The CZUR Shine Ultra Pro versus the Aura Pro

The line of scanners from CZUR has made scanning books, documents, artwork, and photos very easy and convenient - but which scanner is right for you? This comparison between the Shine Ultra Pro and the Auro Pro will give you a chance to see these scanners in action!
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[@LearningandTechnology]

NOTE: In the video, I scan a large art book - this book is slightly larger than A3 size. Both scanners can scan A3 sized documents, but the Aura seems to be able to scan just a "slightly" bigger document. With the Shine Ultra Pro - you need to make sure you have fully extended the scanner for maximum scan size> FINGER COTS: these are removed from scans as long as the pattern on each is part of the scan - you can see this in the video,

[@northernpianomusic]

Thank you for this video. Very helpful! As far as book thickness, does the Shine scan books up to 2 inches thick? Some of the specs say up to 10 mm, so it seems they won't accommodate thicker books. Any help appreciated. Thank you!

[@johanabi]

Thank you! This video was so thorough, polished, and accessible. These were the two scanners I am deciding between, so I appreciate the specificity used to describe the pros and cons of each scanner :)

[@johanabi]

Update: I completed purchasing the aura x pro (it didn’t hurt that it’s on sale for less than the aura pro!) I appreciate this video!

[@LearningandTechnology]

@@johanabi that’s great! I’m always amazed at how often I use my scanners - mostly because I do like taking notes in books and digital note-taking is a better option for me. I’m going to look at one of their higher-end scanners soon - which I think might be better for offices and classrooms. The individual scanners are perfect for my uses - love the Aura line.

[@johanabi]

@@LearningandTechnology that’s my plan! I have textbooks, nonfiction books, and novels I want to digitise for self-study. And your inclusion of art books was super helpful, since that’s another reason! They both seemed fine for documents, so those parts of the review really helped me choose :)

[@LearningandTechnology]

@@johanabi being an old geek - I also like graphic novels and comics. So this is a great tool to digitize those for when I’m travelling and commuting. They can be heavy and I don’t want to damage them.

[@gooderofficial]

Running this through for that algy alg!

[@user-wi9or2ss4f]

Very good presentation. Will likely buy Auro Pro X

[@stevenprosser8813]

Thank you again for a great overview of the Czur scanners Frank! I think you have the best channel on KZbin for covering the Czur line. I'm sooooo glad to have had this video pop up on my recommended videos! I have been sooo torn between the Shine Ultra Pro and the Aura X Pro! I don't think I need it to be too portable. The vast majority of books I'd like to scan would be normal print rather than gloss paper; and relatively normal hard cover sized, but I keep wondering what if I DO decide to back up some of my glossy graphic novels, or the odd textbook I may have that is on glossier paper? After watching this review I think I will finally settle on the Aura X Pro as it sounds like it will do just as well with scanning standard hardcovers as the Shine Ultra Pro AND it has the bonus of being able to scan larger, glossy books. I'm in Canada and have looked over our copyright laws and it appears I am able to use it to digitally back up my large book collection, that way I can stick to reading on eReaders as I prefer and I keep my physical books in as near mint condition as possible without packing them around everywhere 😁

[@LearningandTechnology]

I’m a long time comic collector with a pretty massive hardcover collection 😀 The ability to digitize them is super useful. I’m glad the videos help!

[@iamgeekgirl]

Thank you for the review. I am leaning towards the Aura Pro. I am a student with ADHD and I found that I learn better when Acrobat reads to the book to me while I am taking notes. With a flatbed scanner I am bending the textbook too much at the spine. I am excited about the foot pedal. The Acrobat software is very particular about how straight the line is and hates curves for doing OCR.

[@LearningandTechnology]

There is good research that your strategy for learning is a good one. It's called "Dual Coding" and is very helpful for learning.

[@ericpircher]

Thanks Frank for a really clear video on the essential differences between these two overhead scanners. It's funny, I'm still kind of torn between the Shine and Aura models. Knowing me, I'll probably end up with both and I'll re-sell the one I use less.

[@LearningandTechnology]

I’m seem to use the Shine the most. I also have an ET24 -but it’s much larger and the one I use on larger projects.

[@ericpircher]

@@LearningandTechnology I can imagine. I get the feeling that this is a lot like the experience I have had using 12V and 18V power tools -- the 12V tools end up doing 80-90% of the work because they are more convenient, leaving the bigger tools for edge cases.

[@user-eq7be1ws7g]

Thank you. The presentation was very helpful. I plan to scan my books as well as my old family photos. Your presentation answers all my questions about books. As I have thousands of old family photos and want to scan a few of them simultaneously to save time, which model does a better job? I have heard that the scanners can capture the photos as separate files even if I scan them together.

