Scanner recommendations?

[dbminter]

I need some recommendations for a new scanner or a decent scanner software. This part is important because I need one thing in particular in my scanner software that appears now to be no longer a concern in the software developers' minds who make the scanning software.

 

 

What I need from my scanner software is the ability to select specific portions of a field to scan in. My old scanner, a OneTouch Visioneer 8100, had this ability. But, due to its near 8 year ago and no longer being supported natively under Vista or Windows 7, plus the fact that it stopped working all together after I somehow managed, but could never replicate in my other partition saves to get the scanner working. So, I need to replace it. Right now, I've got my mother's all in one printer/scanner/copier hooked up, but, the software doesn't allow the user to select what areas in the scanning field that I want scanned, like the Visioneer software did. Now, it's all or nothing, in that it only scans the entire document, after finding it on the scanner field, with no ability to select a portion of the field to scan.

 

 

So, if anyone can recommend a good scanner whose software does this, or recommend a good piece of software that does the above that I need it to, please reply away.

 

 

Thanks!

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Try VueScan.

[spinningwheel]

Deeb;

 

 

I just bought the Kodak ESP 5250 and it's a combination unit that does a really good job. The software won't do what you want, but LUK suggested that for you.

 

spinner

[dbminter]

Try VueScan.

 

 

Actually, I came across VueScan in my Googling for software. I was thinking about it because I use VuePrint as my main graphics format image viewer, and I believe VueScan is made by the same people. I'll see if VueScan has a trial.

 

 

Thanks!

[dbminter]

I like VueScan. It serves my needs. Not as well as the old scanner software with my Visioneer did, but, better than a freebie utility I found called FreeKapture.

 

 

I think I'll still get a new scanner regardless. Right now, I'm using an all in one multifunction printer/copier/scanner that my mother got for $30 on a sale. It's the Epson Stylus NX125. I'm using it in the meantime, but don't want to use it as my scanner because it has a ghosting problem. It adds a line down the middle of scanned images that is not there.

[Pudah]

If you are going to buy a scanner any way, Canon scanners come with software that will do what you want. You can either use their CanoScan ToolBox software, or use the Twain acquire feature of your program of choice to access the Canon scanner driver. You can specify, among other things, the area of the item to be scanned.

[dbminter]

I'll keep that in mind. I'm currently waiting on an HP model that Office Depot had, but, it wasn't in stock and had to be sent in from another store. They told me I could take the floor model and I told them to take a hike.

 

 

I saw a Canon scanner at Staples. Interestingly, the guy on the floor said not waste my time with the Canon and recommended an Epson instead.

 

 

I also saw some Canon scanners at NewEgg, which is where I check for certain electronics first.

[Pudah]

Interestingly, the guy on the floor said not waste my time with the Canon and recommended an Epson instead.

 

Did he say what the issue was? I've never had any problem with my CanoScan 4200. I've had it for 6 years and have used it regularly during that time without incident. It wasn't a high end unit (I think it was around $80) so it obviously wasn't meant for critical pro work. But for basic home use it is more than adequate.

[dbminter]

No, he never said why and I didn't ask.

 

 

NewEgg had those Canons I saw for about $50 or $60.

 

 

I got my Visioneer for real cheap off the regular price because the store was trying to get rid of inventory and gave them away, basically, for a steal when buying a digital camera, which I needed.

[dbminter]

I decided to go with an HP Scanjet G3110. Office Depot had it (Well, they had to get it from another store, though.) and it was $110. Plus, the bundled software did what I needed it to do. Although, VueScan does it better. VueScan sometimes doesn't recognize the scanner when it's there and sometimes take a while to start actually previewing or scanning when the scanner is first turned on, but, I can live with that.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Surely that's down to the scanner itself taking a while to warm up?

[laserfan]

What I need from my scanner software is the ability to select specific portions of a field to scan in. My old scanner, a OneTouch Visioneer 8100, had this ability.

I'm not sure what you mean by "specific portions of a field"? I have the recent Visioneer Strobe 500 with their OneTouch 4.6 software (and PaperPort from Nuance) and the OneTouch software has a feature called "Redaction". With redaction, you specify areas to NOT SCAN, and can fill these-in with a color, as many as you want. So I imagine if you want a specific area on a page to scan, you can specify white for as many rectangles as you need to isolate the scanned area.

Edited September 30, 2010 by laserfan

[dbminter]

Surely that's down to the scanner itself taking a while to warm up?

 

 

I had wondered that myself. But, sometimes, even after several minutes, VueScan hasn't started the Preview. It could be a warming up issue, but, I didn't have that problem on the Epson I was using before that my mother had. Preview started within seconds of issuing it.