Which flatbed film scanner?

[john_oconnell14]

<p>After perusing a number of reviews of scanners in the mid-range budget-wise, I'm considering getting a Canon 9000F for general scanning and photo/negative/slide scanning. I currently use a Canoscan FS2710 35mm film scanner but it relies on a SCSI card for which I can't get a driver for Windows Vista or 7, so I'm planning to sell the FS2710 and just use the 9000F for my flim scanning.<br>

I realise that I wont get as good results from the 9000F with trannie adaptor as I would from the FS2710, but is there that much difference in quality? For example, in shadow and highlights?<br>

Or can anyone recommend a quality flatbed film scanner at around the same price as the Canoscan 9000F?</p>

[William Kahn]

<p>John, which SCSI card do you have? I'm using an older Adaptec card on a Vista x32 machine which I migrated from an XP machine with no problem. The Adaptec website has driver downloads for a number of older cards. Even if you can't find one specifically for Vista or Windows 7, an XP driver may work. It's worth a shot, anyway - better than settling for an inferior scanner...</p>

[john_oconnell14]

<p>Hi William, there is a Windows 7 32-bit driver but my system is running Windows 64-bit - installing Win 7 32-bit isn't an option because of the apps I use which require more than 6GB physical memory. Adaptec don't and won't provide a 64-bit driver for the AVA-2904 SCSI card bundled with my FS2710. I guess one option would be to find a plug compatible SCSI card for which there is a 64-bit driver but again, Adaptec aren't much use - they couldn't tell me which card that has a 64-bit driver would be plug compatible with my existing SCSI card.<br>

But even then, I'd have to shell out more money on a new SCSI card whereas I could just sell the scanner and eventually replace it with something like a PlusTek when I need better scanning performance than provided by a flatbed with film adaptors.</p>

 

[JDMvW]

<p>Look at VueScan software - a trial version is downloadable at http://www.hamrick.com/ and it supports lots of older scanners like my Canon FS4000US, and even my older HP ScanJet.</p>

[bob_sunley]

<p>How about an older machine dedicated to scanning, a keyboard monitor switch box or freeware remote control software allows you to switch back and forth easily.</p>

<p> </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Actually, I use an older computer with a SCSI card that is now dedicated solely to my film scanners and once a week to downloading the five hours of <em>Blues before Sunrise</em>. That way scanning doesn't interfere with my using my other computers [i have a superstition that Vuescan and multitasking don't play well together. I acknowledge that the few crashes I have had had, however, may have just been a case of "my lucky mitt" phenomenon]</p>

[john_oconnell14]

<p>@JDM: I do use Vuescan, but the issue is with the driver for the SCSI card which the scanner connects to. VueScan only acts as a driver for the scanner itself and not the interface hardware.<br>

@Bob: that's an idea but I don't have space for another PC, no matter how small.<br>

One thing I could try is to install Win7 32 bit on a bootable USB disk and use that when I need to do some scanning. I'll investigate that possibility.</p>

[john_oconnell14]

<p>Okay, I think I have a solution for continuing to use the film scanner - I can create a Windows VHD, install Windows 7 32-bit on that and then set that up to be booted from.<br>

I'd still like to invest in a quality mid-range flatbed scanner for scanning film, so does anyone have any recommendations? I'm seriously considering the Canoscan 9000F...</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Until I broke it trying to clean off the inside of the glass, I loved my Canoscan 9950F. It still limps along, but not as well as before. It was never the equal of the Canoscan F4000US, however, even at its best. Close, though, and I still use it for larger format scans, avoiding the bad spot from my cleaning.</p>

[pankaj purohit]

<p>John,If your happy with FS2710 results than forget about 9000F. I have been using a 8800F and 9000F shares most parts from it.</p>

<p>I have lot of experience with 8800F as I have been using 35mm films so far so I bought it and have tried everything to get better results. I left the Canon software and used Vuescan, which is best scanning software so far.</p>

<p>These scanners are usefull only for storing images just for desktop viewing or web postings, which was my purpose to buy one and I am happily using that scanner for that purpose. If you want to print from these scans then forget about it, these flatbed scanner never can produce usable results. Real quality of films never can't be captured using a flatbed. maximum</p>

<p>If you are really serious for a scanner upgradation, then try to get used Nikon coolscan series scanner or any other dedicated film scanner, it will really do its job and real juice from film will come out nicely.<br /> Here are some images posted by me earlier in the forum in other discussion regarding scanners, have a look : <a href="http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00T/00TJvn-133547584.jpg">http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00T/00TJvn-133547584.jpg</a><br /> <a href="http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00T/00TJvq-133549584.jpg">http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00T/00TJvq-133549584.jpg</a><br /> <a href="http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00T/00TJvs-133551684.jpg">http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00T/00TJvs-133551684.jpg</a></p>

<p>Here is the link of that discussion, you will gain lot of by reading whole thread, do read before taking any decision : <a href="../film-and-processing-forum/00THeH">http://www.photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/00THeH</a></p>

<p>You can also go through my gallery on Photo.net to see more results of 8800f, almost every capture is scanned on this scanner.</p>

[priscilla_turner1]

<p>This thread is ever so old, but I feel bound to post this new knowledge.<br>

<br /> With a bit of work, you can make all your old internal Adaptec SCSI cards function in Win 7/8 with this brilliant solution:<br>

<br /> <a href="http://www.colorneg.com/Vuescan/Adaptec-SCSI-controller/AHA-2940-etc/driver-for-64-Bit-Windows-7-and-8/">http://www.colorneg.com/Vuescan/Adaptec-SCSI-controller/AHA-2940-etc/driver-for-64-Bit-Windows-7-and-8/</a><br>

<br /> I am now running my long defunct Canon Canoscan FS2710 using Hamrick's modern scanner driver without a hitch. The resolution was never that marvellous, but it's quite adequate for old slides and negs. Old emulsions never resolved all that a good 35mm lens would put onto them in any case.</p>

<p>If it is possible for me to post my newly created driver files for Win7 Ultimate x64 to save someone some work, tell me how to do that.</p>