I have been experimenting with placing plant samples on my Agfa Studio
ScanIIsi scanner (PowerMac 7100/66), for about two months now. When I scan
specimens of even 1/2" thicknesses at 800dpi, gamma 1.2, I can produce
fairly good images on my 13" monitor. I normally place a transparent
plastic metric ruler adjacent to the specimen. When scanned directly into
Photoshop, and played with under the zoom in-zoom out menu, I have had
small specimens clearly depicted and displayed in resolutions up to about
4X. (I remove the ruler from the scanner bed and compare it with a section
of the same ruler on the scan to confirm my estimation for the
magnification).  I tried all sorts of tricks for not crushing the specimen
and removing extraneous light when the specimen is on the scannner bed.
The scanner cover is up and I have apply various soft white papers to frame
the plant.  Let me know if you folks would like more details.  Mike Rothman
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