A scanning method and apparatus. The method comprising the steps of: measuring an ambient video level using an area sensor under the control of a processor means; and calculating a gain and/or a exposure time and/or light source power for an actual flash video level using a stored reference flash video level and the measured ambient video level such that a summation of the actual flash video level and the ambient video level yields a desired video level in a scan image of the document using the calculated gain and/or exposure time and/or light source power.