Canon 9900F - Not good for negative scanning

[Albert Wiersch]

I posted the below review on epinions.com about the Canon 9900F. Has anyone
had a different experience with this scanner?

I bought this to scan all my 35mm negatives since it supposedly does 24 at a
time. It would probably work great were it not for software bugs that chop
the top off some of the negatives. This causes some negatives to not be
detected and scanned properly, and you get an incomplete scan of some
negatives. This is a SERIOUS time waster for anyone thinking that the 24
batch scanning capability for 35mm film negative would save time (like me).
I called Canon and they said there are some issues.

So... if you are buying to scan negatives, be prepared to have problems. I
think scanning slides is even worse as I put some in and the thumbnails were
way off.

If they fix the software then I will change this review.

 

[-]

Epson scanners can have the same problem. Most people quickly learn to
switch to manual cropping mode and set things up that way (I don't know if
Canon offers this option).

Doug

 

[Douglas MacDonald]

These alignment experiences are 100% opposed to what I have found. I think
in all fairness that you should seriously look at your PC's hardware before
claiming the software misses frame alignment.

I am no fan of Canon scanners. I think the 9900f advertisinf is deceptive
and misleading to the point of being illegal in some countries. But having
said that, I think how the software relates to framing is very narrowly
defined. I have no problems with Radeon video cards but a lot of problems
with several other makes. Also the BIOS on your motherboard has to be
up-to-date for any USB 2.0 devise to work properly.

I would go so far as to say Firewire is close to being essential for
scanners when I once thought there was little difference between Firewire
and USB 2.0. But the OP is right to feel angry about that scanner. It is
promoted as a tool for Professionals when it is little better than glorified
document scanner which can (when pushed) scan film.

Douglas

 

[Albert Wiersch]

Yes, they offer that. But I bought this thing to scan 24 at a time, not one
at a time. I didn't have this problem to this degree with the 8000F.

 

[Albert Wiersch]

I don't see how the PC hardware would affect this issue.

As for firewire, I don't believe the scanner software supports firewire for
Windows computers. I'd probably use it if it did.

As a programmer, everything seems to point to a software issue causing this
problem. Sometimes when I redo the preview, it will then get it right.

Oh well... hopefully they will get this fixed. In the mean time, you'll
probably want to stay away form this scanner to scan negatives and slides.

 

[-]

These alignment experiences are 100% opposed to what I have found. I think

in all fairness that you should seriously look at your PC's hardware before
claiming the software misses frame alignment.

It is not hardware related. The auto cropping is done via software that
tries to estimate what the cropping should be. Unfortunately the
coding/logic isn't perfect and can get fooled for a number a reasons.

Doug

 

[Douglas MacDonald]

So Albert, If I were to tell you your car pulled to one side because your
fuel tank needed attention, would you check out the tank or say: "no this is
definitely a steering problem"? One of the quirks of giving advise to those
who ask for it but don't really want it, is that they never bother to take
it.

Check your hardware Albert ...or maybe just get rid of the scanner and have
someone else do the scans for you. In particular, check the stability of
your PCs power supply. And dare I say, RTM? Have you considered too the
possibility that Canon might have a proceedure for manually selecting more
that one frame at a time?

Douglas
Lateral thinking is not about laying down on the job to get ideas.
----------------

 

[Albert Wiersch]

Actually, I did check the hardware as I've tried two 9900Fs and they both
did the same thing.

I doubt you can manually select more than one frame at a time, but I'll look
into it and post here if it turns out to be the case... Even if it could be
done, I would still be very unhappy as it would be a time waster. It
shouldn't have to be done that way.

 

[Douglas MacDonald]

But Albert...
Did you try the scanner on a DIFFERENT PC?
Douglas

 

[Albert Wiersch]

No, did not try it on a different PC.

Another review at epinions.com for this scanner also complains of a similar
problem, but with slides.

I could try it on a different PC, but I'm 99.9% certain that would just be a
waste of time. If I get bored, I might try it.

 

[David R]

Have you looked to see what version of the canon software you are
running. It could be that newer versions are available from Canon to
download. Here are the latest Windows drivers from canonusa.

CanoScan Toolbox v4.1.3.1, dated 9/18/03
ScanGear CS-U (TWAIN) 9900F CS-U v8.2.5.0, dated 2/2/04
http://www.canonusa.com/html/conCpr...lid=8743&item=8781&pname=CanoScan 9900F#windr

Good luck on your software problem.

 

[Albert Wiersch]

Yep. The first thing I do when I buy new hardware like that is to go to the
web site and get the latest drivers.

It is strange because the first 1-12 negatives usually are detected and
cropped well, but the last 13-24 negatives usually are not (the top is cut
off). So right now I'm only using the first 12, which is a pity because it's
suppose to do 24 negatives at a time. Canon should have mentioned on their
box/feature list:

- Batch scan up to 24 negatives at a time*

* You may not want to scan the full 24 at a time, because negatives 13-24
will most likely crop a significant portion off the top of the negatives.
Canon may fix this at a later time. If you don't care about the top of your
negatives, then scanning 24 at a time should not be a problem.