Canon CanoScan LiDE 700F Color Image Scanner (3297B002)
by Canon
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon CanoScan LiDE 700F Color Image Scanner (3297B002)
Customer Review: Canon Scanner
Summary: 5 Stars
We have 3 of these in our office now. Takes less space, produces good quality scans with one-touch buttons. Great product!Customer Review: Nice scanner for former HP 4670 users
Summary: 4 Stars
I have used an HP Scanjet 4670 for years, and really loved the thing. It was the rare flatbed scanner that did not take up a lot of desk space, having the unusual vertical picture frame design. My particular unit was faulty in some way (I never determined whether it was a hardware fault or something with the driver); sometimes in the middle of a series of scans it would crash, requiring that I close the HP software and cycle power to the scanner, then relaunch the HP software. And it was not a very good slide scanner. But because of its form factor, build quality, flexibility in use, and small desktop footprint, I kept using it.
Enter the new computer with Windows 7 (64 bit). I checked all my equipment with both the manufacturers and with the Microsoft Windows 7 compatibility webpage. With the exception of my Scanjet 4670 and my trusty Color Laserjet 2600n, all equipment was Win 7 x64 compatible (HP said there was no Win 7 driver for the 4670 and the compatibility chart did not disagree. I heard that HP has since added a driver but I have not verified this. Some web blogs suggested that it could only be used via TWAIN from other graphics software, perhaps Photoshop or similar). I decided that it was time for a new scanner, assuming I could find a comparable one with the vertical design and Win 7 compatibility and good reviews.
The ONLY scanner that fit my requirements was the Canon 'CanoScan LiDE 700F. It is very comparable to the old 4670. Since I am writing this review from the perspective of a 4670 comparison, I will mention the major feature points.
- Both can be used vertically by opening the cover and dropping in documents or photos.
- Both can be used horizontally with the cover out of the way to scan over-sized items and books.
- The Canon is not as good as the HP for scanning when you need to place the scanner face down on the item to be scanned, or when you need to hold the scanner up to an object (such as a wall or a sign) to scan it. The 4670 was the only scanner I ever saw that was really good at these odd scanning situations. The Canon can probably be used, inconveniently, upside down, but I am sure Canon does not recommended it and the non-detachable cover would certainly get in the way. I think trying to use the scanner in a 'free-orientation, hand-held mode would be ill advised.
- With the HP, you could see through the scanner to the object you were scanning (applicable only when used upside down or in free-orientation mode); the Canon does not have this feature.
- Both have detachable light-source units which fit onto the scanning platen, allowing the light to be sent through a transparency to the scanning element. So, both machines handle the scanning of slides and negatives in a very similar way.
- Both have a set of buttons on the scanner for quickly performing common scanning tasks without opening the software.
- Both scanners take about the same amount of time to perform the actual scan, not counting warm-up time.
Some areas where the Canon is superior to the HP:
- The Canon does not have a 'wall wart' power supply. It uses only a small amount of power and therefore can be powered solely from the computer via the USB cord. For this to work, you need to make sure that you use either a full-power USB port on the computer (some computers do not provide full power to all of their USB ports...usually the ones on the back are full powered, but on some computers the ones on the front are not full powered....OR you can use a USB hub if it is a powered type and the hub port you choose is fully powered.
- The Canon uses LEDs for the light source instead of a fluorescent lamp. This means there is NO warm-up period, and the scanner starts immediately. This is a huge improvement.
- The Canon software is better than the HP when it comes to automatically detecting the boundaries of the item(s) you are scanning. I found that the HP software routinely placed scan crop boundaries in scanned items.
- The Canon software automatically allows scanning of multiple small items such as photos. Just make sure they have enough separation, perhaps almost 1 inch, and the software identifies them as different items and saves them to different files. The HP software allowed multiple items on the platen, but you needed to manually select them and save them.
The HP was a heavily built scanner, and the Canon is lightly built. I would not say that the Canon is flimsy, but it does not have that solid feel that the 4670 had. I think the Canon is indeed a quality product, but is made with a different philosophy. I think if the two in the same way I compare and old American car that weighed twice as much as modern cars, yet the new ones last longer, don't rust out as badly, are safer in crashes, are more efficient, and generally work better in many ways.
OK, how well does it scan? I don't have a color chart, but the photos I have scanned come out looking good. The scanned results might be slightly lighter than the same photos scanned with the old HP 4670. I actually have a handful of photos where I still have the prints, and also have scanned versions done on the HP, for comparison....but have the original prints faded over time? I cannot say for sure if there is really any difference, but in any case the results are very good.
