I need a new flim/slide scanner

<p>I've happily been using a Canon FS 4000 film/slide scanner for years with Windows XP. <br>

Now I've upgraded to a computer with Windows 7 and Canon tells me that my scanner is not supported by Canon for Windows 7.<br>

So I need a new scanner. What are some good ones?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>You could run a VM with your old windows and use your scanner. But you are gonna pay for the same quality scanner that you have.</p>

<p>You might want to look into vuescan. It comes with some bundled drivers for "legacy" scanners. You could get lucky.</p>

<p> </p>

Vuescan works with that scanner. Try downloading the trial.

<p>Try installing the XP scanner software on the Win 7 machine in compatibility mode. You may find it may install and work fine. If not use Vuescan.</p>

<p>My Canon software quit working on my Macs years ago. VueScan is faster and better IMHO. Try the trial, then if you can figure it out (defaults work pretty well, actually), then buy the professional version.</p>

<p>Sorry to hijack this thread with a couple of further questions, but say a user wanted to continue using a legacy film scanner with Windows XP running in a virtual machine, how would you go about this?<br><br>

 

Can this be done with freeware? If not, can it be done with genuine (i.e. not pirated/cracked) software?<br>

Can Windows XP be installed using discs that came with an old laptop? Or are those discs somehow tied to the laptop?<br>

Would the fact that Windows XP is now no longer supported have any impact? For example, does the installation of Windows XP require some kind of online activation that might now no longer work?</p>

 

<p>Thanks for sharing your expertise in an area that I'm unfamiliar with!</p>

<p>I have three 20 year old film scanners (Kodak RFS 3570, Minolta Dimage Scan Elite, and Nikon III) still running the original factory supplied software. I manage this with a 20 year old Mac G3 desktop computer running OS 9.1. The internal battery died years ago so the computer takes a long time to boot up and produces file dates in the year 2040, but it still works. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>Sorry to hijack this thread with a couple of further questions, but say a user wanted to continue using a legacy film scanner with Windows XP running in a <a id="itxthook4" href="/film-and-processing-forum/00cWV7" rel="nofollow">virtual machine<img id="itxthook4icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" alt="" /></a>, how would you go about this?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p><br /> There are a few options. With VMware you can use the free version with limited functionality. You can use the free VirtualBox from Oracle. But if you want to run only XP and not other OS it's easiest to use the free Microsoft XP Mode. Search for it on the internet.</p>

<p>Parallels for Mac OS runs Windows XP just fine, and virtualizes USB so that you can use a USB-connected scanner. This is how I generally run my Nikon Coolscan V, running Nikon Scan.<br>

I don't know what VMware's support of USB virtualization is, but I had no complaints about that software using it in a prior job.<br>

I did also spring for SilverFast Ai for the Coolscan V, really just for Kodachrome, where I've calibrated it with a Kodak Kodachrome Q-60 target.</p>

<p>John (OP),<br>

I can only echo to try VueScan; it's easily worth its money, and possibly it has drivers of its own for your scanner. If it doesn't, you would need to install the latest from Canon. I see they have Vista 32-bits drivers as latest - worth the shot, but there is a good chance your Win7 installation is 64-bits in which case those drivers may not install at all.<br>

VueScan is free to try, small, simple to install - little to loose except a few minutes of your time.<br>

In case you really prefer a new scanner, for relatively little money I am happy with what my Reflecta ProScan 7200 (Pacific Image in the US) delivers. I use it with Win8.1, and Win7 will work too. </p>

<p>Colin,</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Can Windows XP be installed using discs that came with an old laptop? Or are those discs somehow tied to the laptop?<br /> Would the fact that Windows XP is now no longer supported have any impact? For example, does the installation of Windows XP require some kind of online activation that might now no longer work?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>To install Windows XP in a Virtual Machine (see Bebu's reply for the usual options; and some more below), you cannot use the recovery disks that came with a laptop. These typically use an installation method specific to its brand, and include all the extra software. Plus, the license these disks use is tied to the laptop and cannot be activated on other systems. So you will need the original Windows XP installation disk with a suitable license.<br>

