Canon CanoScan LiDE 50 Color Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)I read the great reviews here (and elsewhere) on the LiDE 30, prompting me to buy the newer, faster 50. I have USB 2.0 ports and wanted the better performance ? and wasn't disappointed! The 50 can scan a full 8.5x11 color image in less than 30 seconds at 300dpi, including several seconds for the scan mechanism to reposition itself afterward. The optional "preview" was so fast it wasn't worth timing. My guess is 5 seconds or so for the above preview.
I won't rehash all the nice features of this scanner since many of you have read the LiDE 30 reviews. It seems to be an LiDE 30 with impressive USB 2.0 Hi-Speed performance added. It's also capable of generating 48bit color output and 16bit monochrome output, whereas the liDE 30 is half that, not that this is really important. 24bit is 16 million colors and 281 trillion colors is something I don't relate to.
Aside from speed, I was pleased with the space saving design and attractive "stainless steel" appearance. The scanner bed has sufficiently high edges to allow me to easily position a sheet of paper in proper alignment, without it trying to climb over the edge. A lot of human engineering went into this product!
Windows XP really loves this machine. The software installed without the slightest hiccup. This scanner is as hot-pluggable as any device could be. XP recognizes its presence and absence immediately. Even though the LiDE series requires no power source other than from the USB port (boy do I enjoy the absence of another power brick!), I prefer to remove power from the scanner when it's not in use and it's a snap to pull the cable from the front USB port. (If you're curious, the LiDE requires 498mA against the standard USB output of 500mA. Probably 10% or less of the current draw of CCD technology scanners.)
The package comes with some impressive looking software but all I wanted to do was scan images from PaintShop Pro and Adobe Acrobat and enjoy convenience copying. There is appx. 500MB of software if you load everything but I only installed the XP Driver and the CanoScan Toolbox. I did this not because I didn't want the other software, but really to see if the scanner would be fully functional without it (including the 4 "one-touch" buttons).
I was glad to discover that the CanoScan Toolbox has everything that's required to Copy, Scan to a program (PaintShop Pro?), Scan to email, and Scan to a file (including a PDF file). You may like some of the other programs they offer if you want to try your hand at OCR, manage photo albums, and similar tasks. I did install the Adobe Photoshop Essentials 2.0 because I respect Adobe software and wanted to see what this entry level image editing program can do. Not counting the 95MB for Photo Essentials, the driver and Toolbox took only around 30MB or less out of the potential 500MB.
The CanoScan Toolbox is very functional, impressive software. It allows you to setup 7 discrete type of scans with their unique resolutions, scan method (color, grayscale, etc.), paper size, your printer, specify your pet image editing program, etc. Then, you can associate your choice of 4 of these 7 functions with any of the 4 physical buttons at the front of the scanner. Canon has preset reasonable defaults.
There are a couple negatives to be aware of. CIS technology, as has been reported by some LiDE 30 users, is sensitive to the item scanned hugging the glass. This is quite true and even a thin pamphlet will produce a distorted scan, especially at page edges and corners where there's curl. The solution is to press the lid down to flatten the page against the glass. Consider this if you do a lot of scanning from magazines and books.
Another negative is my mild disappointment with the automated scan functions and single button functions --- a bit overrated in my opinion. Scanning to a program or file creates a JPG file first and then saves it and/or gives it to the image editing program. The quality of that JPEG was not to my satisfaction and I'd rather have the imaging program manage the scan and work with the raw scan data.
PDF files can be created automatically but may be a bit bloated and can have a grayish background. This can be improved considerably by choosing "Text Enhancement" or "Black and White" as the scanning mode. If you want to create an occasional PDF file, the Toolbox can do it for you rather easily.
The scanner appears to be durable. I scanned 120 8.5x11 color glossies over a 2 day period and it didn't breathe hard or make any strange sounds. It's also pretty quiet, in my view, although a few have complained it was loud. It could easily be used in a home office environment while you're talking on the phone.
Today I called Canon's technical support to ask some "how-to" questions. It was not toll-free but I got through very quickly and the technician was extremely courteous, knowledgeable, and generous of his time. After one year, they will continue to help but at only $10 an incident. Very good first impression here!
I hope you learned something about the LiDE 50 and its software and technology from this review. If you're on the fence between Canon and another vendor, you'd likely be happy with the LiDE series. If you're on the fence between the LiDE 30 and 50, you'd save $$$ and probably be just as happy with the 30 if you don't have USB 2.0 capability or plan to install a PCI USB 2.0 adapter. (Canon explicitly supports a wide array of Adaptec adapters.)
Good luck with your decision and enjoy the Canon experience if you take the plunge.

