A Scanners

Inputdevices such as scanners and cameras allow you to capture and copy images into a computer.

A scanner is a peripheral that reads images and converts them into electronic codes which can be understood by a computer. There are different types.

§ A flatbed is built like a photocopier and is for use on a desktop; it can capture text, color images and even small 3D objects.

- A flatbed scanner

§ A film scanner is used to scan film negatives or 35 mm slides – pictures on photographic film, mounted in a frame.

A film scanner

§ A hand-held scanner is small and T-shaped, ideal to capture small pictures and logos.

- A hand-held scanner

§ A pen scanner looks like a pen; you can scan text, figures, barcodes and handwritten numbers.

- A pen scanner

§ Barcode scanners read barcodes on the products sold in shops and send the price to the computer in the cash register. Barcodes consist of a series of black and white stripes used to give products a unique identification number.

- A barcode reader

The resolution of a scanner is measured in dpior dots per inch. For example, a 1,200 dpi scanner gives detailed images than a 300 dpi scanner.

Most scanners come with Optical Character Recognition software. OCR allows you to scan pages of text and save them into your word processor; they can then be edited.