The Canon DR-2050C is most definitely the smallest 20ppm sheet fed scanner you'll find! Due to the tiny footprint (just 100mm) it will only take up a small area on your desk - although when scanning, you'll need to allow at least an A4 size area in front as it spurts out the paper!
In the box you'll find Canon's Capture Perfect Software, Adobe Acrobat and ScanSoft OmniPage.
The DR-2050C is easy to set up - but like all Canon's, make sure you've removed all of the little pieces of orange tape and bits of protective foam etc.
As with all our tests we scanned the sample documents with Adobe Acrobat, creating non-text searchable (for speed) files.
100 A4 Pages, 200dpi, black and white...
The scanner took 5 mins 20 secs - including a refill half way through (feeder will take approx 50 pages). We tried to refill whilst scanning... not advisable as it then took about 15 in one go! We left it to scan each batch before refilling and it happily scanned our 100 page test without any problems.
Click here to see the 100 page file
It 'had a go' at scanning business cards. In fact if you scan one or two at a time they should go through fine. But when we (repeatedly) tried a batch of ten or so it plainly refused to perform!
On the invoice test (mixed sizes and conditions) most went through ok. However it did quadruple feed on one occasion - so if you're intending to use this scanner for invoices etc be sure to watch carefully as it scans to ensure everything is scanned. (As with any scanner, preparation is everything: fanning the leading edge of a batch will dramatically reduce double feeding). If you need to scan till receipts, it's best to only do a few at a time.
For our 'staple test' the Canon DR2050C dragged through the centre stapled sheets and jammed on the corner stapled ones. Predictable given its lack of staple or double feed detection technology. Paper jams were straightforward to resolve, the front of the scanner opens up easily to reveal the culprit.
(IMPORTANT NOTE: please remove all staples prior to scanning!!... No manufacturers recommend you scan staples, paperclips etc - this will very quickly scratch the scanning lens and will not be covered in your warranty!)
When scanning a 2 page colour document in 24 bit colour, each page took 17 seconds, which was quite tedious (but expected).
Click here to see the colour scan
The DR-2050C also has a clever feature to scan folded A3 documents - albeit one at a time. Simply fold the A3 in half, and select the 'folio mode' in the scanner driver... it will scan the A3 sheet and 'almost' seamlessly join the image on your screen back to A3.
Conclusion
Tiny!!... but don't be fooled... this is the perfect scanner for a crowded desktop! Ideal for scanning roughly 20 to 200 fairly good quality documents per day (we wouldn't advise lots of purchase invoices etc). Canon say it's good for 1000 per day.
Please note that all of our reviews are based on one sample scanner and may not therefore be a statistically correct assessment of the model in question. Given the simplistic nature of the tests, in an attempt to keep the reviews comparable with other models, many of the features available to each model were not tested and we strongly recommend visitors to our website to view the official product specifications provided by the manufactures. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure all information is accurate we accept no liability for any inaccuracies or omissions and any decisions based on information contained in this review are the sole responsibility of the visitor.
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