Therefore, the performance in our jury test is indicative of the image quality achievable by common users, not necessarily the best possible quality attainable by meticulous adjustment by expert users. The dynamic range of each scanned image was rated by observing the continuity of tonal range and accuracy of brightness levels. Although all scanners were set to scan the color photo jury test target at 300dpi, there was a wide variation in apparent resolution. This is due to the differences in the quality of optical lenses and the mechanical precision. These two attributes manifested themselves in the fineness of details and the edge accuracy.
Color is a very subjective matter.
Our jurors looked for any mis-registration of color pixels or coarseness of dither patterns, and rated the overall color fidelity compared to the original. Though not designed for professional graphic artists, Mustek 1200ed proved to be the best for scanning your color photos with minimal adjustment. Epson's 636 and 636U, AGFA's SnapScan 1212U, and Microtek SlimScan were rated as virtual equal to the Mustek scanner. SlimScan's performance proved that CIS scanners are not necessarily inferior to the CCD variety. Although we used a Hewlett Packard Deskjet 850 to print the jury test images, the HP scanners were average or below average.