Canon CanoScan LiDE 200 review

The slim LiDE200 is the latest in Canon's successful series of compact and inexpensive CIS (contact image sensor) scanners.

It has a maximum optical resolution of 4800x4800dpi, enough for photographic enlargements, photo editing and serious image archival. The software only lists resolutions up to 1200dpi in its menu, but you can type in higher values.

The interface is everything we've come to expect from Canon, with an easy to use Basic mode to get you started. The Advanced mode clearly presents a wide range of options, including some excellent colour correction and software-based dust removal tools. After our first scan we were asked to choose between closing the interface or continuing to make scans as the default.

Budget CIS scanners can't match the quality of a good CCD (charge coupled device) model when it comes to colour gamut and brightness, but this one came remarkably close, producing scans that were clear, sharp and vivid. It's well suited to archiving documents for future reference, with fast scan times of 16 seconds for a 300dpi page, the most popular resolution for archival. Quality was excellent, with even tiny 5pt fonts captured with perfect clarity. The LiDE 200 is a reliable photo scanner too. Areas of subtle colour and shading on our test card were reproduced with great accuracy, although we've seen slightly sharper results from the best affordable CCD scanners, such as Epson's V200 Perfection Photo.

Although it lacks a backlight for transparency scanning, which flatbeds rarely do really well anyway, this machine's compact size is an advantage. It's light and takes up very little space compared to even the smallest CCD scanners, so it would fit comfortably into a backpack along with a laptop, which makes it an appealing option for students and anyone else who wants to do research away from home. Since it's powered by the USB bus, you don't need a mains plug. For desktop use, the LiDE 200 comes with a space-saving stand that props it on its side, and this way round we still found it easy to scan single sheets of A4.