After reading this thread, I mentioned to my girlfriend that I was interested in getting one of these. She ordered me the CZUR ET16 Plus because I was concerned about the CZUR Aura being a budget model that might not have as much to offer.
Anyway, I am nowhere close to being as skilled with a scanner as the people here.
I have a lot of learning about the features and what this can do.
After tinkering with it for a few hours, I was disappointed. I still see a use for it, but I'll have to tinker with it a lot more to get those uses out of it.
My biggest problem is the color output. I don't feel that the colors are accurate, and I'm nitpicky about the color matching the item I'm scanning.
Upon receipt of the product, I was in awe of the packaging. The packaging is of the highest class. Everything is seated in black hard cell foam. The cables and some of the accessories are neatly (and individually) boxed. They even have a tool taped to the side of the box to help you open it. It's like a guitar pick with a sharp spike extending off the side.
I'm not one to read through hours of installation documentation. If I can figure out what plugs in where, I tend to wing it.
I set it up and the only thing that stumped me was a pop up that I missed. The software wasn't installing because a pop-up was at the bottom of the screen and i hadn't clicked it to allow the setup program to write to the hard disc.
Once I get it working, I just clicked to scan a tabloid sized publication. It had a little wavy curve to it, so I was horrified as to how skewed it was on the monitor. I'll have to try and get a piece of glass or something to see if that helps flatten the item. Again, I have zero experience with this type of scanning. I normally only scan covers or original art.
I switched over a comic that was bought at the last show I attended. This was my output with all the lights on.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/7886900a208c20325f5a417ce8449ae8/tumblr_pnk70lODcq1rl13p0o1_500.png
I was very disappointed with the glare. I turned off the top lights, which I thought were required. I used on the side lights. The roll out mat is wider than it is deep.
Using the only the side lights (and automatic cropping), I got this:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/5e3e297e507a39a929208a64f053d50f/tumblr_pnk71rjHTB1rl13p0o1_540.png
I was still VERY frustrated by the glare. I turned the comic sideways so that it was further from the side lights.
I finally got this:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/3bae037409328dbef76f08d71d6c0f1c/tumblr_pnk72eHdcL1rl13p0o1_500.png
That would be fine, but I still don't like the colors and the high contrast look of it.
The output was 250dpi. That was disappointing . I'll have to look and see if it can be increased. That's on the list of things I'll need to investigate when I have more time.
My Mustek scanner produces more accurate colors.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/714decd2f1a143ebc121fdf1dbf731db/tumblr_pjubckhEBw1rl13p0o1_500.png
My next goal was to see what it looked like if I tried to scan a foil cover. Foil typically scans as black, regardless of what color foil is on the comic.
The CZUR produced the same results... the foil was black.
My last test of the evening was to see how a CGC encased comic would scan.
This is the result:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/23b1e6b169e3ad61bf58a3708645798f/tumblr_pnk73jnXfh1rl13p0o1_540.jpg
I'm not horribly disappointed with the results, but I might try it again with white cardstock paper under the slab.
One on my previous scanners (either Canon or Mustek... not sure) gave me overly blurry results.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/108d1c0b3417a8cc8346a01be8a0b9ac/tumblr_pnk74o0kMO1rl13p0o1_400.png
I did not try to scan an open book with curved pages. That will be a future learning curve.
It seems to work best when automatic edge detection/cropping is on. The box does jump around even when the feature is activated.
I did not test the OCR, since it's something I would rarely use.
I'm really more interested is seeing how 3-D objects will look when scanned.
This is just my first impression after a few hours of setting it up and playing with it. I think it's really cool, just not as cool as I wanted it to be.
I will probably NOT use this as my primary tool for scanning. I will probably set it up on a computer I rarely use.