The impact of XP no longer being supported is the fact that it won't receive any security updates anymore. As XP never really became a secure and safe operating system in the first place, it will just grow worse from here. It will not stop working, it can still be activated, everything stays as it was, but you will be at a continually bigger risk using it in an online environment.<br>

A second consideration here is that new programs will increasingly drop support for XP. New hardware will increasingly be unsupported in WinXP. Using it virtualised is a nice solution to use old devices such as the scanner in this thread, but otherwise it's really time to move on to another OS.<br>

(*) Note on the XP Mode: this is ONLY available in Windows 7 Professional / Enterprise, not on the consumer versions; nor on any version of Windows 8. For Windows 8, there is HyperV built-in, but I think for normal users probably VirtualBox is the easiest option.</p>

<p>Thanks All for the helpful responses. The reason I ask is that I have a Nikon Coolscan V and would like to use it with an upgraded computer, but I think - like John has experienced - the Nikon driver may not be compatible with a more modern OS. I know VueScan (and SilverFast?) offer an alternative, but I just wanted to explore the possibility of using Windows XP, likely in a virtual machine.<br>

Of course I wouldn't use Windows XP for general computing - it would just be for scanning.</p>

If you go for vuescan buy the higher level so you don't stop working in a year. Good program though I use it for my Nikon

Coolscan and my Epson Perfection.

<p>David, isn't it the case that VueScan Standard Edition includes free upgrades for just a year from the date of purchase, whereas VueScan Professional Edition includes free lifetime upgrades? If you buy a licence for the Standard Edition, I don't think it's the case that it stops working after a year; you just don't get any further free upgrades, and continue on with the version you have at that point.</p>

<p>@Colin: see <a href="http://axelriet.blogspot.nl/2009/10/nikon-ls-40-ls-50-ls-5000-scanners-on.html">http://axelriet.blogspot.nl/2009/10/nikon-ls-40-ls-50-ls-5000-scanners-on.html</a> for running a Coolscan V (and others) under Windows 8.1.<br>

At first I had installed XP as a guest OS in VMWare, with 8.1 as host. This works ok but sometimes has troubles. Stability of this setup is ok-ish, but it works.<br>

After installing software and drivers according to the Axel Rietschin method (see link) it runs fine in Windows 8.1 (64 bits). No need to hassle with XP.</p>

<p>There is another way to run legacy devices...</p>

<p>You can put linux on a bootable USB (try linux mint or ubuntu for starters). The drivers seem to work with a lot of scanners. There's plenty of scanning software ranging from the straight forward to the more advanced. You can scan and save as a TIFF on another USB for later processing on Windows.</p>

<p>All best,<br>

Duncan.</p>

No it stopped working saying the license had expired. It was the only reason I upgraded.

<p>http://www.zdnet.com/how-to-run-xp-on-linux-mint-with-oracle-virtualbox-7000028401/<br>

<br />Hope that helps. </p>

<p>Linux scanner support (drivers) is listed at SANE ( http://www.sane-project.org/ ). <br>

Sane runs on linux, mac. I am not sure if there is a version for Windows. If it is not supported on Sane, you may find a person willing to write drivers for it. They may need some data from scanner to understand it. <br>

<br />Vuescan does run on linux as per their website. <br>

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48738<br>

http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/nikon_coolscan_v_ed.html<br>

arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=40928<br>

<br />A few links with information. </p>

<p>I used VueScan all along with my Canon FS4000US. When I got a new computer with 64-bit Windows 7, I installed the 64-bit version of VueScan and used it until the scanner finally gave up the ghost in 2012. That's probably a lot easier than using XP in a virtual machine.</p>

<p>The real problem I found was the lack of SCSI support in Windows 7. The only SCSI cards I could find with 64-bit drivers were very expensive ones intended for legacy hard drives on corporate servers. So I was stuck with the scanner's USB 1 interface, which was much slower than SCSI.</p>

<p>I now have a Plustek 7600i scanner, which is essentially the same as the current 8200i. And I use VueScan with it.</p>