Testing the HP TopShot
An unusual device but useful if you're posting pics of small objects to auction sites
Upon initiating a scan, the LED flash goes off three times and the camera takes multiple shots at different exposures. The TopShot then selects and amalgamates the best parts of these pictures, creating a composite image. The thick glass bits on things like this necklace sometimes lacked detail.
The scanning process takes less than 20 seconds, and matte elements, such as the body of a game controller came out nicely.
The effective area of the scanning bed is only a little larger than a letter-sized piece of paper, and the camera hangs just 20 centimetres above it.
The overhead camera does a decent job of capturing text documents and even blu-Ray cases, and you can easily scan several small items – like business cards – at once. However, it struggles with documents of greater visual complexity, especially photographs.
I tried scanning several 4-by-6 photos at 300 dots-per-inch, the TopShot’s highest capture resolution, and the resulting files were grainy, pixelated and had mottled colours.