why is the scan size of our epson 15Mb for PDF using image capture?

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Level 1

118 points

why is the scan size of our epson 15Mb for PDF using image capture?

Hi All-

This has been plaguing us since Snow Leopard when we lost the Epson Scanner tool from Epson to Image Capture scanning using our Epson 835 Artisan.

PDF sizes are ridiculous using Image Capture.

For example, 3 pages of text using Image Capture =

15Mb

Using the same printer, same 3 pages and the builtin Epson Scanner (from the printer panel) and a USB stick =

1.2Mb

This has been happening since the SL upgrade (as mentioned) but I had hoped that Epson/Apple could get their act together on the Epson drivers for ML. Seems not to be the case. It is kind of a drag to have a Network available Scanner only to have the built in software be a bum steer. Not only that, but no relief from Epson since their Scanner program (as bad as it was UI wise, but at least you got a mail-able document) has been discontinued...

Any ideas?

jp

Posted on Jan 3, 2013 11:18 PM

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Answer 1

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

Jan 4, 2013 12:18 AM in response to Jim Pacyga

Have you checked the Epson web site to determine if they have updated the scanning software for your OS and scanner?

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Answer 2

Network 23

Level 6

12,333 points

Jan 4, 2013 12:25 AM in response to Jim Pacyga

Are Image Capture and the Epson software using the same settings? You can easily bloat file size just by raising the resolution or bit depth, for example.

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Answer 3

Jim Pacyga Author

Level 1

118 points

Apr 25, 2013 10:50 AM in response to Network 23

There are no settings when you use the Epson hardware scan to Memory Card from the Epson device (physical device) itself. However, it appears to be a far superior scan - read: not blurry or big. When using Image Capture or the Scan tab of Printer Util, the file size is RIDICULOUS. I can scan the exact same document from the doc feeder to both the memory card using the printer itself and the Image Capture from the MBP and the files are drastically different size wise and the MBP version tends to be blurry - this must be a driver setting. I have tried to change the scan density - doesn't even come close to quality and size of just having the HW do the job.

As such, I have just mounted an SD card into the printer and scan to it from the console of the device and then copy the file to whatever machine I am using at the time.

One wouldn't think this would be so difficult.

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Answer 4

Network 23

Level 6

12,333 points

Apr 25, 2013 11:05 PM in response to Jim Pacyga

This doesn't answer the question but it is a workaround.

How is the quality if you do this:

Open the PDF in Apple Preview
Choose File/Export
In Export, choose PDF format with the Quartz Filter option "Reduce File Size"

If it's ugly, there's a way to adjust the compression settings by using Apple ColorSync Utility to make a modified copy of the Reduce File Size filter with different settings. By playing with this I was able to start with a 7.1MB PDF scan from Image Capture, and export variations based on different Reduce File Size settings:

5.3MB (JPEG Max) - looks great

188KB (JPEG Min) - looks good as the 5.3 MB copy actually

40K (Automatic) - too blurry to be usable

If you were to perfect your own compression filter you could just export each PDF through Preview after scanning it, or presumably you could build some kind of drag-and-drop conversion utility in Automator although I don't know anything about Automator.

It's a workaround because I could not determine a way to apply a Quartz filter from Image Capture itself when saving a PDF.

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Answer 5

Jim Pacyga Author

Level 1

118 points

Jun 3, 2013 4:39 PM in response to Network 23

The quartz filter blurs the image to an unreadable state. The epson scan from console to memory card does not have settings but it looks to be a pretty reasonable set given the quality is much better and the size much smaller. Using "Epson Scan" - the utility before scanning got sucked into the Image Capture and Printer settings on MacOSX also produced small, high quality scans on the mac.

At this point I have just stopped using Image Capture at all and just copy the files from the SD card I shoved into the Epson printer. Sad that no one at Epson can get the scanner driver tuned properly.

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Answer 6

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,842 points

Jun 3, 2013 4:58 PM in response to Jim Pacyga

Is Image Capture converting the image to text, or is it just scanning the image.

If you can select the text in the Image Capture pdf, then it is. If not, then it is just an image.

The only way to reduce that is to use OCR to turn the image into text. An 8.5" X 11" page scanned at 200dpi, 16-bit color is 200 X 200 X 8.5 X 11 X 16 ≈ 7.5 MB (about half of that for grayscale).

If your scanner app has OCR built-in, which most do, then it is converting the image to text, which is much smaller to store.

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Answer 7

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,842 points

Jun 3, 2013 5:41 PM in response to Barney-15E

Oops, I meant to ask if your scanner software pdfs have selectable text, not Image Capture. I know it doesn't.

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Answer 8

DJinNH

Level 1

0 points

Nov 11, 2013 9:42 AM in response to Jim Pacyga

I have seen this happen also. A particularly frustrating aspect of using this device with Mac OSX is that when I use the very same printer with a PC and Epson's software, the scan results in an excellent PDF file of moderate size.

One workaround similar to what Network23 suggests above is to select the "Reduce to 150dpi average quality - STANDARD COMPRESSION" as the quartz filter.

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