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One of the slimmest scanners on the market, the Canon LiDE 50 measures less than two inches high and includes a desktop stand for nearly invisible vertical storage. This doesn't mean it can't handle your originals--thanks to the Z-lid design, the LiDE 50 can accommodate items up to an inch thick while keeping them totally flat for absolutely impeccable scans.
48-bit color and a 16-bit grayscale provide rich tones and clear contrasts; the 1,200 x 2,400 optical resolution (9,600 x 9,600 dpi interpolated) handles the rest with clean, crisp detail. USB 2.0 interface means there's a single cord that supplies both power and connection, as well as a speedy transfer of data.
Bundled with the scanner is an impressive array of software for both Windows and Macintosh OS systems that will allow you to convert, smooth, and organize your images in a variety of ways. Perfect for home use, the Canon LiDE 50 is backed by a one-year warranty with Instant Exchange service.
What's in the Box Canon LiDE 50 scanner; stand; power/USB 2.0 cable; instructions; setup poster; warranty information; Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 CD-ROM; CanoScan Setup CD-ROM with ScanGear CS (Windows/Mac), CanoScan Toolbox (Windows/Mac), Arcsoft PhotoStudio (Windows/Mac), ArcSoft PhotoBase (Windows/Mac), ScanSoft OmniPage SE OCR (Windows/Mac), NewSoft Presto! PageManager (Windows) and NewSoft Presto! BizCard (30-day trial version, Windows only)

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Visioneer OneTouch 8600 Flatbed Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)The Visioneer 8600 proved difficult to install. I had The Visioneer 5300 and liked it very much but after installing the 8600 I wished I had tried the Epson 1200. First the system crashed and I rebooted everything seemed fine until I installed the MGI Photo Suite. It cause my program Second chance to crash and refuse to enter after rebooting. After I took of MGI Photo Suite it worked just fine. I am now downloading updates for both the 8600 driver and MGI Photo suite. I hope it corrects the problem. After scanning my first image I didn't notice any difference in scan quality over my 5300 Visioneer. However the 8600 was much faster probably 3 times as fast. Now if I can just get the rest of the software to work I can tell you how it all runs as a unit.

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The Visioneer OneTouch 8600 scanner is designed with personal use and small home-business scanning in mind. Small and compact, easy to set and operate, the 8600 features an optimal 600 x 1,200 dpi optical resolution (2,400 dpi enhanced). The parallel or USB interface permits virtual plug-and-play ease, so you can be on your way to scanning crisp black text, consistently reliable color, and photo-realistic scanning in no time.
The OneTouch 8600 single-pass scanner with 36-bit color depth has an 8.5-by-11.69-inch scanning area. Five one-touch buttons allow you to fax, copy, e-mail, or publish documents with a single touch. The optical character recognition (OCR) program is a package component, allowing you to scan text for speedy editing. Also in the software bundle is PaperPort Deluxe, which scans directly to network drives for sharing documents and images within work groups. MGI PhotoSuite II SE supports modification of images so you can touch up, organize, create, show, and share photos.
If you're short on counter space, the OneTouch 8600 is just under 17 by 12 by 4 inches, so it moves easily to a shelf or closet for storing until needed again. The OneTouch 8600 comes with PaperPort Deluxe, TextBridge Pro 8 OCR, MGI PhotoSuite II SE, WebPublisher Link, PictureWorks PhotoEnhancer, Internet Explorer 4.01, and Adobe Acrobat Reader. With all this software and one-step setup, this scanner couldn't be more practical for PC owners. --Barbara Price