[@LearningandTechnology]

Either of the scanners would work for what you are hoping to do. An excellent idea to digitize those photos.

[@ThePejsek02468]

Thank you for a very good review. I think I will go for the Aura because I am not going to scan any artwork that would need super resolution. When you scanned the largest book with the Shine Ultra Pro, the pages didn't fit because the book is too thick, so the edges of the pages are beyond the field of view of the camera, correct? Could this be offset by lifting the whole scanner a bit, for example by putting a book under it? To make the scanner think the book isn't that thick?

[@LearningandTechnology]

I haven’t tried lifting the scanner - it might work to increase the area, but I’m not sure. It sounds like something to test! I’ll give it a try and report back shortly.

[@kenanklovitch8117]

Can I use these scanners to scan irregular shaped wooden blanks to design carved signs with? Thank you very much.

[@TiSIWO]

Thank you for your video. I am thinking about buying the Czur Shine Ultra Pro to scan Science Textbooks. My concern is about shiny page/material types. Can I improve scan quality (shiny or a bit reflective paper) by using to side lamps (warmth and light intensity are both adjustable) on either side of the main camera stand/pole?

[@TimPollack-ye1lk]

Thanks for a really helpful comparison. It looks like these are slightly older models than what's on the current CZUR webpage, so some of the specs might be different. But I am going to ask and hope that you can offer some guidance. You mention the "camera" or "sensor" quality (for example 13 vs 24 megapixels on the two current Shine models) and dpi readings (240 vs 440 in your video). Does this indicate only the resolution quality of the scanned image or does it indicate how effective the two models are in keeping all parts of the page in focus on large, thick codices? I would be scanning handwritten manuscripts, so edge blur is a major concern. And for those very thick codices, what happens if I simply position a Shine on a higher platform to get all of a larger format book in a shot? Would that work or would the page be out of focus? And I guess as a final question, does the mat have any practical function? If scan without it, is there any problem? Thanks in advance!

[@pyxelpub8251]

Hi there, thanks for the video! I'm considering one of these 2 specifically to scan my art books and illustration art works that aren't available digitally, so you think the shine ultra is the better option in that case? Is it completely useless in terms of glossy paper or does it get the job mostly done? Thank you for your time!

[@LearningandTechnology]

I’ve used it to scan larger collected edition graphic novels that are printed on glossy paper so that I could read them without having to carry them around. The key with glossy paper is to watch the lighting. You do not want to shine light directly onto the paper - that will create a “hot” spot on glossy paper. You just need to scan in an environment with good lighting. I turn off the scanner lights and scan with room lights that don’t shine onto the glossy paper directly.

[@pyxelpub8251]

Great to hear that! I have been looking at glass book pressers for scanning, basically see-through glass that flattens the book to enhance the quality, have you ever looked into any of that? I found some but they are expensive and mostly dedicated to the Fujitsu SV 600, so if you know of any such method to flatten really thick curved books, that’ll be incredibly helpful. Again, thank you so much!

[@LearningandTechnology]

@@pyxelpub8251 I haven’t used the glass scanners - I’m not doing that type of work, but I have scanned some pretty thick books with artwork using the ET24 scanner by CZUR with good results. For absolute archival work - resolution “may” be an issue? That’s super specific. I have an extremely expensive flatbed scanner that would require unbinding a book. I use it very occasionally for things like photos and slides where I want extreme resolutions.

[@madhubains]

Hi Frank, I want to scan a few vintage paperbacks to word documents to convert to kindle. These paperbacks have a bit of a blur to the characters. Which of these scanners would be able to better recognize the letters in the text? Thanks

[@LearningandTechnology]

Most likely the Ultra Shine pro would have a slight edge. Just because it is a bit higher resolution camera. What era books are you looking at? I might have some 50’s Science Fiction books that I could test this with.

[@OutcompeteAI]

I just got the Aura Pro, final price $215. I'm using it to scan books and large illustrations. It's so fast with the auto scan or the foot pedal. I'm glad they now have the option to export searchable pdfs.

[@LearningandTechnology]

That’s great! I really like mine a lot and I am actually using it more than I even thought I would. I have a rather large collection of comic hardcovers and I scan them so I can read them on the go - without having to carry them (they are large) Of course, I’m also scanning almost all my textbooks as searchable PDFs because it’s so easy to search while researching (my actual job 😀)

[@pyxelpub8251]

I'm looking to get one of these specifically for art books and illustration art works, any chance you can upload an example of an illustration from a book? The fact that the aura is 240dpi kind of worries me. Thanks for your time!

