Canon CanoScan 9950F Flatbed Scanner

I bought this mostly to scan a large collection of color slides for use in Powerpoint presentations; it replaced a HP ScanJet 3500 (about which I had no complaints at all, but needed the slide scanning capabilities). I'm running it off an iMac G5 with Mac OS 10.4, scanning through Photoshop CS2, using the USB 2.0 connection (Firewire 400 also possible). You get a lot in a compact package: scanner, with lid with built-in transparency light, power and USB cables (no Firewire cable, though), 4 transparency templates (35mm strip, 35mm slide, 120 format film guide and 4x5 transparency guide, all of sturdy plastic rather than the cardboard I've seen with other scanners), minimal printed documentation, software CD and Photoshop Elements CD. And it shipped very quickly direct from Amazon.com. The CanoScan 9950F works like a dream--it was out of the box, software installed, scanning immediately. Scanning slides took a little longer for me to figure out, partly because the very brief documentation follows procedures for 35mm film strips rather than slides as its main example. But the results are great--very high resolution (1200 dpi, can go up to 4800), clear, crisp, bright scans (the only downside is that it shows how dusty some of my slides are, but the software even has some fixes for that). And the scans are pretty quick--average of about 30 seconds per slide at 1200 dpi. Scanning paper documents is a snap, and you can do all the usual things like scan to a printer like a copy machine or to a PDF file. The USB 2.0 connection gives fast transfer rates and, unlike some of my other USB devices, putting the computer to sleep is no problem for this scanner--OS 10.4 will recognize it right after awakening. Plus, it looks very cool; scanner design was the least of my concerns here, but it's hard not to admire the sleek black and dark gray case, and it seems pretty sturdy as well. A few notes for the new buyer.... The Getting Started booklet is extremely minimal and skips some important things (the power button on the front of the scanner, for example!). It's mildly annoying that the instructions take you through procedures using the proprietary software ArcSoft PhotoStudio bundled with the scanner software, rather than Photoshop, which anyone who's serious about images will be using. (The scanner does ship with Photoshop Elements on a separate CD-Rom). It's even more annoying the way the software is installed as a group (it doesn't seem to be possible to skip installation of one piece and then go back and install it). None of the print documentation seems to explain the functions of the blue LED on the front of the scanner (OK, continuous means "on", slow flashing "standby" but what about the different speeds of flashing while scanning is going on?), nor are you told when it's okay to turn the machine off altogether (apparently any time when it's not actually scanning). Finally, there is some wiggle-room in the slide templates--I know this will be helpful to accommodate various kinds of slides, but it means that you'll want to make sure the slides are straight in the template before scanning: just slapping them on may result in having to rotate the images a bit later (I've used higher-end scanners with spring-loaded slide templates that do away with this problem). There are certainly much higher-end scanners out there for slides (and other film media), but when you think of the price of the CanoScan 9950F, it's a great bargain. I'm really happy with this so far; once I've scanned all my slides I've got plenty of other jobs to keep it busy!

I am very pleased with the speed of the scan, the ease of use and the options given for a custom scan. The speed function buttons on the front of the unit permit ease of use to make a copy, scan a page, make a page into a pdf or email a page. This unit does not have a document feeder so you can only work with one page at a time. I bought this particular unit because of the product description. My primary use of this scanner is to scan information into projects I am creating. The quality of the scan has been excellent. Sometimes I have an output problem from my printer though with green and that is not the fault of the scanner. The scanner quickly provides crisp images with usually good color. You can scan from within your computer program or select one of the speed buttoms on the scanner. It also comes with text editing software which will permit you to scan a page and change or add info to the document. I would purchase again from this vendor. I particularly love Canon products because they are serviced in the USA not India. I have found that Okidata also provides customer service through the USA, while HP provides customer service through India. I am disappointed in HP and use to buy nothing but HP products. Now, there isn't an HP product in my home or office. If other companies can provide customer service in the USA and still price their products to sell, why can't HP! Nancy B.

This is an excellent scanner that is easy to setup and run. I was scanning old color slides along with black & white and color negatives from the 60's with excellent results within an hour of unpacking, so I think it is safe to say that installation and operation was easy. The Adobe software that is bundled with the unit is powerful enough to rescue many 40 year plus old slides that were really faded. This was really nice to find, but the software is only a sample of an older version. Anyway I was impressed enough that I will be upgrading to the latest Adobe software soon. My only complaints are: First - a negative mask was not included for the old Kodak instamatic sized film. I am still working on a work around to let me do more than one negative at time, but I am sure it is there I just need to find it. Second - The lack of a printed operating manual. I miss being able to kick back in my recliner and review the documentation while relaxing in my living room, but this was a problem with my previous HP 4470c scanner, too. Overall, if you need to scan slides, negatives, or documents, this is an excellent machine that is well worth the money.