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Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 Color Image Scanner (0307B001) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this scanner to scan in about 150 old black and white family photos, and they all came out very nicely. I scanned only a handful of color pictures, and they were fine as well.
Some experiences I had using the scanner:
- smaller pictures end up getting a better final resolution
- the quality is great for pictures, but only average for text; for example newspaper articles don't scan well enough to allow you to read smaller text
- I was able to scan aout 30 pictures in an hour
- scanning multiple photos is usually easy: you don't have to crop a big image into the individual photos because the scanning software figures out the picture boundaries. However, occasionally the picture boundary detection stuff messes up and the scanner detects 1 fewer picture than was in the scanner, forcing you to rescan
For some old polaroids, the scanned picture was clearer and brighter than the polaroid. it brought out the picture in
an amazing way.

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PC and Mac compatible, the Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 is an efficient color scanner that delivers high-quality results. Ideal for home or small office use, this compact flatbed model with 8.5-by-11.7-inch platen produces up to 1,200 x 2,400 dot-per-inch (dpi) optical resolution (software enhanced resolution: 19,200 color dpi) and 48-bit color depth, for over 281 trillion possible colors and incredibly vibrant images. The Z-Lid expansion top easily accommodates bulky items. One simple cable provides both power and a USB connection, which helps reduce the number of wires cluttering your workspace.Whether you're scanning old family photos, personal documents, or a company memo, the streamlined LiDE 25 is easy to use. Three buttons automate the entire process, so you can effortlessly scan, send images to your printer for copying, or prepare attachments for an email. After you position your original and select the use for the image, you can preview the result in approximately 16 seconds. The LiDE 25 even saves you time after you scan, by automatically retouching and enhancing your image. Additionally, this model comes with powerful software applications, including the CanoScan Toolbox 4.9, which you can use to scan documents and then create and manipulate PDFs.If you're tackling a larger project, in the Multi-Scan Mode you can scan multiple images simultaneously, rather than one by one. Simply arrange them on the glass and select Multi-Scan. The LiDE 25 scanner also comes with Quick Automatic Retouching and Enhancement (QARE) technology, which reduces dust and scratches that may appear on older originals. It even autocorrects to help decrease graininess, picture fading, and improper backlighting. After enhancement you can archive these beautiful images and then e-mail them or print them for family and friends.What's in the Box CanoScan LiDE 25, ScanGear CS (Win/Mac), CanoScan Toolbox CS (Win/Mac), ArcSoft PhotoStudio (Win/Mac), and ScanSoft OmniPage SE OCR (Win/Mac).

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Canon CanoScan LiDE 20 Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)This scanner is extremely easy to install and set up. You'll be scanning photos within about 10 minutes of getting it out of the box. Its also great that it draws its power through the USB chord as its just one less thing you need to worry about plugging in somewhere. The price for the scanner is hard to beat and with Amazon's free shipping, this is about the most affordable scanner out there. Its slim design and light weight is also a plus. So far I have run into only one draw back and that is its very limited depth of field. You cannot put anything with any dimension on the scanner and expect decent results. If the object is not touching the glass, the scanner cannot focus on the object and capture detail. If you're simply looking for a scanner that can be used to archieve photos or artwork, this is a great choice. The included software has enough options to fine tune control but I've been quite happy with the results using the software's default settings. I also scan directly into Photoshop where I can further enhance the results if need be. Its important to note that this scanner is plenty powerful for the average home user. 300+ DPI resolution is more than enough to scan a photo and capture just TONS of detail. If you're not a professional working in print theres just no need for a scanner that will capture 2400 dpi. So don't go looking at other higher priced scanners with super high resolution thinking higher is better. Chances are you will NEVER find a need to scan something in such high detail.
SUMMARY:

- Unbeatable price
- Easy set-up
- USB serves as power chord
- light weight and small so its easy to move
- decent surface area / bed size
- Good resolution for the average home user
- Great results with photos or artwork
- Easy to use scanning software with decent user options
- Limited depth of field, not good for 3D objects.


