Document Scanner Software

Hamrick VueScan:
This software is so easy to hate. The interface is quite amateur work and it is very hard to use. But if you tune it really well, you can make some great scans. I made this with the Polaroid SprintScan 120 scanner using a 35mm film. Also, both the Portra 160NC and the Kodacolor Gold work out great). It doesn’t adapt so well to the 120/220 film format holders on the SS120. I had to make a lot of adjustments in order to switch between 6X6 and 6X9 negs. The SilverFast can automatically sense the type of the film holder that is in the scanner. After that, it will give you one button to toggle the image sizes. So this is one example of how this VueScan’s difficult user interface makes the product hard to use and creates frustrations. Some people may have had a great first scan experience, just plugging in, installing the software and than get beautiful scans. But my first scans were horrible. I had to document a lot and use the “Advanced” mode. My advice would be that this producer spends some time and money on a better interface designed y someone who knows what photos are all about. Only after this, the product could become a world-class one.

Strengths:
If you adjust the scanner properly, you can get some beautiful scans. You can even get a very good color contrast and adjustments. There are also some very good features if you do repetitive scans. Also, the license you get can allow you to install it on multiple computers and many people can use it.
Weaknesses:
The user interface is quite horrible. It doesn’t have controls of the color curves or the brightness. It is slower than the SilverFast, if you do multi-pass scanning.

Tags: Scanner Software, Scanner Software Reviews

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 6:05 am and is filed under Scanner Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.