What scanning software?
GV
early to middle twentieth century but also some color from the latter
twentieth century) that I'd like to scan and put on DVD's or cd's. I have a
Visioneer OneTouch 8900 USB that I have a driver for but I no longer have
the software that came with the scanner. Can anyone recommend a software
that's fairly simple to use that will allow that kind of scanning. I'm not
too concerned about trying to clean up imperfections and adjusting colors
but I'd like to have some capability that way. Most of the photos are in
reasonable shape for their age but a few of them have creases and marks that
it'd be nice to get rid of.
OTOH, is a software package what I want or should I be looking at a new
scanner that has the software with it? I've had the 8900 for awhile but I
haven't used it all that much, probably less than 100 scans, so it should
last for a while longer. I'm not into scanning that much so I don't want to
spend hundreds of dollars for this project and then have a fancy
scanner/software just sit and gather dust.
TIA, for any advice!
Gary
Visit Lucy & Gary and do the jigsaw puzzle at
www.under-1-roof.com/PuzzlePage.html
Charlie Hoffpauir
I'm sure there are a lot of choices. Here's one I'm familiar with,
Vuescan.
http://www.hamrick.com/vsm.html
A free trial is available, and if you find it's what you want, it
costs $39.95. Definitely try it before you buy something, although I
would think a Google search might turn up something for free. Doesn't
the later varsions of Windows come with basic scanning software built
in?
Or got to http://www.scanhelp.com/ and click on free Shareware
tryouts and sample several different programs.
Barry Watzman
best option is probably Hamrick VueScan. It suppports most scanners,
but not all of them.
My favorite scanner for scanning hard copy images is an old HP 5470C
(actually, I have the 5490C which is the same scanner with an ADF
(automatic document feeder .... not used for photos). It was (is) a
VERY good scanner, 2400 dpi hardware resolution, and it had the last of
HP's GOOD scanning software (PrecisionScan Pro) before they decided to
ignore professionals and cater to the masses with junk toy software.
You can pick these up cheap, a number of them have gone on E-Bay for
$10-$30 recently (all scanners are going to be expensive to ship).
Officially it doesn't work with Vista but in fact it does. I have not
tried it with Windows 7, my guess is it will work with 7 also (again,
unofficially).
Alternatively, the best current scanners for scanning prints are
probably some Epson models, but they will cost more like $300 to $700.
All of this is relative to scanning prints. If you have negatives or
slides, those are better than prints (or at least potentially better).
For those, the best FILM scanners are Nikon, although the Epson flatbed
scanners are, again, very good. If you are scanning film, you want a
scanner with a feature called "Digital ICE"; most Nikon and Epson
scanners have this (as well as some other brands).
There is more to scanning than just slapping the media onto or into the
scanner and pressing a scan button. Getting a top quality scan requires
some knowledge and some effort in using professional level software
properly to adjust the various exposure parameters. Don't get carried
away by resolution; for prints, unless they are extremely small, use 300
dpi (for prints less than 4x6, maybe 600 dpi). For 35mm slides and
negatives, use a native, non-interpolated resolution that will give you
a 6 to 10 megapixel final image. More than that is overkill, less
begins to leave out detail that you could capture.