Before we talk about the different methods to capture information and workflows with digital information, I am going to talk about scanners right upfront.

Like everything electronic, scanners come in all shapes, sizes and prices. On one end, you have the single sided, single page portable scanners (like the Doxie Go)

Or you can splurge on a high quality, high volume, fairly automatic, double sided scanner with built in sheet feeder

Jargon

Before we discuss which one is best for your particular needs, we need to demystify some industry jargon.

ADF - Automatic Document Feeder is a mechanism that allows you to load many pages into the device and the ADF will automatically feed them to the scanning engine one by one.
Duplex - The basic scanners like the Doxie are simplex scanners which simply means they scan one side of a page. The more expensive scanners support duplex mode which means they automatically scan both sides of a page.
PPM - Pages Per Minue is a measure of how many pages the scanning engine can process per 60 second block.
DPI - Dots Per Inch specifies how much detail the scanning engine can digitize when processing a page. The higher the number the higher quality the scan but the larger the final file and the longer the scanning will take.
TWAIN / ISIS - TWAIN and ISIS are industry standard protocols of how a device communicates with a scanner.
OCR - Optical Character Recognition is a software function which can "read" a scanned page and convert it into editable text or add a hidden payer within the scanned file to make the scanned picture searchable by keyword.
MFD - MultiFunction Device is typically a scanner built into a printer

Smartphone apps

I have tested dozens of smartphone apps (both IOS and Android) and have yet to find one that matches the quality of a "real" scanner. These apps are great when you need to capture something while on the go (such as on a business trip) but typically this is my least favorite option.

You can already read one of my past articles comparing some of the more popular iPhone document scanning apps called "SCANNER PRO, CAMSCANNER+, GENIUS SCAN+ AND PRIZMO DOCUMENT SCANNER APP TESTS" here.

Ignore the hype

Many of the blogs you read about scanner or going paperless talk only about the Fujitsu ScanSnap document scanners. Some do this because they genuinely love them and others do it because they received free demo units or other consideration.

The Fujitsu ScanSnap devices are fantastic, easy to use and powerful, but they are expensive for the average home user. There is no use buying a sportscar if you need a 4 door family sedan.

MFD is fine for most users

If you buy a decent Multifunction Device from a reputable brand, you will likely be satisfied with the price/quality ratio. You can find decent MFDs in every big box retailer, online electronics store and even the direct sale manufacturers.

Right now I use a Brother MFD at home and am satisfied. Remember to look at the specs of the various devices using my jargon demystifier above.

Regardless of what you choose, you want a device that:

has an automatic document feeder of at least 15 pages
has paper size guides on the ADF to allow for the scanning of different size documents (paper, receipts, tickets, etc)
has a colour scanner
comes bundled (or has available) drivers and scanning software bundle for MAC and Windows (you never know where you will be in 2-3 years)
is TWAIN or ISIS compliant so you can use other software with it (such as photo editing software)

Canon SL1 may be the perfect family dSLR

November 7, 2013technologyEdward Kiledjian

As the holiday season approaches, you may be looking for a great all purpose camera and the Canon Rebel SL1 will definitely not disappoint. It is called the world's smallest and lightest APS-C dSLR.

The Rebel SL1 is the smaller brother of the larger Rebel T5i. They both share the same 18MP sensor and DIGIC 5 processor. Its fantastic that Canon was able to fit all of the t5i guts into such a small body and at the same time keeping most of the Rebel family buttons intact.

Typically most users jumping to this family of device are coming from point and shoot devices and are looking for better quality photos but also fast autofocus. The Rebel SL1 won't disappoint with the generation 2 of Canon's hybrid CMOS Autofocus system.

Picture Quality

Even though I knew the SL1 contains the same guts as the T5i, I was expecting sub-par image quality but I was wrong. The device produced beautiful beautiful, vivid and sharp JPG images from ISO 100 to ISO 800. The in camera processing was excellent which means you won't have to save in RAW then spend time converting to JPG with a PC app. When you reach ISO 1600, you start to lose some of the finer detail and the inclusion of light artifacts.

As you continue to increase the ISO, the images become less sharp, you start seeing chromatic aberrations and you lose some of the vividness. The worst of it hits around ISO 12000.

The camera supports the Canon RAW format and at lower ISO (under 1600) the quality is comparable to the in-camera generated JPG. The higher the ISO the better it is to shoot in RAW so you can perform post-processing to improve the final results.

Conclusion

Overall I think this is a fantastic camera for the general camera user looking for a small and light dSLR. The design is small but easy to grip. Images up to ISO 6400 are wonderful even when using the in-camera JPG conversion feature. The screen is touch responsive and a good representation of the picture you will take. The new hybrid auto-focus is fast and accurate (little lag between press and take). Little chromatic aberrations and full HD video recording capabilities.

Are there any negatives? Yes Sir!

Although many may prefer the smaller frame, those with bigger hands may find it too small.the Autofocus illuminator is built into the flash which means the flash has to be enabled to use it. This is not desirable because I tend to prefer non-flash pictures when possible.

Overall an excellent purchase for most consumers and highly recommended.

Could the next Canon dSLR have 75 megapixels

July 22, 2013technologyEdward Kiledjian

The crowd consciousness has been concentrating on smartphone camera development but this latest rumor may be a huge game-changer for the dSLR world. Photography Bay, a photo blog, is reporting that Canon is testing a new pro level camera that will pack a 75 megapixel sensor.

To do this type of a gigantic sensor justice, the tipster also says the camera will come with a "shockingly high resolution" screen.

The cherry on the Sunday is that this monster camera may be announced this year and released next year.

This is a pro level camera so expect the first version to cost upwards of $5000 for the body.