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CANOSCAN LIDE20 Flatbed ScannerZ-LID. 600X. 1200DPI. 48BIT. USB.

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Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB Flatbed Scanner Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)First of all, you will need to figure out where you're going to put this thing: it's quite large. It measures 22" x 15". The hinged lid, though removable, requires over 2 feet of clearance above the surface that the scanner sits on.
The scanner works fine with my computer, but I confess that I have Windows 2000. Other reviewers are reporting problems with other operating systems. DO read them.
By calling the included software "El Crapamundo" and saying that "It really stinks", the previous reviewer is being much too nice. I don't think that Amazon will allow the words that I really want to use.
You get two CD ROMs: One contains the drivers, and the other is scanner-compatible graphic software from Ulead. The driver CD ROM installs a software panel with VERY limited setting options. Page 7 of their owner's booklet spells out the non-changeable default settings. They're extremely restrictive. The Ulead CD ROM installs all kinds of extra crap that runs in the background and uses up computer resources.
Your best solution is to find software on the internet that will scan your documents while giving you a much wider range of options. I'm using Photocopier Pro by Nico Cuppen Software.


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An ideal solution for business travelers, or anyone setting up a home office, the Mustek ScanExpress A3 comes complete with high-resolution, color-accurate scanning abilities. With its 36-bit color capturing abilities, the ScanExpress A3 can capture over 68.7 billion colors in a single-pass. With its full TWAIN compliance, the ScanExpress A3 scanner allows you to transfer images directly into any TWAIN-supported software application. With a speedy USB 1.1 interface, this scanner is PC compatible.

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Canon CanoScan LiDE 30 Scanner Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased this scanner specifically for the task of digitizing a box of old, disintergrating/fading old family photos, almost all being Black&White. I tried a few photos at a local copy place, but the $18 per hour (plus $10 CD burning fee) quickly convinced me that I could purchase a scanner for a lot less than what it would cost to scan the photos on an hourly fee basis.
With a few dozen exceptions, this scanner was able to satisfactorily scan my old photos. Even though this scanner has a number of limitations, I gave the scanner the top rating because it did perform as described/intended and is a good value for the dollar. I would buy this unit again. The ease of hardware and software installation was a pleasant surprise, and are easy to use. Even the included OCR software suprised me with the quality and accuracy of the resulting Word or PDF documents; it even could, with a little tweaking, scan and convert tabular information. (This is an added, unexpected benefit, as I have a 200+ page document, mostly tables, that I have always intended to convert to PDF format but postponed the task due to the emense retyping involved.)
I have always disliked the "Stars" and "Best Buy" rating systems as I have been 'bitten' several times when I bought some highly rated products. No product is perfect; all have things that it can do well, and some things it can't do well (or at all). If you are unfortunate enough to buy a top rated product that can't do the one thing that you need it to do, top rated or not, you have wasted your money. [It is interesting to note that many 'impartial reviews' tend to rave about a product's good points and 'gloss over' deficiencies.]
So, you should be aware of what this scanner could NOT do for me:
.It does not scan transparencies (I had one 4 X 6)
.It has a VERY limited depth of focus: things not in intimate contact with the scan plate WILL be out of focus (a dozen or so photos mounted on stiff, warped backings could not be satisfactorily scanned, even with a phone book on the scanner cover)
.The scan plate is recessed making scans of oversized items impossible: the item is not in contact with the glass and thus out of focus (I had a couple of oversized photos and a few 8 X 10 photos permanently mounted on an oversized backing/frame that could not be scanned satisfactorily)
Also, the unit is a bit 'flimsy' (dropped my mechanical pencil on the cover and it left a 'door dingy') and the cover not heavy enough to flatten the folds even in standard paper to maintain full scan plate contact without assistance (phonebook).