[@EyonDreams]

did you have to run software for this scanner in your computers/laptop's' dvd or cd drive? my chromebook does not have a dvd nor cd drive... would this aura x pro book scanner still work for me? or do i need something else ( perhaps an external dvd or cd drive?) to make the scanner work with my laptop? thanks a ton 🙂

[@LearningandTechnology]

You can download the software from their website. You just enter the serial number of the CZUR device to activate it. I haven’t tried it on a Chromebook though…

[@EyonDreams]

@@LearningandTechnology thank you so much

[@dennislamb3947]

Would you recommend the Aura Pro over the ET24 Pro for home use and light scanning for work?

[@LearningandTechnology]

Yes. The 24 is geared more to heavier use

[@a.s.l711]

How do you make the lamp camera not inverted when using the scanner for Google meet

[@Digmen1]

I never knew about all of these vertical scanners until today. I though all scanners were flatbed like mine or single page scanners

[@LearningandTechnology]

They were fairly new to me a couple years ago as well! Now I wonder how I did my book/article scanning before!

[@roywlewis]

Both scanners list a maximum thickness for the book. Is it just a matter of focal length? Can you just set the scanner on a riser for a thicker book?

[@LearningandTechnology]

I haven’t placed them on a riser to test this - however, I’ve scanned some fairly thick books. I have these larger comics called “omnibus” collections that can get quite thick and they scan well.

[@barrielockwood5181]

A bit late but I use the ulta pro on a 2 inch riser a lot of the time as it lets me scan old copies of a localnewspapers which are approx 2 " bigger than A3@@LearningandTechnology

[@dedskin1]

isnt your movile phone kind of the same thing , you can make a holder for it as well , and add lights . But i did buy 2 scanners without realizing all i need is my phone , so , its all good .

[@LearningandTechnology]

Not quite. Mobile phones do have some great Apps - I have a video on Microsoft Lens. However, they don’t really have the same workflow when it comes to scanning larger documents and/or entire books. They are good for one-off scanning. Building a stand for your phone with lights etc is a bit of a challenge - you’d likely have issues around the actual scanning part - these scanners are much more convenient and functional.

[@dedskin1]

@@LearningandTechnology yes , dedicated device is always better since its made for the task . What i wanted to say is that with good lighting so that it is even across the paper , mobile phone would do for office documents , that i need it for , im a Lawyer and i have 10 years old cases filled with papers overflowing my work area so i wanted to store them digitally and remove the physical copies to safe place for keeping just in case . So i order mobile scaner , the kind you push across the paper and it saves it , works on 3 AAA bateries and when connected to the PC it acts like a memory stick . It didnt arive yet so i dont know if i made a mistake , with first one i didi , didnt look up pages per minute and i got 48bit picture scanner with 12 Mpix , but in order to get that it takes 2 minutes per page , so not really made for what i want ..

[@netman2988]

Hi, I want to ask if both of these models fit for a digital artist? As a digital artist, I want to scan a 48 page hardcover at 600dpi and then spend time cropping the content in Photoshop. Please answer.

[@LearningandTechnology]

The DPI would not be high enough for your needs.

[@netman2988]

​@@LearningandTechnology ​ 😯😯😯😯. So are there any other facing page scanners you can recommend for digital artist???

[@LearningandTechnology]

@@netman2988 I think most of the ones I’ve worked with don’t have super-high DPI. I think the Ultra Shine is good - it’s 440 DPI - which is pretty good I have some use-cases where I need extremely high DPI - for that I uses a flatbed. However, that’s a $2000 scanner!

[@maggiem.5904]

The Fujitsu SV600 scans up to 600 ppi

[@LearningandTechnology]

@@maggiem.5904 I looked at the SV600 specs and it says 285dpi. Maybe I’m missing something? It’s significantly more expensive than the ones I did in this video - but I’d be interested in trying it. The CZUR scanners have been excellent for me.

[@drunisa]

you put a discount code but not for what website ?

[@LearningandTechnology]

Yikes! It’s for the CZUR website. I’ll check and out the link in. It’s CZUR.com

[@Damian-bg9rv]

1)For thick books of 400-800 regular pages with text fitting in a3, will both manage? 2) what about ocr? will the one with more pixels handle better?or is there no difference?

[@LearningandTechnology]

Perfect timing for this question! I’m just editing a video on the ET24Pro - which is ideal for thicker books and A3 sizing. It’s a Higher resolution, more professional scanner - ideal for a classroom, research, and archival work. It’s also really nice as a display tool with an HDMI out and crisper camera. Of course, the price is also higher. Between the two in this video (which I consider more personal scanners for individuals - students, teachers) I am a bit more fond of the Shine Ultra. The Aura is something I would absolutely get for my kids for school, the Shine Ultra I would use for most of my needs - and the ET24Pro is likely going to be my main work scanner. That video should be out by tomorrow morning.