The Canon software opens with a simple interface for quick scanning of everyday items. If you click a check box, the software opens an alternate scanning interface with many, many more options and controls. It looks like a very comprehensive set of scanning controls and adjustments can be made here, but I have not played with them yet. By default, the software auto-detects the crop borders of items on the scanner platen, whereas the HP always showed the adjustable crop borders. In the Canon, you need to select the advanced mode interface to get the adjustable crop borders.
I have to confess that I don't have any slides or transparencies any more, and therefore cannot easily test the Canon's slide scanning quality and features.
I have read other reviews where people have wondered about this scanner's compatibility with the newer Windows 7 operating system, especially with the 64 bit version. I have had no problems at all with the installation or use with Win 7 x64. BUT, I did have problems with many other printers and such, most of which were supposed to be Win 7 x64 compatible. I eventually got them all working fine, but in some cases long tech support sessions were required. I actually spent almost three hours on the phone with an HP 'level three' tech support guy getting my color laserjet working (I never did get the old 2600n working, and the new CP1525 I bought to replace it is the one that took three hours to get working); after this I received a phone call from an HP software engineer who wanted to know the exact steps I took when trying to install the CP1525 the first time (I had followed the instructions exactly), and he told me something interesting about Win 7. Apparently, even if you are the administrator and think you have administrator privileges, Win 7 still restricts certain kinds of changes that driver installation software often tries to make. This can mess up an otherwise good installation. Repeated attempts at installation can leave a mess in the registry and in other places, hence the need for long tech support remedies. The HP engineer told me that when popping an installation CD into the drive, Win 7 opens a dialog box that identifies the executable installation file, asking for permission to run it. Instead of letting it run, take note of the filename, abort the installation, then use Windows Explorer (or whatever that feature is called in Win 7) to open the CD drive folder, find that executable installation file, right click it and select 'Run as Administrator'. This is in fact what the tech support guys did to get other equipment working after they had undone the damage caused by the messed up first installations. So, I tried this method when installing the Canon software, and everything went perfectly. I will certainly use this method for any other drivers I install in the future. Also, with Win 7, it is a good idea to define a system Restore Point just before making any new installation of a driver or other software. If it goes wrong, it it easy to ask Windows to revert to the system status before you made the change, thereby hopefully avoiding long tech support sessions.
Customer Review: Working Great!
Summary: 4 Stars
I had returned an Epson V500 scanner that pooped out on me after two scans, and decided to try this Canon scanner instead. I was a little bit leery of trying Canon, due to an inkjet printer that I owned long ago that died within a few months. But so far this scanner has been very good.
The LiDE 700F is fairly small, so it will fit in a smaller area. It opens on the side. It was very easy to install, and it scans much faster than my old scanner (a 7-year old HP Scanjet). I'm using it basically to scan sketches in, and it does this very well. The scans look great! Please note that this scanner does not come with a slide adapter, it has some cheesy little adapter for scanning negative film strips, but I have not tried that function. I just bought it to scan documents and actual artworks on paper, so that's all I'm reviewing here.
There are only two little problems with this scanner, both of them related to the software. The first problem is that I find the software that Canon includes to be cumbersome, over-complicated and not very intuitive. Windows pop up that I'm not expecting to pop up, and it's just not a super-easy experience. I am still getting used to it, though, so it could just be me. The other problem is that there are buttons on the front of the scanner, but I can't figure out how to get the "scan" button to open the Canon scanner software, instead it opens the default Image Capture program on my Mac. Again, this is probably just me, but I do wish that Canon would provide more help and detailed instructions on how to use the software.
All in all, though, I am very happy with this product and thrilled that it works!
Customer Review: Great price, good scans, software clunky
Summary: 4 Stars
Nice price, document scans and photo print scans are good, integrates well with Photoshop, and the lid design works for bulky stuff. I'm not using it, but the vertical mount option is interesting. USB-only power is great--one less wall wart. The scan bar return is kind of slow, and the plasticy return sound doesn't inspire confidence (it's worked well for me, however).
The software has been frustrating and I've moved back to my old scanning package. Canon's software effectively imposes a workflow on you and defaults to a subfolder/naming structure that has to be constantly overridden. If you can live with their workflow it looks like scanning is pretty fast and painless. Haven't tried the photo scanning software.
Customer Review: Slow and Steady Gets the Job Done
Summary: 4 Stars
This scanner installed easily and works well on both my HP (Windows Vista) laptop and my MAC (Leopard). That's a first. I love that it's powered through the USB connection so it doesn't require another plug. It's light and easily moved because of the USB only connection. I even took it on the road with me. It's an outstanding value for the money, but for the money don't expect a high speed, beefy scanner. It feels flimsy and it's slow. But it works and it works easily. Like most cheaper products, I wonder about the durability and I've had it for only 5 weeks. I've used it primarily for documents and can attest to document scan quality. So far so good!