Canon ImageFormula DR-C130 review

Canon’s ImageFormula DR-C130 is designed for workgroups that want fast and affordable desktop scanning, with the ability to save documents directly to the cloud.

Installation time depends on the software you choose – there are seven bundled applications. CaptureOnTouch links the scanner’s start button to predefined actions, which include email or any of the bundled applications. We opted to scan direct as PDFs to Google Drive, and this worked seamlessly, with scans sent directly to Google’s cloud service from where they could be accessed remotely.

Presto’s BizCard Reader makes a stab at business-card scanning. Its flaky OCR abilities mean that some manual editing is required, but it’s better than Plustek’s Hotcard BizCard. PaperPort 11 provides extensive document and image management features, plus a floating toolbar for scanning directly to any app on the host PC. OmniPage SE 4.2 is old but its OCR is good and, finally, there’s PDF Pro Office, which turns documents into searchable PDFs.

Scan speeds are as promised, with a 20-page sheaf scanned at 30ppm at 200dpi with 24-bit colour and duplex modes selected. Increasing the resolution to 300dpi saw the same test average 18ppm. The scanner ably handled embossed plastic cards, although stacking the ADF beyond 30 pages occasionally caused a jam.

Output quality is perfectly acceptable for a document-archiving system. Scanned colour photos revealed good levels of detail, and although contrast was initially dark, we remedied this in the advanced scan settings.

The DR-C130 delivers both speed and quality, making it a fine choice as a small-office scanner. It’s good value for money as well and includes a very generous software bundle.