Canon CanoScan 8800F Color Image Scanner (2168B002)
by Canon Office Products
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon CanoScan 8800F Color Image Scanner (2168B002)
Customer Review: Highly Recommended
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this scanner several months ago. I am only giving it five stars because I don't have the option for six. I had an old scanner, which served me well for the better part of a decade, but I was curious to see if technology had improved enough to warrant an upgrade. The reviews, including many here, seemed to point to the CanoScan 8800F. I was particularly intrigued, and a little skeptical about the slide and negative scanning features. I had long believed that I could get either a flat-bed scanner or a slide-negative scanner ($$), but not both in one device. As an avid amateur photographer I have thousands of old photos, most as prints and negatives, but also many slides, left over from my pre-digital life. I have wanted to archive a subset of images from each year, especially pictures of my kids, but my old scanner was slow, and I was rarely satisfied with the image quality.
The 8800F is everything I need. Image quality from prints is far better than I expected. Many of those I wish to archive are 4x6 snapshots of my kids growing up. I will archive mostly from prints, since it is easier, very fast (scan time about 7 seconds at 300 dpi) and the quality is surprisingly good. For my favorite shots, I will make occasional negative or slide scans for maximal quality. You should be aware that scratches and dust show up well on high-resolution negative and slide scans; on some of them I have a few minutes worth of after-scan retouching work to do. Negative and slide scans take an extra minute to set up and are slower to scan (1 minute to scan one frame at 2400 dpi), but the fact that I can do it at all makes me happy. I may scan some negatives at 1200 dpi (about 30 seconds per frame). Even at that resolution the image quality is pretty good. Be sure to make note of step 1 in the Scanning Film instructions. The protective sheet (white panel inside the lid) must be removed before scanning transparencies, otherwise the film guides won't seat correctly. It will be obvious once you have done it the first time. As far as scan time goes, not sure how much it matters, but I have a fast computer with lots of RAM.
I have read some criticisms about color rendition with this scanner, but I just can't see a significant color problem with any of my scans so far. To my eye it looks just fine. I installed only the ScanGear driver and none of the third party software, as I prefer to scan and edit in Photoshop Elements. I usually use scan under the Advanced tab, since that gives me more options.
Side note: A couple years ago I tried an on-line scanning service. It was not expensive, and results were acceptable, but it took months before my images were ready. When you factor in the time commitment to scan and retouch a lot of slides and negatives, the do-it-yourself approach is probably not worth the cost savings. For me it came down to a desire to get the scan I wanted, when I wanted it, and I don't mind a little work to get it done. It's fun to rediscover some of the old images and once they are scanned I am reminded to share them too.
Bottom line: The 8800F is a great value. No regrets on this purchase.
Customer Review: Best Dang Scanner On The Planet !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Lemme Guess ... you got a zillion slides , negatives , and photos and you want to get them into your computer before you die , RIGHT !! ..... I Know , I can feel your pain .... but unless you click the button to put one of these puppies in your shopping cart , you ARE gonna die first !!! ......
The 8800F does just what it says it can do , and that is scan your film ...... you can get all techy about the settings if you wish , but this thing keeps it simple with the touch of the photo/film button this thing goes to work in auto mode( or you can tweak it's settings ) .... it starts to softly whirr and click and has a nice whine to it ( nuth'n prettier than the sound of a fine servo motor do'n it's thing ) ....... it auto detects if you got slides / 35 mm negs / 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 and it has carriers for all three ....... 4 slides at a whack , 12 35mm negs .... 3 at a time of the latter ........
And It's Fast ..... lighting comes from LEDS so warm up is . 00523 nano seconds by my approximation. ( a little Hutchatelli humor there for ya ) ...... but compared the Pacific Images Film scanner I bought years ago it seems even faster than that ! ......
If you want simplicity with excellence the 8800f can be for you .... if The Big Clock is tick'n in your head that I gotta get this done before I die ..... the 8800F is a good choice ..... I love it when I buy something sight unseen , untried , off the net , and it turns out good ...... this is one of those cases ....
Q. Yeah Hutchatelli ...... but what the heck do you know bout photography
A. Well I'm not a pro ..but I've been snap'n pics heavy since 66 ..... had a darkroom .... the whole schmear .... and what happens when you do darkroom work , is that you triage your negatives and don't always print every pic on a roll of 36 ....... so I'm going back in time ...... I'm seeing a lot of my pics for the first time ...... brand new old light , coming forth on my monitor and on my hard drive and bringing me mucho joy
Q. Well Hutchatelli ..... it's said a picture is worth a thousand words , what say you ????
A. I agree ...... do a Google and punch in pbase hutwight ......... then click on first selection ....... now your at my galleries ...... click on USS Flying Fish ...... all of these were scanned with the 8800F
So Hurry !!! and don't be afraid to purchase this scanner and get you images scanned before your kids or grandkids throw them in the trash because you went ahead and died because you vacillated about buying a scanner and getting them to a computer / on a disc / and then distributed to your DNA pool ..... UNLEASH THOSE PRECIOUS PHOTONS !!!
That's my 2 cents .....
Hutchatelli
Mike Hutchins , Ashtabula , Ohio
Customer Review: Simplicity and Quality
Summary: 5 Stars
I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase of the CanoScan 8800F and the companion printer Canon PIXMA IP4500. I bought both items sight unseen after reading the raving reviews of other owners. They were not wrong -- they are in my estimation the best on the market. Everything works flawlessly. The manufacturer has simplified their operation to the point that the scanner and printer can both be used equally well by either the Novice or the Professional. I find that the scanner default settings meet my current needs, but it is comforting to know it has the capability to expand according to my future personal experience.
