Flatbed scanners don't sell in the numbers they used to, mainly because of the popularity of all-in-one devices, which put scan and print engines in the same box. For those who already have a printer they're happy with, or who need to have scanner and printer physically separate, Canon is one of three leading scanner makers and its LIDE range starts with the LIDE 25, reviewed here.

There's one key feature of the LIDE range that separates it from most other scanners; the fact that it can take all the power it needs from the USB 2 socket to which it connects. It doesn't need a mains cable or a black block power supply, making it very easy to connect up and use.

All Canon's LIDE scanners use Contact Image Sensors (CIS), which are less expensive technology than the Charge Coupled Device (CCD) arrays used more widely in scanners. Until recently, CIS scanners were renowned for producing images prone to coloured fringing and distortion. From our tests, though, there's very little evidence of either artefact in the LIDE 25 and both sharpness and colour rendition are good for a scanner at this entry level price.

The LIDE 25 can scan at up to 1,200 x 2,400 pixels per inch (ppi) and at up to 48-bit colour depth, making it suitable for enlargements from photo prints, as well as scanning of documents for optical character recognition (OCR) or archival.

There are several extras that make the scanner particular good value. For a start, one of the three dedicated buttons works with PC or Mac software to scan directly to a PDF file. This is great if you want to convert paper documents to send via e-mail or put on a Web site.

Secondly, the scanner comes with Canon's QARE Level 3 technology, which can remove scratches and dust from images and reduce graininess and colour fade. We found this quite effective on old prints and it made a noticeable improvement to their image quality.

Finally, you can scan up to 10 photographs in one pass, depending on their size, and the supplied software will square them up and save each of them in a separate file. If you have a large conventional print catalogue to archive, this multi-scan feature can speed the process considerably.

To complete the package, there's a good software bundle including photo retouching and OmniPage SE OCR software.

A few years back, £50 wouldn't buy you anything worth having in the way of a flatbed scanner. Now, though, devices like the LIDE 25 have changed the market considerably. This is a good, general-purpose scanner in a neat, small footprint, which is easy to set up and use and produces very respectable results.