Digitizing radiographs

[Denis Lynch]

To: ORAD

I recently posted the following inquiry:

My department is interested in identifying a scanner which is capable of
digitizing radiographs for teaching purposes (lectures, C.E., web page, archival
purposes ,etc.).  We don't need to do quantitative, dosimetry-sorts of
evaluations.  We are Macintosh-based and the best option that seems to be
available is an HP Scan Jet 4c scanner (which is larger than an AGFA) with a
transparency adaptor.  I understand that HP has now come out with a newer model
(6100/c/t with 600 dpi resolution).  We are interested in knowing what you
believe to be the best system available to get high-quality digitized films, if
it is other than the HP Scan Jet, i.e., if you were going to start from scratch
with a Macintosh computer and wanted to get high quality, digitizes radiographs,
how would you do it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Please reply directly to me and I will
post a summary of the responses.  Thanks.


I received the following responses:
----------
I am also on Mac, have an HP 3c (the fore-runner of the 4c, but not a lot
different) with a 4c adapter.  I think it is great!  The 600 DPI is more
than you need.  My MSc student has been looking at fine endo. files, and
there was no significant difference between 300 and 600 DPI.  In excess of
this resolution is a waste of time for most dental tasks.  price at unixg.ubc.ca
(Colin Price)
----------
If you are referring to Intra-Oral radiographs and slides I would
suggest the new HP Photo smart scanner with Microsoft Picture IT
software.

It gives you very good digital radiographs.
Price under 500 dollar.
Very easy to work with.

Links
1. ODIS case report, 3 pictures and one radiograph. All pictures are
scanned with HP PS scanner, one picture is appr 5kB.
http://www.odont.se/s/tandlakare/cases/patientfall.htm

2. Here is the Photosmart site from HP
http://205.163.105.33:80/photosmart/photosmart.html

3. More information about the Scanner
http://hpcc923.external.hp.com/peripherals/pc_photography/photo_scann=
er.html

 mats.bronten at ODONT.SE (Mats =?iso-8859-1?Q?Bront=E9n?=)
----------
I have been using an AGFA Studioscan (with transparency capabilities)
interfaced through Photoshop on a Mac for several years.  The scanner
was reasonably priced and the transparency add-on is capble of
scanning panoramic and 8x10 films.  The resolution is more than
adequate for teaching purposes.  BPOTTER at MAIL.MCG.EDU (Brad Potter)
----------
How about the Agfa Arcus II scanner? We have been using this at our LRC
for sometime now. The true optical resolution is 600*1200 and the
interpolated res. is 9600 dpi. It is a single pass scan in 32 bit color
and comes with Adobe Photoshop. It has a built in transparency adapter and
costs around $1500. The scan speed is about 55 seconds for the largest
field size, I believe.  nairm at EMAIL.UNC.EDU (Dr. Madhu Nair)
----------
If you are interested in scanning Panoramic, Cephlometric and FMX's,  Please
stop by the Eastman Kodak Dental booth at the ADA show in Washington D.C.
next week.  You can participate in a demonstration of the Kodak Digital
Science Dental Scannining Software which is 510K approved!  DLamb33369 at AOL.COM
(David Lambers)
----------

Thanks to all who took the time to reply.

Denis

Denis P. Lynch, DDS, PhD
dlynch at dental.utmem.edu
901-448-7686 (telephone)
901-448-1625 (facsimile)