[@Damian-bg9rv]

@@LearningandTechnology thank you for your reply. I'm looking for something with price max that is for this two devices.I have a visual impairment that prevents me from reading efficiently and i have some old books that i would like to listen. So i want to scan them to pdf searchable format and listen using an app text-to-speech on android. The scaner will mainly be in my home office and i don't need a more portable device, but i have decided on the shine ultra pro. It seems nicer to me and has more pixels and better scan quality which may help better process the text in the page. On the glossier paper i don't care about the glare on the images but i'm little afraid of the text - but from what i see it can be adjusted better which shouldn't be a problem. the larger file size doesn't bother me either.thanks!

[@LearningandTechnology]

@@Damian-bg9rv I think you’ll be very happy with the scanner. The glossy paper is something that comes up in comments about the scanners - but I don’t think it’s an issue at all. Many times, I’ll turn off the lights on the scanner, make sure I don’t have reflective room lights, and get great scans. It’s never been an issue for me actually. I would love to hear your experiences once you start working with it. I’m very interested in anything that can help people with accessibility using educational technology.

[@Damian-bg9rv]

@@LearningandTechnology I'll let you know how it will work for me .I'm a programmer and I also plan to give up the mouse pointer altogether to increase productivity and relieve my carpal tunnel disease. I have been looking for a good "eye tracker" so far they work well for games but for work they are still not very accurate.Maybe I will also try something like metaverse glasses or VR in the future .I will keep an eye on your channel, maybe someday I will also come across your review of such devices. Thank you for very useful videos!

[@wolfganggosejacob779]

unfortunately no hints for OCR

[@LearningandTechnology]

Both scanners do OCR using the same software - so there isn’t really a comparison in that regard. I have videos on each scanner where I demonstrate the OCR features of the CZUR software.

[@wolfganggosejacob779]

@@LearningandTechnology thank you for this information. I'll look for the video. It is strange that e.g. the OCR of Acrobat is not able (version X - thus old) to digitize the data of a purchase receipt in such a way that the articles stand on the left and with Whitespace the amounts in a 2nd column. Acrobat X has the items written below each other, as far as necessary, and the amounts in the "same list" just below. Now you would have to use a trick to move the bottom half next to the top half. And manually apply the same trick to each receipt? ... - Hide advertising? - Detect bank transaction and "hide? - Detect and hide advertising for "customer cards"? - Detect multiple purchased items (2x 50 cents) and "learn" to add to the item above or below as if it were in a line. - Hide company logo? - Recognize company logo and branch number and use as part of file name? - Recognize date and use it as part of the file name? This all seems like manual work that a computer should be able to do for me. Are the programmers unlucky in planning the software? Existing "problems" are continued for years and obviously not improved: Acrobat X displays the image of the recognized word/letter and does not offer a learning function that the next time a "B" is encountered, no "8" is recognized? - Surely this can't be it? The "found" word is displayed "in text" - marked in blue on "white background", so that one can immediately rewrite the complete word. That makes no sense. If I have to rewrite the not correctly recognized words, I can partly rewrite the whole text and don't need OCR at all. a) Displaying black letters, b) directly in the text, c) with a light blue background makes no sense at all, if d) the contrast suffers strongly and e) the zoom also plays a role, because f) the recognized word is displayed too small if necessary. Do I have too high expectations? - probably yes ;)

[@liameneuk]

If we can force Apple to adopt USB C in the name of saving the environment, we should also force publishers to release ebooks.

[@LearningandTechnology]

More eBooks make sense in many areas. I would be a little concerned about books for younger children and books for areas where access to computers or eReaders are difficult to access. I think that the best way to get more eBooks is to make them an option that more readers use. Hopefully, more people will. I love eBooks for the convenience and portability.

[@DrTabio]

Remember, you don't actually own any of this digital material that you "buy" from these content providers. If they go away, your purchases go away. If you change your mind on the subscriptions or find a better provider, DRM keeps most of it from being portable. Physical books however, are yours forever. They can be passed on to your kids. And they don't get edited to the political standards of the language police of the future.

[@TC-or6xn]

It appears the discount code, "CZUR" is not valid. I just tried using it and received the following response from their sales team rep. ".we don't have a code of "CZUR".

[@LearningandTechnology]

It was some time ago that I was given that code - but here's a trick :) - the often have discounts running. If you check out Facebook and search CZUR, they will likely have codes for between 5-10% off at any given time. Try CZUR40 - I think it's currently working and gives $40 discount.

[@TC-or6xn]

@@LearningandTechnology I just received an email from their support team, they indicated that "CZUR20" is valid and good for a 5% discount. This works for me. Thanks again Frank and great video!