[Hasib]

Question for graphics professionals:

-- We're a manufacturing house in need of a professional scanner. We'll need large format for larger size engineering documents. I saw someone mentioning the Heidelberg Linocolor Ultra Saphir II on this forum on another topic. Is this the best available? Quality is priority for us.

-- We're also looking for suggestions for best paperless solutions. We're thinking about Adobe Acrobat. What else would we need? What's a good solutions for forms (esp. in engineering & manufacturing if anyone has experience in these areas)?

Comments, Opinions will be highly appreciated.

Thanks,
Hasib..

I'm the one who posted on the other forum. I have used the Saphir Ultra II for about six months and is a flawless machine in both operation and software. At this moment Heidelberg is updating its entire product line. The Linoscan 1400 (SCSI) and 1450 (Firewire) are the replacement for the Saphir Ultra II. The Linoscan 1800 (SCSI) and Linoscan F2400 XL (SCSI) are larger format scanners that may suit your needs better for engineering. You can find all the spec sheets in PDF format at HEIDELBERG-CPS.COM or LINOCOLOR.COM. Because this is a company based out of Germany, Europe gets the product releases first before the US. As of right now the F2400XL is the only scanner not yet released here.

If you are looking for a quality scanner this entire line is for you. As a photographer it is hard to beat the quality. The software is more complicated than other scanners but gives you the ability to control the process better and thus receive better scans. I did a lot of research before settling on Linocolor and with its combination of hardware and software far surpasses their competitors. I would highly recommend any of the above scanners and I don't think you will be disappointed.

[andi*pandi]

I second the Linocolor Saphir vote. I used it for 4 months and was very sad to change jobs and not get to use it any more.

I did a monitor test, compared scanning 4x5 transparency against what my service bureau did on their drum scanner--it compared well. Drum scan always best, but I'd say the saphir did pretty close.

[Hasib]

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely look into Linocolor.

Any suggestions on paperless forms?

--Hasib