film Scanner User’s Manual English Français Deutsch Italiano Español[...]

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Film Scanner User’s Manual English[...]

English Copyright Copyright © 1999 by this company. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without the prior[...]

English 7. This product should be operated from the type of power indicated on the marking label. If you are not sure of the type of power available, consult your dealer or local power company. 8. Do not allow anything to rest on the power cord. Do not locate this product where persons will walk on the cord. 9. If an extension cord is used with thi[...]

English FCC Information The Federal Communication Commission Radio Frequency Interference Statement includes the following paragraph: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B Digital Device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interf[...]

English i Table of Contents CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1 1.1 F EATURES ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 H ARDWARE I NTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 2 Front Panel .....[...]

English ii Eject button .................................................................................... 23 Zoom button ................................................................................... 23 Preview button ................................................................................ 23 Scan button ............................[...]

English iii P RODUCT S PECIFICATION .............................................................................. 60 MiraPhoto Quick Reference Map Menu Bar page 16 Image Thumbnail Area page 20 Combo Boxes page 20 Film Selection Area page 22 Control Buttons page 23 Tool Buttons page 23 Preview Area page 39[...]

English iv <Memo>[...]

English 1 Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 Features Congratulations on your purchase of the ScanWit film scanner! The ScanWit film scanner is the utmost cost-effective solution for film scanning . I ts high capability is bound to boost your scan job efficiency significantly. It is equipped with the following unique features: High Speed Scanning With the[...]

English 2 Friendly and Smart Driver MiraPhoto is the driver for your ScanWit film scanner. Its easy and instinctive interface design allows you to proceed with your scanning job quickly. You can also use it to adjust the scanning parameters efficiently. Its powerful functions can help you to optimize the scanned image for your specific purpose. 1.2[...]

English 3 LED indicators STATUS : This LED indicator is used to display the status of the film scanner or to show error messages when error s occur within the film scanner. READY : When the film scanner is powered on and ready to scan, this LED indicator will remain on , indicating that you can start to scan. Holder insertion slot You can insert th[...]

English 4 Rear Panel Ventilation holes These holes are used to ventilate the heat from inside of the film scanner. Do not block these holes when the film scanner is in use. SCSI ID selector You can use th e SCSI ID selector to select the SCSI ID of your film scanner. Please refer to Chapter 5 for more guidelines on how to determine the SCSI ID numb[...]

English 5 SCSI OUT connector This is a 25-pin SCSI connector. U se this connector to connect other SCSI devices from the film scanner. Note: w hen you position the ScanWit film scanner, be sure to leave the space illustrated below to ensure that the film/slide holder move s in to /out of the film scanner without being blocked by any object. 300 m m[...]

English 6 1.3 Software Introduction MiraPhoto is the driver program for your scanner. It is TWAIN compliant and designed to be user-friendly. With its iconlized user- interface and fully logical task-flow design, you can complete a satisfactory scanning job with only a few mouse clicks. With MiraPhoto, you can: Preview, scan and import the scanned [...]

English 7 Chapter 2. Installation Please follow the steps below to set up your ScanWit film scanner: Step 1 . Install the SCSI interface card Power off your computer and disconnect the computer power from the power outlet. Open the computer cover and locate the PCI slot of your computer. Select an empty PCI slot and remove its bracket. Insert the S[...]

English 8 Step 3 Test the scanner Turn the scanner power on by depress ing the power button on the front panel of the scanner. You may notice that t he scanner will start to perform a self-test , and the LED indicators will blink for a few seconds. Wait until the scanner completes its self-test ( this is indicated when the LED indicators stop blink[...]

English 9 Chapter 3. Mak ing Your First Scan R efer to the following steps to make your first scan using the ScanWit film scanner: Step 1. Test the scanner Turn on the power o f your film scanner, then your computer. Wait until the scanner completes its self-test. You can judge the status of the film scanner from the LED indicators. Once the READY [...]

English 10 P lace the filmstrip on the filmstrip holder with the emulsion side fac ing up. Close the cover and push the “PUSH CLOSE” mark a t the middle of the cover. You will hear a click when the cover is secured. Insert the filmstrip holder into the holder insertion slot. PU SH PU SH PU S H[...]

English 11 If you want to scan slides: You can use the slide holder (the holder with 4 rectangular lattices and a SLIDE mark) to place your slide. Slide holder Pull the handle on the cover to open the cover. Then place the slide on the slide holder with the emulsion side fac e up. When you place the slide in the lattice, insert the lower left corne[...]

