Canon UK Press Release

Canon, leader in photographic and imaging technology, is pleased to announce the launch of the new flagship to its LiDE range: the film-capable 2400 x 4800 CanoScan LiDE 500F scanner. Designed for operational flexibility, the LiDE 500F incorporates a Film Adapter Unit (FAU) and infrared Film Automatic Retouching and Enhancement technology for high quality enlargement of 35mm film.

Just 35mm thick, the sheer, stylishly designed and USB-powered device features an innovative built-in stand, allowing the scanner to be operated on its edge to free up precious desk space. A new concept lid allows scanning of everything from thick books and small packages to oversize objects such as large maps, and convenient ‘drop-in’ scanning when the scanner is upright.

A special ‘Scan-to-PDF’ function – unique to Canon – creates industry standard PDF files direct from the scanner with the push of a single ‘EZ’ button. The scanner creates a floating palette of PDF pages which can be arranged and ordered at will, with embedded text for later searching or selection – ideal for documents such as magazine articles and invoices.

“The CanoScan LiDE 500F epitomises Canon’s commitment not only to outstanding functionality and quality, but to stylish, flexible design,” said Malcolm Hills, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging in the UK and Ireland. “Representing outstanding value, the scanner is expected to be one of our most popular models yet”.

Operability and mobility
The scanner has a tiny appetite for energy and draws all the power it needs from the USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection: perfect for uncluttered desk environments and for travelling lap-top users. Zero warm up time and immediate nine second previews add to operability and mobility.
Fast USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection data transfer combines with other time saving features such as Multi-Photo mode, which generates up to ten separate, individually indexed and automatically deskewed files from ten individual photos in a single pass. Four ‘EZ’ buttons can be individually configured to perform commonly used functions such as scanning straight to PDF, to file, or to email attachment. A3 sized originals can be scanned with the use of an Image Stitching function, which combines two A4 scans together to create a single seamless image file.

New double-hinged lid
Designed to offer new levels of flexibility, the LiDE 500F features a versatile double-hinged lid which stays parallel with the glass when opened wide, keeping even pressure on thick items such as books and magazines. It also opens completely flat to allow scanning of oversize objects such as blueprints or small packages. When the scanner is upright, the lid opens partially to support convenient ‘drop-in’ scanning.

Ready for film
A super-compact Film Adapter Unit (FAU) is integrated into the design of the scanner. The special holder facilitates scanning of 35mm negatives and positive film strips to create high-resolution 48 bit image files suitable for quality enlargements.

Film Automatic Retouching and Enhancement (FARE) Level 3 technology uses infrared light to identify and remove defects caused by dust and scratches on the surface of original transparencies – imperfections which even new and carefully stored film can have. The LiDE 500F has three additional features – fading correction, grain correction and backlight compensation. Fading correction ‘re-saturates’ faded colours in old photographs, while the grain correction feature takes out the grain visible in scans of high-ASA film. Backlight compensation corrects underexposed areas in heavily backlit frames by adjusting the gamma only in the dark parts of the image, without washing out correctly exposed areas.
QARE Level 3 offers similar automatic correction features for photo prints.

Software
The CanoScan LiDE 500F comes complete with a suite of fully featured PC/MAC software.

The ScanGear driver features a completely redesigned user interface for greater ease of use. For the first time, ScanGear CS can be used as a standalone driver for extremely fast operation.

CanoScan Toolbox4.9 – sits on the desktop with a simple button for all common scan functions such as Scan to PDF or OCR. Each button launches a specialised menu, showing only those settings relevant to the function being performed. Includes the Image Synthesis function for scanning A3 size documents and provides support for Adobe RGB colour space. Easy Colour Matching Print uses ICC colour profiles to ensure optimal colour accuracy when copying colour images direct from scanner to supported Canon Bubble Jet printers.

ScanGear CS 11.2 – manages workflows in either ‘Simple’ or ‘Advanced’ modes. In ‘Simple’ mode, users select the source type (such as ‘colour photo’ or ‘colour film’), whether or not a preview is required, destination (whether image is to be printed, edited, filed, etc.), and output size, before commencing with the scan. Advanced Mode features floating palettes (shown either individually or simultaneously) which allow fine adjustment of ‘Histogram’, ‘Brightness & Contrast’, ‘Tone Curve’ and ‘Gamma’. A fifth ‘Final Review’ palette is available to display the cumulative effects of various adjustments.

Omnipage SE OCR – powerful Optical Character Recognition application allows scanned text to be converted into recognisable text characters/data.
ArcSoft PhotoStudioTM 5.5 (4.3 for Mac) – image-editing program featuring automatic colour and tone enhancement, automatic red eye removal, cloning, animated 3D text and over 40 special effects.

Compatibility
For Windows machines, the LiDE 500F is compatible with Windows XP Professional, XP Home Edition, XP Media Center Edition 2004, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows Me and Windows 98. For Macs the scanner is compatible with Mac OS X v 10.2 or later.

The CanoScan LiDE 500F will be available from March 2005 for £129 RRP inc VAT/ €186.25 RRP inc VAT.