Calibrating Scanner Pentax DSmobile 600

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Level 1

6 points

Calibrating Scanner Pentax DSmobile 600

I recently got a new scanner the Pentax DSmobile 600. The software that comes with it is windows only and I have to download the driver for OSX via their website. Now the scanner has to be calibrated and it has instructions to do this in windows but no instructions on how to do it using OSX. Right now I'm using it under VMware Fusion but I'd like a native solution for it. Anyone have any ideas on how to calibrate it? All I get when I scan in OSX is a blank document while under XP after calibration I am able to get a good quality scan. Thanks

MBP 2.0gHz 2gigRam, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Mar 19, 2008 7:24 PM

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Answer 1

May 14, 2008 7:34 AM in response to John Bonnes

I ALSO just got this = as a gift - and before i mess with it too much I want to be sure it will work. Reading all the stuff on Pentax's website it seems that you can download the driver there, but that because it doesn't come with Mac image scanning software it needs a Mac program to run it as a Twain thing...Well, I don't choose to run VMFusion and I want a scanner that works with a Mac and I don't have to run MSWord or Adobe to run it...which is what may be required == I can return it fine so the Q is am I wrong, will it work fine or will it be just too much hassle and I should return it and get a Fujitsu instead. Which is fine with me [I have the larger ScanSnap and it's great]

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Answer 2

almax00

Level 1

0 points

Jul 7, 2008 9:32 PM in response to John Bonnes

how to calibrate dsmobile 600 and mac os:

http://www.pentaxtech.com/Products/DSMobile600/ImageCaptureSetupMaxOSX.pdf

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Answer 3

orangekay

Level 5

4,085 points

Jul 7, 2008 9:42 PM in response to almax00

That "calibration" is more like a basic white balance control and will accomplish little you couldn't do with an "Auto Levels" in Photoshop.

To truly calibrate a scanner you would need to purchase an IT8 scanner target and software that can generate an ICC profile from measurements derived from it. X-Rite is (unfortunately) the primary go-to company for these things, but VueScan does have some primitive, awkward, and largely undocumented profiling capabilities as well.

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Answer 4

Valor

Level 1

4 points

Aug 28, 2008 9:54 AM in response to orangekay

The PDF worked great for me. The only step missing from the guide is to make sure that the scan window is not up (by default, it comes up when you open Image Capture), when you click the "Use TWAIN UI" button.

Driver:
http://www.pentaxtech.com/Support/Software/DSmobile/DSmobile600-Mac%20TWAIN.dmg

Calibration instructions:
http://www.pentaxtech.com/Products/DSMobile600/ImageCaptureSetupMaxOSX.pdf

On a side note, I realize that the Calibration feature is not true calibration. However, it's still necessary in order to get a usable scan with this scanner.

Additionally, with this scanner--which is made for size, not super high-quality graphics work, even if you went to the trouble of going through the steps you mention, the normal user is not going to notice, let alone care..

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