English 12 Close the cover and push the “PUSH CLOSE” mark and the middle of the cover. You will hear a click when the cover is secured. Insert the slide holder into the holder insertion slot. Step 3. Scan Now you can either push the SCAN button to activate automatic preview, or manually open an image editing software to activate MiraPhoto and d[...]

English 13 To use SCAN button: Push the SCAN button on the film scanner front panel. A dialogue box will pop up on the screen asking you to choose an image editing software to use. Choose the application you want to use and then click OK . Note: if you have only one image editing software installed in your computer, this dialogue box will be skippe[...]

English 14 <Memo>[...]

English 15 Chapter 4. Using MiraPhoto You can access MiraPhoto through your image editing applications. When you click “ Acquire ” or “ Scan ” in your application, the MiraPhoto main screen will appear : T he following sections in this chapter will descri be MiraPhoto in more detail . Menu Bar Image Thumbnail Area Combo Boxes Film Selection[...]

English 16 Menu Bar There are three selectable menu items in the Menu Bar . E ach menu item contains several options in its submenu: File submenu MiraPhoto can record the settings you make for each scan session in a configuration file. With this feature, you can specify different settings for each individual scan job in a configuration file . You c[...]

English 17 Settings submenu You can adjust several general scan settings in this submenu. Scan Size… When you choose this item, the following dialog box will appear: In this dialog box, you can set the size of the area to be scanned. First, choose the Film number from the Film Number list box, and then set the size of the scan area. Click in the [...]

English 18 Monitor Gamma Generally, a monitor cannot display the real colors of an image in the real world. In order to have the monitor approximate the colors as close as possible, you may need to adjust the monitor gamma. Adjustment of the monitor gamma can make the monitor approximate the colors of the original image more closely. Choose this it[...]

English 19 Film Type Choosing this item, the following dialog box will appear : When you want to scan a negative film, choose the type of your film here in advance. MiraPhoto will optimize the scanning result for the film type you selected. You can also check the Auto cast removal check box to let MiraPhoto remove the film cast automatically. If yo[...]

English 20 Image Thumbnail Area The Image Thumbnail Area displays thumbnail images of each previewed scan. Click on the thumbnail image and the image will be displayed in the Preview Area . You can select the image you want to scan by clicking the red dot at the upper right corner of the thumbnail. When the dot turns into green, the image is select[...]

English 21 Resolution box Resolution is used to decide how delicate the scanner captures the original image. When the original is scanned and turned into a digital image, the scanner captures and records the image in terms of pixels . As m ore pixels are used to record an image, more details in the image can be represented . Resolution is usually m[...]

English 22 Scan Mode box The Scan Mode box provides three scan modes: High Speed Y ou can increase the scan speed of your scanner in High Speed mode . I mage quality may however , deteriorate in this mode. High Quality 24 This mode is recommended if your application software supports only up to 24-bit color processing. In High Quality 24 mode, t he[...]

English 23 Control Buttons The Control Buttons are used to control the actions in your scanning session : Eject button Click this button to eject the filmstrip/slide holder from the film scanner. Zoom button Click this button to zoom in on the image . Preview button Click this button to begin previewing the image. Preview proceeds in color or in mo[...]

English 24 Tool Buttons Tool Buttons provide a full range of tools and image effect options to optimize the scan quality. Film Type button When this button is clicked, the Film Type dialog box will appear : When you want to scan a negative film, select the type of your film here in advance. MiraPhoto will optimize the scanning image for the film ty[...]

English 25 Rotate button Click this button to rotate the image 90 degrees clockwise. You can click this button several times to get the image orientation you want. M irror button C lick this button to get a mirror reflection effect on the original as if you were viewing the image in a mirror: Crop button Use this tool to cut only the needed area fr[...]

English 26 Color Enhancement Tools button C lick this button to activate the Tool Bar which contains the buttons for the following tools: Invert button C lick this button to get an inverted image : Original image Image after Invert is applied[...]

English 27 Brightness/Contrast button C lick this button to bring up the Brightness/Contrast Dialog box: You can adjust the overall brightness and contrast of the image either manually or automatically in this dialog box. To adjust the brightness and contrast more precisely, use the Curve and Level tools which will be described later. Brightness co[...]

English 28 Color Balance button Click this button to evoke the Color Balance dialog box: In this dialog box, you can change the mixture of colors of an image to either emphasize or diminish certain colors. The components are introduced below: Channel This is where you can select the specific channel to be adjusted. Adjustment Area You can drag the [...]