I now feel that I have the perfect photography solution where I can take a slide or print, process it in Photoshop Elements 5 which is included with the 8800F scanner, and print a professional looking photograph on the excellent IP4500 printer. It is amazing when you compare the original slide or print against the finished product. My wife, a novice, had trouble with the relatively new HP printer and Epson scanner because they were difficult to use and understand. Also the two different company products did not interface well and did not give the desired end result without a lot of manipulation. Needless to say they are no longer in our household.
There is a lot to be said for simplicity and I can see that Canon is taking this very seriously. They are at the forefront by streamling their products for easy use but still giving you the latest high quality hardware, software and technology available. For example, the 8800F scanner has the latest LED lights replacing the old Fluroescent lamp which is a big improvement. The IP4500 printer reflects this also and gives you everything you would want or need, yet eliminating all the confusing buttons featured on my HP printer (which I never used and was glad to get rid of them). One critic rated the IP4500 printer poorly because of this but I strongly disagree. It is exactly what I wanted.
As I use the Canon products I can marvel at all the attention to detail and quality they have shown me. Now I can just relax and enjoy my photograpy knowing that I have the best equipment available for my purposes.
I made the right choice and I hope you will do the same by reading all the reviews before you buy. Don't buy based on past reputation because some companies have lived on that for far too long. They are now playing catchup but will have a hard time competing with Canon in my book.
I used to be a solid HP fan and still use two very old work horses, the HP IIIP Laser and the DeskJet895Cse, which I love. Now, the mantle has passed and I am in Canon's corner all the way, because they have shown me that they have not given up on quality as others have.
Customer Review: Canoscan 8800f
Summary: 5 Stars
Previous reviews of the Canoscan 8800f were very helpful in deciding which multi purpose scanner to purchase to replace scanners I've been using for years. I have 100's of personal and old family slides to scan, as well as needing to scan sketches and drawings for my own art work. In the few days I've owned the Canoscan 8800f, I've scanned several line drawings (8.5" x 11"), and over 150 35 mm slides. For both purposes, this scanner seems is more than adequate and will continue to be as I gain more knowledge of all it can do and consequently place more demands on the scanner. I am extremely impressed with the quality of the slide scans - the first time I've seen such high quality in other than a Nikon dedicated slide scanner. the software options seem to have enough user control to handle what I need to do. As with other positive reviews, color, quality, grain handling, unsharp masking all seem to work fairly well, especially given the price of the scanner.
One review discussed light artifacts in the upper corners when doing slide scans, which I also experienced. They suggested putting paper under the slide holder tray, covering the finger cutouts. This was an extremely useful tip, as I began to notice the artifacts on my scans. Paper under the slide holder tray, covering the finger cutouts works. thank you to that reviewer.
I bought the 8800f because of lack of warmup time with the LED lights. With previous scanners, warmup times quickly discouraged me from continuing the effort to scan all my slides. Quality has not been this good before on scanners I've used before, either. While not lightning fast (4 minutes for 4 slides @ 2400 dpi), the lack of warmup time eliminates a major frustration in batch scanning. Eventually, I'll scan the majority of my slide collection.
Regarding resolution, it is my understanding (though I'm no expert) that the emulsion on most 35mm film is equal to about 3200 (plus or minus) pixels in the longest direction. Scanning at 2400 dpi yields approximately 3224 pixels in the longest direction. In my estimation, while scanning at higher rates may be useful for larger printing, it may not be necessarily useful for screen viewing, or normal printing up to 8" x 10". Higher resolutions may, in fact, make images appear `blurrier' due to exceeding the effective resolution of the slide film emulsion. Given that it takes significantly more time to scan at higher resolutions, it may not be worth it for most users in most circumstances.
Overall, this is a great scanner.
Customer Review: Speed
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this scanner for speed. I have a 1,000 photos I want to scan. My old scanner took about 20-30 seconds (including placing it and removing it) at 300 dpi for a 4x6 photo.
I figured all the Canon scanners would scan photos with good quality, but with a lot of photos to scan, time was the issue. So I think it is worth the $100 more than the LIDE 90 if I can many hours.
I read the product description which said it scans an 8x10 in 7 seconds. I actually found that hard to believe. I found a review on CNET where someone said it is true.
Well, it is. I actually can't believe how fast it is. With the one button push and a good work flow, I can scan at least 5 4x6 prints (at 300DPI) a minute and I think I can get it faster.
Also, the software is better than it used to be. My old Lide's software was pretty lame. This software is not great, but it does let you set up some defaults so that you can just scan without having to touch the computer, just a one button push on the scanner and the software places the scanned photos into a folder I specified.
It was also pretty trivial to set the copy function up. Now with a one button push I can scan and print a document also without having to touch the computer. And the scanner is so fast, it is almost like using a real copier. To bad a document feeder is not an option.
One last note about software. There are full versions of Photoshop Elements 4.0 (for Mac) and 5.0 for Windows included.
I've already convinced two of my friends to get one.
UPDATE:
I just finished scanning in about 1500 photographs.
As expected, the process was very fast. The reality of the situation was I could scan 3 photos a minute at 300 DPI.
There seems to be a bug in the software for a MAC. I didn't count exactly, but it seemed like about every 500 pictures, the software would just stop working. Restarting the software didn't fix the problem, but rebooting the computer did. So I guess there is a memory leak. I will report this to Canon. It was not too much of a big deal having to reboot every 4 hours of this process, but of course it is pretty annoying.
I can't image how long this process would have taken me if I has a slow scanner. This was one of the best purchases I ever made. Time savings alone paid for itself.