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Scanner recommendations for new Leopard MacBook?

#1
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5/15/08 at 3:02pm
  • Joined: June 2006
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I just got a new black MacBook with OS 10.5.2, and I'm wondering what are the best scanners to consider.

I want a scanner that can not only scan documents and photos, but negatives, slides, etc., as well.

I've looked at some of the Epson models, as well as Canon, but the reviews on some other sites seem to be mixed, or nonexistant.

Wondering if I should wait until the companies get their software optimized for
Leopard?

Thanks in advance!
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#2
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5/19/08 at 10:10am
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  • Location: Mountain View, CA
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Re: Scanner recommendations for new Leopard MacBook?

This probably isn't the answer you are looking for, but to bump, my scanning needs are served by Canon PIXMA MP600 (since succeeded by MP610), an all-in-one printer-scanner-copier unit. Although the driver doesn't offer as many options as Windows counterpart, it does what it needs to do, sufficiently fast, and pretty good image quality (requires some color correction for best results, however). My friend has scanned many of his 35mm films via Canon CanonScan 8800F with good results as well (to his MacBook).
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#3
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5/19/08 at 9:37pm
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Re: Scanner recommendations for new Leopard MacBook?

Thanks very much! I've sort of been leaning towards the Canon scanners since the reviews are bit more mixed for the Epson.

I have a 9-year old Umax scanner (that I got in a bundle with my old iMac), but I'm not even going to try hooking that up to the Macbook!
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#4
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5/20/08 at 5:20am
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Re: Scanner recommendations for new Leopard MacBook?

I use the CanonScan 9900F for photos (although it accommodates slides as well) and the Epson GT2500 for document scanning.
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#5
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5/20/08 at 7:52am
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Re: Scanner recommendations for new Leopard MacBook?

Late last year I got a Microtek 4800, which is as big as a house, but scans legal size including film up to 8x10(!). The film scans were stellar, but the thing only worked for about a day.

I would suggest a film only scanner for film, particularly if you only need to scan 35mm.


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#6
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5/20/08 at 9:52pm
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Re: Scanner recommendations for new Leopard MacBook?

Are the Epson film scanners any good? They've got a couple of them (the V500 I think is one of them) but some of the reviews are a bit harsh.
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#7
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5/21/08 at 8:22pm
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Re: Scanner recommendations for new Leopard MacBook?

Quote:
Originally Posted by MielR
Are the Epson film scanners any good? They've got a couple of them (the V500 I think is one of them) but some of the reviews are a bit harsh.
I've got an Epson 2580 Photo and it has been unplugged for a while due to the extreme awfulness of the bundled software. I bought a third party app, that at least worked and didn't fraking frell my Mac, but it had a truly horrific user interface (too lazy to look up the name on my old turned off G4).

Bottom line -- there is nothing wrong with the scanning hardware, but the last I looked, the software is a horror show.

What I'm looking for are software recommendations. I was looking at OCR software for OS X a couple of months ago, and the reviews of what's available was about to make me cry. Maybe Apple thinks of scanning as a dead technology, as irrelevant to its future as turntable or analog video input support...
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#8
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5/21/08 at 9:29pm
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Re: Scanner recommendations for new Leopard MacBook?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted Todorov
I've got an Epson 2580 Photo and it has been unplugged for a while due to the extreme awfulness of the bundled software.
What kind of problems did you run into with the software?
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