English 29 Color Adjustment button Click this button, and the Color Adjustment dialog box will appear : Color Adjustment is another convenient tool that you can use to adjust and calibrate the colors in an image. This function works much like the Color Balance tool, but it provides another way to control the property of image colors. The Color Adju[...]

English 30 Entry Box While you drag within the Color Wheel to choose the hue and saturation of color or drag the triangle below the Lightness Bar to specify the lightness of color, the related information will also be shown in the Entry Boxes . You can also enter the values here directly. When you have finished with adjustments, click on the OK but[...]

English 31 Curve button The Curve tool is used to adjust the brightness properties of midtone pixels in an image. The following dialogue box will appear after you click this button: Below is an introduction to each component in the dialog box and how to use the Curve tool to adjust an image: Color Channel box U se this box to select the color chann[...]

English 32 You can also click the curve to add new points and further change the shape of the curve: Input/Output Status Area You can read the precise input/output value here. When you have finished with adjustments, you can click OK to apply, or click Reset to restore the default settings. To abort and exit the dialog box, click Cancel . The origi[...]

English 33 Level button Clicking on the Level button, and the Level dialog box will appear: The Level dialog box includes several useful tools that you can use to check the color level information of the image and adjust the image quality. Each component in the dialog box and how they work to affect the image is described below. Color Channel box U[...]

English 34 In addition, if we take a look at the two images below: We notice that in Image 1, there is higher contrast between the brighter and darker part of the image; that is, bright and dark pixels occupy a larger portion of the total image pixels. Therefore, in the histogram, there are higher bars in the left (darker side) and right (brighter [...]

English 35 With the information from the histogram, we will be better able to adjust an image with the histogram tools. Below the Histogram, there are three tiny triangles: By dragging these triangles, you can adjust the brightness and contrast of an image precisely. For example, if you drag the Shadow Threshold triangle to the right, the pixels wi[...]

English 36 Input Level box The Input Level box displays the value of Shadow Threshold , Midtone and Highlight Threshold respectively. You can also input each value here directly. Output Level box This box is used to expand the output level of the image color. You can either drag the triangles below the bar or enter the value directly to adjust. If [...]

English 37 Filter button This function allows you to sharpen or blur the image. You can choose from the list: No filter , Sharpen , Sharpen more , Blur , Blur more and Unsharp Mask . If you want the edge of the image to be sharper, i.e., in a higher contrast against the background, select sharpen or sharpen more. Selecting Blur or Blur more will ma[...]

English 38 Color Wizard button The Color Wizard button offers two quick and convenient tools for you to adjust the overall quality of the scanned image: Auto Density: if you choose this item, MiraPhoto will optimize the density of the image automatically. Photo Magic: There are three tabs in the Photo Magic dialog box. Each tab contains certain thu[...]

English 39 Preview Area The Preview Area displays the preview image and allows you to set the scan area by directly adjusting the dotted rectangle. The change of image effect can also be reflected instantly here. To adjust the position of the scan area, first move the mouse cursor over the dotted rectangle, then click and drag to move the scan area[...]

English 40 <Memo>[...]

English 41 Chapter 5. Photo Express In this chapter you will be introduced to the fantastic world of Photo Express. Learn more about this bundled software and make your everyday life more interesting and colorful! Refer to Photo Express electronic User’s Manual in the software disc for more details on how to use its different features and functio[...]

English 42 Getting Started To run Photo Express, double click the Photo Express icon on your Windows desktop or open from Windows Start Menu. When you run Photo Express, make sure that the monitor display is at a resolution of 800 × 600 or 1024 × 768 and Hi Color (15/16 bit) or True Color (24 bit) mode. The following screen will appear. It’s be[...]

English 43 Mode Tab: The Mode tabs switch Photo Express between Photo mode and Project mode. Photo mode is where the majority of your work is done, while the Project mode lets you make greeting cards, name cards, and other fun things based on templates. Command Panel: The Command panel lists all of the available categories in Photo Express necessar[...]

English 44 Getting Images The first thing you want to do when you start Photo Express is to get the photos you want to work with into the actual program. The place you start is with Album. From here, you can do almost anything in Photo Express. All other ways of getting photos can work independently of Album, but they are also set up to let you cap[...]

English 45 To add new images to an album: 1. Select an album. 2. Click the File icon and browse for the folder where the images are stored. 3. When they appear in the Options panel, click the Select All button (or select images individually by holding down the Ctrl key as you click them). 4. Next, select the Save to album option and click the Inser[...]

