Canon CanoScan LiDE 80 Color Scanner by Canon
|
List Price: Our Price: $34.98 You Save: $115.01 (77%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Canon CanoScan LiDE 80 Color Scanner
Digital camera Review: Fast, easy, portable
Summary: 5 Stars
Scope of use and review: I use a scanner primarily for OCR and for capturing black and white photos.
After several years of good service, my HP 6200C has turned into a nightmare: for some reason it began to require a 15-30 minute battle, after which it sometimes did scan -- and sometimes did not. So I bought an HP 3970, only to find another nightmare with the software: I took the HP 3970 back. In fact the HP 3970 was such a disappointment that I struggled to keep working with my HP 6200C for a few months, despite taking 15 minutes or more to get it to scan.
I am extremely pleased with the Canon LiDE 80. It is fast and very easy to use. The OmniPage SE OCR software that comes with it does a very respectable job. And the scanner easily fits into my laptop bag for travel -- plus there are no power cords to haul along. The fact that it uses LED rather than a bulb also is a plus -- one less maintenance problem to worry about, one less thing to worry about in travel. I have already done more in a month with the LiDE than I was able to do with the HP 6200C in the last six months.
Digital camera Review: Fine for flat stuff, but the film adapter is disappointing
Summary: 3 Stars
I had an old Canon flatbed that gave up the ghost, so was looking forward to this new one, especially because it has a film adapter. First, and foremost, Canon's powering through the single USB cable is excellent and should be industry standard. However, it should be said that this is a film ONLY adapter - that is, it does NOT do slides (which seems like a bit of a bait; my bad for assuming, but the software does have the option of scanning positive film, so it seems like a important omission). More to the point, even when film strips/negatives are laid on the glass with the adapter, the results are slow, slow, slow and not very sharp. My suggestion: don't bother with the LiDE80 for film; just save$30 and get the LiDE65 for flatbed only. MacOSX interface is getting clunkier from generation to generation. Software bloat, I guess.Digital camera Review: Good Device, Lousy Software Installation, NOT 2400dpi!!
Summary: 3 Stars
I had much the same experience as Outis Nihil (below). The software package is apparently designed for OS 9. There is a separate OS X folder with installation drivers for each separate package, rather than the all-in-one installation driver for OS 9. In order to get the scanner to function under OS X, OS 9 installation is required, then you need to download the OS X driver upgrades from the Canon USA website. This allows direct scanning via Photoshop; I haven't tried anything else at the time of this writing. This is not revealed in their instructions, which are pretty much useless.
Also, as mentioned, 1200 dpi is apparently the maximum scanning resolution, which makes their claim of 2400dpi not merely deceptive, but very simply a LIE. This claim needs to be retracted immediately from all their literature.
The imaging results are very good and I'm happy with that. For that reason and the great price I've decided to keep the unit. Time will tell if the hardware is long lasting. The metal lid is a bit thin (admittedly contributing to the device's lightness and portability) but will easily be nicked, scratched, or dented over time with even moderate use.
Hardware: B+, Software: D
Digital camera Review: Good Scanner, Poor OS X Drivers
Summary: 4 Stars
I got this scanner to replace a 1220U for the Film scanning and decent OS X drivers. Unfortunately the drivers on the CD are really bad, but the ones on-line (Tool Box 4.1.3 and LiDE 7.2.1.0 as of this writing) are better, so download them first. PhotoShop Elements is a great bonus but the OmniScan SE is a "classic" only app. Not Canon's fault but still disappointing. Also the film tray is for negatives, not slides so be aware of that. Otherwise it is a nice scanner, light weight, compact and combines USB and power in the same cable (down with AC adaptors!). Mac OS X people get the drivers from the website first.Digital camera Review: Good scanner for the money
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this scanner on sale for about $90 so I could scan negatives and film. Pros: It installed easily on my HP WinXP machine, it is satisfactory in speed, it scans negatives well, its small, and it does not require a separate power block. Cons: Its a bit noisy. I would not recommend it for the photo professional, buts its certainly a good amateur scanner and is also quite portable.