The worldwide growth of PCs, desktop publishing and the Internet has dramatically increased the demand for clear and colorful digital images. Users can manipulate these images on a computer, add them to documents, store them electronically, access them via a database, transmit them over the Internet, or print them on color-inkjet or laser printers.

To obtain the digital images they need, users digitize large numbers of conventional photographic negatives and slides on film scanners. This rapidly growing market will feature models that are less expensive and easier to use and that produce the clearest, most colorful images possible, making them widely accessible for small office, education, and personal use, as well as for more traditional commercial applications.