1. A flat bed scanner comprising: a scanner housing having a pair of rails longitudinally mounted along opposite sides of the housing; a carriage mounted on the rails; a stepper motor and drive belt mounted within the housing and adapted for moving the carriage between a first end and a second end of the housing; a plurality of mirrors adapted to provide a first field of view defined by a first column extending along the length of the platen and about one-half the width of the platen and to provide a second field of view defined by a second column extending along the length of the platen and about one-half the width of the platen; an electro-optic transducer mounted on the carriage and adapted for transmitting an electrical signal representative of the illuminance from a portion of an object placed on the platen in said first column and receiving the illuminance of said portion of the object from said mirrors through said lens onto said transducer; a CPU mounted within said housing and adapted to control scanning of said object; a control program executable by said CPU for sequentially scanning the first column and the second column.