Scanned pictures on my HP Photosmart C4780 do not maintain the same size as the original.

[yantzi]

When I make back to back scans the scanner seems to loose the ability to scan the object at the correct relative size.  The objects start getting compressed in height .  The only way I can seem to correct this is to power cycle the scanner.  Power cycling after every couple of scans is a pain.  How do I fix this porblem?

[Daniel_L]

Open HP Solution Center, or your printing software that came with your drivers and try your scan again at a higher resolution setting.

Resolution guidelines

Review the information in the following table for help determining an appropriate resolution for your scan.

'Resolution (ppi)' setting Description Use for

75-150	Low resolution Saves disk space Creates images that load quickly in an online environment	Images that you intend to use online
200	Default for scanning pictures	Grayscale images that you intend to print
300	Editable-text setting	Scans with editable text that you do not intend to print
400	Editable-text setting	Scans with editable text that you intend to print
600	Setting for black and white images	Black and white images that you intend to print
1200 and up	High resolution Requires large amounts of disk space Causes slow computer performance	Professionally printed items (brochures or posters, for example)

Hope this helps!

[webyan]

Thanks for the suggestion but it did not fix the problem.  The scanner will scan correctly once and then on the next scan it will not maintain the correct size of the orginal.  It shortens the height.  The only way to fix it I have found is to power cycle the scanner which is not acceptable.  I am tryng to scan in pld family photos and I have a lot to do so power cycling after every scan is ridiculous.

[007OHMSS]

Okay couple of questions for you:

First, is the second scan shortened/squished or cutoff?

Second, are these photo size items? Are you scanning one at a time or several at a time?

Third, have you tried scanning from Windows itself?

[yantzi]

The items I am scanning are photos.  The photos are squishy but not cutioff.  I was trying to do several at once.  The photo sizes were from 2x3, 4x5 and 4x6.  They are squishy even if I do one at a time.  I am on a Macintosh so I have not of course tried scanning direct from Windows but I did try scanning using the MacOS Image capture with the same result.  I have also tried two versiona\s of the HP Scan software with the same result.  Also I will note that the newer version of HP Scan that was released for Mac OS Lion is missing many features that the older version had like the ability to identify multiple photos in a scan, it only sees the scan as a single object and it does not have the ability to send the scanned file directly to iPhoto.  :-(

[007OHMSS]

I am not very knowledgeable about the MacOS Image Capture, however is there some sort of setting to 'fit to page' or 'scale to page' type of possible default? That type of setting would explain if the entire image is squishy.

Is it possible to stretch the image with a photo manipulation software? What I mean is to skew/stretch the scan to the correct aspect? If you do that is the image okay, or end up grainy? I know that is not a fix, just what I would try if this was happening to me at home, until the setting/solution presents itself.

[webyan]

The scans do the same with HP's scan software as they do with the MacOS Image Capture so I do not think it has anything to do with the software.  It seems to be a scanner problem.

[007OHMSS]

Okay, try this:

Make more than 1 copy, not scan, at the printer and see if the second print is squished compared to the first. If so, then it is the hardware.

If not, then it is something in the software/drivers on the computer. At which point, I would download that latest drivers and install them.

[webyan]

Well, I guess I have bad hardware.  I tried printing the photo and it comes out squished.  I power cycled the printer and made two copies.  Both copies come out squished.  I assume since the printer is over a year old I am just out of luck and need to buy a new one.