In reply to a post by Rhynchelma:

Came to this thread late.

I have had Vuescan for more years than I care to think. Only ever had one problem which was fixed in less than a day.

I have a "lifetime" licence, so I'll leave it in my will.

Its interface takes little getting used to, but you won't regret it.

Thanks for posting that- I've got an old Canon flatbed which I haven't used for 10 years or so because I couldn't find Mac drivers. So (after I'd spent 15 minutes or so finding where I'd put it!) I downloaded the trial and it works fine

Looks like the basic drivers will probably be OK for the few occasions I'm likely to use it but need to think about that... a bigger problem will be finding space on the desk to put it! I won't have Adrian's issue with scanner buttons because apart from what I assume is a reset button it hasn't got any

In reply to a post by billford:

Thanks for posting that- I've got an old Canon flatbed which I haven't used for 10 years or so because I couldn't find Mac drivers. So (after I'd spent 15 minutes or so finding where I'd put it!) I downloaded the trial and it works fine

Looks like the basic drivers will probably be OK for the few occasions I'm likely to use it but need to think about that... a bigger problem will be finding space on the desk to put it! I won't have Adrian's issue with scanner buttons because apart from what I assume is a reset button it hasn't got any

If your canon scanner have no doc feeder then all you need are the basic drivers. Technology on scanners have not really gone crazy, some of the more expensive ones are faster, the ones we have at work will scan both sides at the same time and are super fast, but you are looking at a grand. Hp does sell one that also does both side at the same time for around £350, which is pretty good to be honest, but I doubt it is as fast as the one at work. It grabs the paper at super sonic speed.
quality wise they are still the same more or less, 600DPI which is the normal, some are 1200, mine can go to 2400, but i noticed most don't.

I ordered a canon when I got this, just a cheap flatbed canon scanner and I ended up with Hp one that cost a lot more for the same price. I did email the company I got it from, but they insisted I was sent a canon as that was what it said on the external packaging. So someone in their warehouse could not tell the difference, or they had enough of their job and was leaving that day.

I had a Plustek years ago, I thought I would do a search to see if they are still around and to my shock, they are. The one I had was awful, cheap plastic, noisy, but it was cheap and did the job. Shocked that they are still going, but they seem to make better products.

At the end of the day, I should have got the Brother LED printer with a scanner, but I did not, due to the cost.

I bought a HP flatbed scanner a few years ago when my old scanner stopped working with anything later than XP. I bought an Epson EcoTank printer a few years ago that came with a scanner, so now I have two!

In reply to a post by spile:

I bought a HP flatbed scanner a few years ago when my old scanner stopped working with anything later than XP. I bought an Epson EcoTank printer a few years ago that came with a scanner, so now I have two!

The Ecotank, I had a loot at them at one point, they are pretty expensive for a basic printer, I suppose because Epson can't charge stupid prices for their ink, so they charge stupid prices for their printer.,
Canon produces the Megatank, works the same way, again overpriced for basic printers. Maybe we are just used to paying cheap prices for printers because we are ripped off with the price of ink.

This is really what put me off the idea off buying a printer with a scanner, and why I paid for the software.
My idea was to get a Brother MFC-J5340DWE A3 printer/scanner, but at £60 for set of ink, that put me off. I already have a brother colour LED printer.
I know Ink jets are better for photos and can print on different paper, but I did say when I got this printer, I will never buy an ink jet again. Not a fan of Epson printers to be honest, the last one I had was built to be as cheap and nasty as possible. My brother on the other hand swears by them. I like Canon myself, but the last canon I had was not the best,

A friand has a

The EcoTank has been fantastic. After five years we are still on the original ink. No blocks and we are getting quality prints. Well worth the upfront cost.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

If your canon scanner have no doc feeder then all you need are the basic drivers.

No doc feeder so yes, the basic drivers would do, but I think the scanner is too far past its best... there was obviously something not right about scanned images, and scanning with nothing loaded (so it's scanning the white "back plate") gave an unacceptable and roughly sinusoidal variation of both luminance and (less severe) hue across the scan, suggesting a problem with either the head or the electronics

It hasn't been used for at least 8 years so, although I can't see why it should be the cause of the problem, there's a good chance any electrolytic capacitors in there have dried out, and an outside chance that leaving it on for a few days will re-form them enough for it to work properly.

I'm certainly not betting on it but it's worth a shot, and if it doesn't work then I'm no worse off than I was before

Edited by billford (Sat 01-Apr-23 17:09:16)

In reply to a post by spile:

The EcoTank has been fantastic. After five years we are still on the original ink. No blocks and we are getting quality prints. Well worth the upfront cost.

Wow, an Epson printer lasting five years. Saying that my Brother has two and they are still going after a few years, including a workforce one.
I just think you pay a lot for a basic printer, it is fine if you use a lot of ink I suppose as you save on that, as i said Canon megatank has the same problem, pay a lot of money for a printer which is pretty basic.

In reply to a post by billford:

No doc feeder so yes, the basic drivers would do, but I think the scanner is too far past its best... there was obviously something not right about scanned images, and scanning with nothing loaded (so it's scanning the white "back plate") gave an unacceptable and roughly sinusoidal variation of both luminance and (less severe) hue across the scan, suggesting a problem with either the head or the electronics

It hasn't been used for at least 8 years so, although I can't see why it should be the cause of the problem, there's a good chance any electrolytic capacitors in there have dried out, and an outside chance that leaving it on for a few days will re-form them enough for it to work properly.

I'm certainly not betting on it but it's worth a shot, and if it doesn't work then I'm no worse off than I was before

That is a shame, yeah it could be the caps.
I must admit, I am shocked mine is still working after all these years, just hope it stays working for a while longer, certainly now I spent money on software for it

Well, 48 hours on soak made not the slightest difference, so I think it's terminal.

Nice to know about VueScan though, I liked it. In the (not particularly likely) event that I buy a scanner then a comparison with whatever software comes with it might be interesting!

In reply to a post by billford:

Well, 48 hours on soak made not the slightest difference, so I think it's terminal.

Nice to know about VueScan though, I liked it. In the (not particularly likely) event that I buy a scanner then a comparison with whatever software comes with it might be interesting!

There is always that horrible feeling - a machine that’s run and run, sometimes for years, virtually non-stop. At some point gets powered down, packed up for a move or relocation. Gets unpacked at the other end, powered back up and…absolutely NOTHING.