Scanners and Cameras

Using the Scanners and Cameras applet, you can add, remove, set properties for, and troubleshoot your connection to scanners and digital cameras. As scanners and digital cameras become as omnipresent as the trusty printer, provisions are being made to assist in the transfer of documents and images from them into the computer. Especially with the advent of the digital still camera, many new convenient methods for facilitating the transfer of captured images are being made available. This is a must if the digital camera is to become as prevalent as the standard film camera.

The Scanners and Cameras applet is used to install scanners, digital still cameras, digital video cameras, and image-capturing devices.

After a device is installed, Scanners and Cameras can link it to a program on your computer. For example, when you press Scan on your scanner, you can have the scanned picture automatically open in the program you want.

With some cameras and scanners, you can create linked events that execute when you do something on the camera or the scanner. Typically, this means pressing a button on the scanner or camera.

In the best of all worlds, detection of your scanner or camera will occur automatically as Windows Plug and Play detection notices the device. But as you know, sometimes running the Add Hardware wizard is required to force a search. To do that, use this applet to install a scanner device like this:

1.	Run the Scanners and Cameras applet, and click Add an imaging device. (Ideally, you should hook up the device before doing so.) Follow the wizard, and choose the make and model if necessary.
2.	Choose the port the device is connected to. You can use the option Automatic Port Select if you don't intend to be consistent with which port you use for this connection, or you don't want to bother guessing which port it's on.
3.	When an item is installed, the drivers are added to the boot list at startup, and appropriate features in the operating system are modified for gaining access to the device.

You can check and test a scanner or camera by selecting it and clicking the Properties button. The Properties dialog for the device appears. Here, you can alter the port number if you need to and check other settings as applicable. If color profiles are available for the device, you can add or remove them using the Color Management tab.

If your camera or scanner doesn't show up in the installed devices list, see "It's Not Here" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter.

Getting Images into the Computer

How you acquire images from the device into the computer varies depending on the product. Some cameras use a USB connection, some use a serial cable, and some use FireWire, while others use PC Card memory sticks or even high-density floppies.

When the physical connection is made, it's a matter of triggering the correct "event" to initiate communication between the system and the digital imaging device for image transfer. To link a program to a scanner or digital camera event, follow these steps:

1.	Open the Scanners and Cameras applet.
2.	Click the scanner or camera you want to use, click Properties, and then click the Events tab.
3.	In Scanner Events or Camera Events, click the event you want to link to a program.
4.	In Send to This Application, click the program you want to receive the image from the scanner or camera. If the Events tab isn't displayed, you're out of luck; the feature isn't available for the selected scanner or digital camera. Also, at this point, most applications don't support linking to scanners and digital cameras using this new technique. It may take some time for software makers to incorporate it, just as it took awhile for TWAIN to be supported by the PC industry at large. Also, note that linking is available only with the programs that appear in Send to This Application.