Recommendations for good quality quick scanner

[Greg Hogland]

Look to be doing more photo montages and would like to know of a good scanner that is fairly quick so I can run several photos through to use in Premiere to create photo montages. Any suggestions?

[Jay West]

What version of Premiere and, perhaps more to the point, what version of Photoshop and are you using a Mac or a PC?

I use and can highly recommend the Cannon 8800F which is about $160 to $170 from Newegg and also from DVinfo sponsor B&H. I run on PCS (Vista 64 laptop and Win 7 workstation) and have found some limitations. Canon does not have 64bit Twain drivers for scanning into 64-bit Photoshop CS5. The scanner ships with a 32-bit version of Photoshop Express. (Mine came with Photoshop Express 5.0, but they might be shipping a newer version, now.) I use PE to scan and save the photos to a psd then work on them (when I need to do so) in Photoshop CS5 before importing to CS5.

Apart from that, the 8800f is very fast and has the ability to scan in resolutions far exceeding 1920X1080 HD formats (the specs claim optical resolutions up to 48800 x 9600 dpi). It has slide and film holders and a top light, so it also does a nice job with slides, negatives and film strips.

I would suggest that you avoid the LIDE models. These take their power from from the USB cable, and that makes them slow to warm up and slow to scan. The USB power-ability is a great thing when you need a highly portable full-size page scanner with a laptop when on-location, but they seem excruciatingly slow. (I've got one that I haul around with me for use when I'm on the road but, when I'm in the office, I much prefer my 8800F.)

[Greg Hogland]

Thanks for the information Jay

I am using Adobe CS4 production bundle. So I have Premiere and Photoshop CS4. I am looking for something that is quick so if the photos are in good shape, I will only have to scan them and import them directly into Premiere with touching them up. Does this scanner allow you to scan them into Photoshop as a Photoshop file or a jpeg?

[Alan Henderson]

I can recommend the 8800F and Vuescan software as well.

I've been using Vuescan for about 10 years and it is a great program will free lifetime upgrades.

Alan

[Jay West]

Originally Posted by Greg Hogland

Thanks for the information Jay
* * * Does this scanner allow you to scan them into Photoshop as a Photoshop file or a jpeg?

Yes. Once you've scanned photos into Pshop (using File --> Import ---> "scanner name"), the default format is PSD. Color photos can be "saved as" JPEGs or other formats. If you want to save a grayscale image as a JPEG, scan it in color rather than grayscale.

Note that you can run into some oddities when using 64-bit versions of Photoshop ---- which will have program listings like "Photoshop CS4(64-bit)" ---- as opposed to the 32 bit version --- whose program listing will be only something like "Photoshop CS5." On a PC, both versions install with CS4 and CS5 Production Premium packages.

I've got CS4 running under Vista 64 on a laptop and CS5 running under Win 7 Pro on my editing a workstation. In the plain (32-bit) Pshop CS4 and CS5, clicking on "file --> import" shows both my LIDE 90 and 8800f scanners as available and also lists Twain and WIA interfaces.

However, CS4(64-bit) on my systems only shows WIA interfaces. Under Vista 64 on the laptop, the Pshop CS4 WIA connection will scan and import images from the LIDE90 but not the 8800F. Under Win 7, the Pshop CS5(64) interface will scan only from the WIA interface.

There are problems with Twain drivers and 64-bit operating systems and 64-bi applications. They just don't work with Pshop CS4(64) and Pshop CS5(64).

If you want "quick" and simple for good photos, it is really hard to beat Photoshop Express which is included with the 8800F. The editing interface in PshopExpress is similar to the full Photoshop and it has an "auto fix" that can instantly solve a lot of simple image issues (light/dark, color balance, levels, etc.) For just dropping photos into Premiere, I often use PshopExpress and save the full Pshop versions for the tasks where I need the tools. Another nice thing with Pshop Express is that it comes with easily adaptable templates for printing on CDs and DVDs if you've got a printer that does that. The full Photoshop gives you far more tools and much better control when you need it, but sometimes faster and simpler is better for basic tasks.

I'm not familiar enough with Vuescan to comment on it.

[Greg Hogland]

Jay
When you place a small picture in the scanner does it only scan the picture or does it scan the whole bed so that you have to crop down the picture after it has scanned?

[Dave Blackhurst]

Every scanner software I've used in the last 15 years (oh wait, my scanners are almost that old!?) will auto select the "target" with a reasonable degree of accuracy, and if you "preview" you can change it if it misses.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Good Morning,

can this scanner scan 2.25 x2.25 slides?

[Pete Bauer]

The Canon 8800F and the newer 9000F both do 35mm film, 35mm mounted slides, and medium format (120mm x 6 film rolls):
Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : Film & Negative Scanners

[Jay West]

As Pete points out, Canon's websites say that these scanners will process "medium format" slides.

Canon CanoScan CS5600F | Canon CanoScan 8800F

I would assume that covers 2.5 x 2.5. My 8800f came with three film scanning frame/holders and one is supposed to be able to hold 120mm film. But, I've never tried the 8800f with medium format slides (and I haven't actually even seen any within recent memory), so I cannot give you any first hand experience.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Jay and Pete,

thanks for the info and linc.

I have been needing a scanner for hundreds of photos slides with a rollie back in the 50's and 60's. I still have my twin lens reflex camera!!! moved on to video a decade or so ago.

I will order the 9000 on payday!!!!

thanks again!!!

[Andrew Smith]

If you need a cheap (not requiring much expenditure) and quick scanner to put something in to a video timeline ... you already have one.

It's your video camera.

Point. Shoot. Done.

(project slides on to a screen if you must)

Andrew