English 46 Working on Images Adjusting Images After you have acquired an image from a scanner or digital camera, it may need some adjustments. Photo Express provides you with the perfect tool for adjusting your photos: the Transform tool. To re-align a photo: 1. After scanning the photo, open it from either Album or from File directly into the work[...]

English 47 To trim your photo: 1. Click the Trim button in the Edit : Adjust category. The Trim options will open in the Options panel. 2. Select a Trim shape and then set the amount of Soft edge you want to soften the edges of the trimmed photo with. 3. Click Apply to trim the photo. Note: you can open the trimmed region in a new editing workspace[...]

English 48 Sharing Images Printing Images Once you have put the finishing touches onto your photos, it is time to print them out. Photo Express contains numerous printing options, letting you output posters and name cards in addition to its regular printing duties. To print an image: 1. Select the image you wish to print from the Thumbnail scroll, [...]

English 49 Saving Images After work on your photo is complete, you may want to save it. In Photo Express, you can save a photo in a variety of different image file formats. Each file format has its own unique properties and characteristics. Some formats, however, are better than others for specific situations, such as saving for the Web are. To sav[...]

English 50 Express Your Images Create Calendars One of the easiest tasks to accomplish in Photo Express is making calendars, either for your Windows desktop or for your real desktop. They are great for keeping your loved ones close, in addition to being a convenient way to keep track of important dates in style. To create calendars: 1. Get the imag[...]

English 51 Morphing Photos One of Photo Express’ more novel effects extras is that of image morphing. Morphing transforms an image over time to create interesting and unique “warps” of the original photo. Image morphs are output as either image sequences or animated GIF files. To morph an image: 1. Get the photo you want to morph from an albu[...]

English 52 Working in Project Mode The Project mode gives you a focused environment in which to create custom greeting cards, calendars, invitations, birthday and anniversary cards, name cards, and planners. The Project mode is useful for getting through a “project” as quickly and efficiently as possible. It is where Photo Express lives up to i[...]

English 53 Working with Templates Photo Express’ unique templates can be edited and customized to suit your own needs. Templates consist of multiple components, usually a combination of text and photos with a decoration or two perhaps thrown in. To change any one of these components, simply select it and choose the appropriate tools from the Tool[...]

English 54 Adding Decoration One category of tools on the Edit menu in Project mode is unique to that tab: Decoration. These are special, object-based effects such as Frames, Edges and Props you can use to enhance photo objects in a project. To add special edge effects to a photo object: 1. Select a photo object. 2. Click the Decoration button on t[...]

English 55 Printing Templates As with Photo mode, Project mode lets you print your work when you’re finished with it. The same options available in Photo mode apply in Project mode as well. For more on printing, see Printing Images and the online help. To print a template as name cards: 1. Click the Print button on the Command panel. 2. Select th[...]

English 56 Sharing Templates Sharing templates works exactly the same way as sharing photos in Photo mode. You can print, e-mail, fax, or output them to web pages. For more on these tools, see the online help and related documents. To e-mail a template: 1. Click the Share : E-mail button on the Command panel. 2. Click Send . Select your default e-m[...]

English 57 Chapter 6. Troubleshooting and FAQ 6.1 Troubleshooting 6.1.1 Why does the driver sometimes show the message “SCSI card not found”, and a few minutes later, it works properly? T o prevent damaging the scanner due to unstable power supply or short condition, the fuse on the SCSI card could be open for a while. During this period, the S[...]

English 58 If you find that your ScanWit film scanner uses the same SCSI ID number with another SCSI device, you must either change the SCSI ID number of your scanner or that of the other SCSI device. To change the SCSI ID number of your ScanWit film scanner: 1. Turn off the power of your computer and ScanWit film scanner. 2. Locate the SCSI ID sel[...]

English 59 Chapter 7. Service Information If problems persist after you check this manual, you can contact your dealer or consult the technical service below: For driver and hardware questions, please send an e-mail (Containing detailed descriptions of the problem you come upon, the hardware and software environment of your system) to the following[...]

English 60 Appendix Product Specification Type Film scanner with color-CCD optical module Scan Velocity Calibration Scan Speed Preview Speed Transmission Speed Color - 3 s Color - less than 10 ms / line - less than 38 s/ 35mm film, 2700 dpi Color - 3s for 35mm film 2Mega byte / sec Scan Mode High speed mode High quality mode - 24 bits / pixel High [...]