The Dr. Bill Takeshita Foundation

Last Modified: Mon, 12 Nov 2007

Zoom Ex

The Zoom Ex is a very innovative device for people with low vision. It is a hybrid of a CCTV and a scan a read system that can be used at work, home, and in the classroom or on business trips. It is arguably the most useful portable device available to people who use computers. The Zoom Ex scans and captures images of text in less than 3 seconds and displays the image on your computer screen. In addition, Zoom Ex also reads the text aloud and allows you to save the document on your computer.

The Zoom Ex can change the magnification of the text as well as customize the colors of the background and text. One major advantage of Zoom Ex over conventional video magnifiers is that it scans the entire page and displays the text on the screen similar to a teleprompter that newscasters use. This means that users never have to move the paper or X-Y tray to scroll while reading. This greatly reduces dizziness and eyestrain when reading.

The Zoom Ex system consists of a camera that is mounted onto a very lightweight and portable bracket that folds up and can be stored in a notebook computer case. The camera connects to your computer via a USB cable. We evaluated the Zoom Ex and found the software to be very easy to install. After the software was installed, we simply clicked on the Zoom Ex Icon and the camera captured an image instantly with the press of a button on our keyboard. The bracket that holds the camera made it very easy to align the location of where to place the book or the document, even for blind users. We used the Neo Speech SAPI 5 voices and were very pleased with the quality of the speech. The images displayed on our computer were also excellent. Zoom Ex was able to reformat the text quickly and accurately when we increased the magnification.

Zoom Ex was able to accurately identify the text from books, magazines, and letters very well. We found the accuracy to be comparable to Kurzweil 1000 and Open Book. We especially liked the fact that Zoom Ex allowed us to use the camera similar to a CCTV, This is a feature that allowed us to sign checks, inspect hand-written invoices, and view photographs, tasks that we could not do with other scanning programs.

In summary, we found Zoom Ex to be a most versatile compliment to a computer. It was able to scan and read text comparably to the best scan and read software programs and it also has features similar to the most advanced video magnification systems. We were most impressed with the speed that Zoom Ex is able to capture images, must faster than flat bed scanner. We recommend Zoom Ex for students and adults who want to read and listen to text at school, home, and work. At a price of $2395, it offers the best features of assistive technology that costs thousands more.