Canon CanoScan 5000F Scanner

List Price: $129.99

Features:

• Sharp 2,400 x 4,800 dpi hardware resolution, 9,600 dpi interpolated
• Rich 48-bit color depth
• Built-in 35mm film adapter
• Fast, convenient USB 2.0 interface
• PC and Mac compatible

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Scanner, Excellent Quality [Posted on 2004-01-04]
The Canon 5000F scanner provides high quality scans at a reasonable price. Being a professional photographer and newspaper cartoonist for 15 years, I've worked with numerous scanner models ranging from HP and Epson to even Microtek units. Yet, for the price, Canon outperforms them all with a "print-perfect" optical resolution of 2400x4800 dpi.

I mostly use the scanner for digitalizing my artwork at a resolution of 1200dpi at an output scale of 100%. The scans appear crisp and clear with well-defined gray tones and contrast levels. Given the ease of the scanning software, it's simple to make a slight adjustment during the pre-scan to change the contrast and brightness to fit your needs.

Also, the Canon 5000F is a well-built unit. All low-priced scanners consist of a plastic body for weight purposes, however, the Canon 5000F employs a solid and sturdy drive unit to guide the movement of the lamp carriage.

I previously bought the HP Scanjet 3970 because of its attractive price, but I also quickly discover its cheap construction, worthless 3-month warranty and its loose connections. Thankfully, I was able to return it for a refund.

At work, I used an Epson 2400 scanner, a comparable unit, that fell apart from the hinges inward. The Epson 2400 could not reproduce the color of photographs as naturally as the Canon 5000F. When scanning grayscale images, the Epson 2400 also could not detect gray tones as well as the Canon unit.

The Canon 5000F wonderfully reproduces the color of photographs and slides when I scan images to be posted on the web. However, for scanning negatives or slides, I use a film scanner to achieve the best results. When scanning negatives on a flatbed scanner, the machine must scan the images at a higher resolution than you intend to print. For example, scanning at 2400dpi will magnify the negative image and allow for decent printing at 600-1200dpi.

For beginners or professionals, the Canon 5000F provides excellent results at a reasonable price. There's very little difference in scanning speeds when a person scans an image at high resolutions, because we're talking about an image file 40MB or bigger. I haven't seen where the flimsy HP or Epson models scanned any faster than the Canon models. After all, if you want quality, be patient. It might take 1-2 minutes for a 2400dpi scan of a picture, but you should be pleased with the results.

For the best color reproduction, clarity and construction, I highly recommend the Canon 5000F.

Note: The Canon LiDE series of slim scanners also provide decent results, but they use a different method of scanning than the Canon 5000F in order to make the scanner 1.5 inches tall. The Canon LiDE series use LEDs for the light source and a contact image sensor (CIS) to capture the scanned image. This system, given the material you're scanning, might not provide you with the color tones you're seeking in order to print large photographs.

Instead, the Canon 5000F uses the traditional cold cathode lamp as the light source and a CCD as the scanner element which still provides the best color and grayscale reproduction.

Enjoy!

Scanner Reset & Computer reboot [Posted on 2004-01-12]
This scanner is great. Only thing I am not happy is that after around every 10 scanning (photo or negative)It locks out and asks to off & on the scanner. Then after around every 20 scans, it lockscompletely up and have to reboot the pc no two ways about it. I have Sony Vaio Digital Studio.
If any body has any suggestion for this improvement please write to me Pooran9412@yahoo.com
Other wise the quality is great.
Prior to this I bought Epson Scanner, it was quite contrary to what the specification said. I had to return it within two days of trials & baught the Canon 5000F.

Everything I Hoped For [Posted on 2004-02-17]
I was able to set up the scanner with no difficulty on my 2.4GHz/512MB P4 system. It took about 20 minutes I guess to install the software and plug in the scanner.

I have used the scanner primarily for photos. The multi-scan mode is GREAT. I have scanned 4 pictures at a time and they are put into 4 separate files. That's a huge time saver, and it works EVERY time for me despite what the editorial review said. I would never buy a scanner without multi-scan mode. The quality is good too. I settled on 600 dpi as the optimal resolution setting (good detail scanned within a reasonable amount of time without files that are too large).

I tried scanning negatives once. It worked well, and the quality was better than scanning photos. My only complaint was that switching the scanner back and forth between regular mode and film mode is a little flimsy. I'm afraid that sliding the white shield too many times would wear it out. It slides on a groove made of poster board type material. But I don't plan to scan many negatives.

I also scanned a magazine page and that worked great.

This scanner is a great choice for a multi-purpose scanner at a reasonable price.

Great for slide & platen scanning, weird reboot problem [Posted on 2004-03-07]
Bad qualities:
As the buyer from CA (Jan 11, 2004) stated, the power must be cycled on this scanner from time to time. Save your scans frequently, because after ten scans or so - the software may give error codes & hang. After reading the documentation & checking Canon's web site, I've found nothing that remedies this problem.

Good qualities:
The scanner is great for the price range it retails in. I highly recommend it for slide scanning & platen images. I don't recommend it for scanning negatives - it takes a few tries to scan each negative which is unacceptable for me.

Speed & reliability:
Speedy USB 2.0 interface & decent looking device. Above average scanner. After six months, it still functions as new - which is very important in today's low price provides low quality type of marketplace.

Far Exceeded My Expectations! [Posted on 2004-03-15]
You can still get this scanner new at eBay or at some camera places. I got it solely because I wanted a film scanner, but could not afford a "real" one. Flatbed scanners are considered inferior for such things. Well, if this scanner is making inferior scans of negatives or slides, I can't tell! I think they are wonderful. It even has the FARE system, which is usually found on more expensive models. The software bundle has loads of photo software, as well as an OCR program. I have used the OCR program once...there were too many words it couldn't read...and I could have typed up the article faster than proofreading the mistakes.But I have not read up on everything yet, mainly because there is no printed manual, only a Quick Start Guide. But at least the QSG tells you more than most. It's still confusing at times, though. Even things I've done before can be confusing to repeat. It's just not the easiest software on the face of the Earth.But as I said, it scans negatives and slides beautifully, as well as photos. It does far better with photos than my HP All-In-One. It should, however, since it is a photo/film scanner.And it's a nice priced one at that!

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