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Canon Lide30 Flat Bed Scanner

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Ion 35mm Photo Negative and Slide Converter to PC (SLIDES2PC) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have a large amount of my dad's 35mm slides, mainly from the 50's and 60's. I wanted to digitize them for him for a Christmas gift. I checked into services that do this professionally and found them to be out of my price range as I literally have around 700-900 that I want digitized. Next step was to look for a scanner to do it myself.
The best (Nikon w/Digital ICE) also out of my price range. So I landed on the Ion Slide2PC. I figured, this would at least get them into 'viewing' quality. At 5megapixels in a decently high res right?
I also got a rocket blaster and a static master to clean the slides before hand and cleaned each before starting with a puff of air and a brush of the static master.
I put the slide2pc the on it's highest setting and went to work. While they aren't Nikon quality, I must say that I'm impressed with the output. I wish that I could tweak the lighting a little so the under and over exposed would come out a little better but with a little photo shop magic, I'm even able to fix those up.
Most are print quality - not perfection as the lines aren't as sharp as perhaps they would be with a more expensive scanner, but many look excellent.
Really I was patient. I gave it the requisite 5 seconds for the white balance between snapshot and transfer. and I did all in .tiff so I could edit each if necessary.
I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to save money as it's quick and effective at digitizing your slides. I have not tested it on film negatives.

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Canon LiDE200 Color Image Scanner (2924B002) Review

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(More customer reviews)I decided to replace my old "all in one" printer which I was using as a scanner and a photocopying with the Canon LIDE200. I liked the specification: 4800x4800 dpi and a claimed 11 second scan rate.
The first thing I noticed as I was unpacking the scanner from the box was a mysterious WARNING about unlocking the lid of the scanner. The scanner was packed with the lid unlocked (as I found out later), and the instructions mentioned to keep the lid locked for travel or extensive handling. Fair enough, but it made me wonder if I had already done something bad to my scanner (I hadn't).
I then installed the software. I expected big things from Canon here, because generally they are pretty smart about software. The software, in terms of use, is much better than the software I had for scanning with my old scanner.The scanner has an "easy" setting that basically just scans at 300DPI without a fuss.If you want to scan at full resolution, you have to open the "driver" that exposes a page with all the bells and whistles to let you really fine tune your scan and set the highest resolutions.
All this was fair enough, however I found a few minor disturbing problems with the software. Firstly, once you've opened the "driver", it's not intuitive to figure out how to get back to the "no brainer" mode. Also, when you want to save your scan, it always seems to default to the scanning library it sets up. If you override it, it doesn't stay "changed". This is a slight pain. I always wonder who they hire to test and give feedback, because I always feel like I'm pointing out what should be the "obvious" to large companies like Canon (actually I really love Canon - so take no offense!).
As far as scanning speed is concerned, the scanner does indeed scan a 300 dpi page in about 11 seconds (that's pretty fast folks). However, the estimate does not include the 3 seconds the software takes to respond to the command to begin scanning (I'm running a duo core processor - no slouch) and the few seconds it takes to save the image. All in all, speed is impressive.
Now on to document quality. I tried scanning a few brochures and to be honest, at 300 DPI I wasn't super impressed with the result. So I went into the "driver" at set the scanning at maximum resolution (4800 x 4800). You get a pretty good result at that resolution, but by no means was I blown away. Perhaps more "tweaks" of the driver is needed. I noticed that the scanner attempts to "improve" the picture (which it does) but some of the detail of the text was a little off (brochure had images and text). I wondered if the lid of the scanner was making really good contact. Next time I will add a few pages of plain white paper behind the image and see if it makes a difference.
I tried scanning a printed document, and compared it to a printed document I scanned using my old scanner. I scanned the image to a PDF and low and behold, a major, major improvement (at 300 DPI).
So, I gave the scanner four "stars". Why not five? Well, the software is much easier to use than my old scanner, but still not without a few minor "quirks".This is a great scanner for scanning documents. How well it will actually scan and reproduce a photo is still in question, and perhaps I need to learn how to use the driver software better. I don't think I could scan an original photo without seeing some degradation in quality.
I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences regarding copying photos. I hope I'm wrong in my assessment, because I really expected a 4800x4800 scanner to reproduce "dead on" copies of a photo.

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Canon LiDE200 color image scanner has convenient features for easy scanning up to 4800 dpi.

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