Need new (CHEAP) decent scanner...

Posted by: domfjbrown on 28 January 2004

As you may have seen in the Photo Album thread, I've been having problems with my Agfa Snapscan e20 USB scanner. Windows XP will "see" the scanner and install the driver, but Agfa's Scanwise won't communicate with the scanner.

This has happened to me 6 times now - over both 98 and XP, and I'm sick of it. I've tried uninstalling it, power cycling it, disconnecting it, you name it. I've given up.

Since I'm skint - what's the best scanner the RIGHT side of 80 quid? I like the look of the Canon 3200 (cheapest one they do with cold cathode) but anything else I should consider? I don't want a Mustek or similar due to the glass-caving-into-scanner syndrome they seem to have...

Alternatively, any bright ideas for how to trick Scanwise (what a pile of poo that is!) to work again? I'm not a big league XP tweaker, so someone might have a good tip? The scanner itself produces decent quality scans, so if I *could* get it working again I'd prefer this option...

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Posted on: 28 January 2004 by Phil Sparks

Depends how good a scanner you want. I got a cheap as chips BenQ from somewhere on the web for my father in law - cost me £25 + VAT and worked fine 1st time. Indistinguishable from the Agfa £100 job I got a few years ago which had great reviews.

I also struggled with my Agfa and XP until I downloaded the latest Agfa drivers - I had to be careful as there were 2 drivers for my 1212P, and it took quite a bit of digging to work out how I identified which one to use.

Another thing, if you've got an AMD based machine you may want to check you've got the latest 4-in-1 drivers, I seem to remember having all sorts of hassles getting my USB ports to work until I'd updated these.

HTH
Phil

Posted on: 28 January 2004 by Jez Quigley

The Via drivers are here: http://download.guru3d.com/via/

Posted on: 28 January 2004 by domfjbrown

FUNNY thing that - I do indeed have an Athlon - one from the Titanic since it's only a 750mhz...

I'll have a look at the drivers Jez - failing that, I'll mooch down to PCW tomorrow and see what's what - got a bit more money than I thought right now (not much more mind!).

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Posted on: 28 January 2004 by Jez Quigley

Dom, you should shop around. PCW is ok for touchy feely the products but much cheaper deals are available almost anywhere.

eg. the first Canon scanner I looked at in PCW was £170 - it was £130 at the next place I looked. The cheapest scanner PCW stock is £45, elsewhere it is £38.

Posted on: 28 January 2004 by Jez Quigley

or if you want to push the boat out you could get the Epson Expression 1640XL Pro - a snip at a mind boggling £30,500

Posted on: 28 January 2004 by domfjbrown

Where would you suggest, Jez? That POS has HAD IT now - I've nearly demolished my room in a serious full on violent psychotic frustrative rage now...

Well, it's not that bad, but not far off... Wander how much damage I'd do my foot if I really DID stamp on it - or maybe jump on it?

Going to give it away I think. Feel sorry for the poor sod who has to install it though...

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Posted on: 28 January 2004 by Mick P

There is an old saying which has stood the test of time......buy cheap buy twice.

Never buy cheap stuff, it is more costly in the long term and it will leave you feeling fed up with its cheap quality reproductive results.

Go out with a renewed mind that you will buy the best product you can afford. The price is forgotten long after the quality is remembered.

I have recently purchased a CDS3. I have forgotten the financial sacrifice but I still marvel at the quality of the music it produces.

Regards

Mick

Posted on: 28 January 2004 by Martin D

Mick
You're right - I bought a cheap Agfa scanner, its frankly rubbish and so is the software. Guess what - I'm buying another one.
Martin

Posted on: 29 January 2004 by domfjbrown

Aha - but when I got the Agfa it was £80 - I got it half price. £80 in 2001 wasn't THAT cheap for a scanner...

I'm leaning to that Canon or maybe the Xerox funny sideways one at the moment, but an HP might do. Going to go into town tonight (late night shopping) and see what there is. I'll give the Agfa to a Mac person - it's bound to work first time on those...

Yep - that "quality remains..." maxim is soooo true

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Posted on: 29 January 2004 by Derek Wright

I use a HP 4c scanner I bough nearly 10 years ago - I still use it ---but it cost me £500 odd

However depending on what you want to scan - I have found using the digital camera can give very good digital images of photographs - it does appear to give a better tonal range. However you do need to have a good macro capability if you wish to create digital images of small items eg stamps.

Derek

<< >>

Posted on: 29 January 2004 by Jez Quigley

Dom, I use cclcomputers near Bradford in West Yorkshire very knowlegable, helpful and cheap but 200 miles from you. Ask around your IT dept at work the tekkies are bound to know a local specialist PC shop in your area.

Posted on: 30 January 2004 by domfjbrown

I got a HP Scanjet 3970 yesterday.

Guess what - it's crap. Yep. Installed fine. Now when you go to scan, it complains the program is in use by another program, so you choose "switch to" or "retry" and it works fine. Bloody useless software.

The transparency adaptor - the ONE reason I bought it over a £40 Canon - doesn't work properly. It takes over 2 minutes to do a preview with the transparency adaptor - produces a good preview, then takes another 2 minutes to produce a very dark, VERY grainy and TOTALLY unusable image.

I'm taking it back on Sunday and giving up. I'll get some cheap MFD device instead I think.

PS - are Epson any good for scanners?

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Posted on: 30 January 2004 by Mick P

How much did you pay for this scanner ?

Regards

Mick

Posted on: 30 January 2004 by Berlin Fritz

Eee nicked it John ee's a Cockney Bastard like me.
Fritz Von Bleedinwiltshireporkpies

Posted on: 30 January 2004 by Joe Petrik

Dom,

quote:
Epson any good for scanners?

Yes. The Perfection 2400 and Perfection 3200 Pro are just two examples of good flatbed scanners that Epson makes. But keep in mind that even with a decent scanner it's a bit of a black art to get the most out of them. It's never as simple as clicking the scan button and getting a beautiful jpeg pop out the other end.

But, quite honestly, if you're buying a new scanner to post pictures of you beating up CRT monitors, the one you have is already more than adequate for the task. ;-)

Joe

Posted on: 03 February 2004 by domfjbrown

I'm definitely NOT a cockney! I was born in Cornwall and only had the misfortune to get stuck in Reading 7 years longer than I should by bad decisions on my part... Ahem - I miss Reading and London now though - which is quite ironic really....

I'll retract most of what I said about the HP scanner (it was £99, Mick). It's still VERY slow in transparency mode, but when scanning PROPER transparencies such as slides, the quality is fine, as with normal print. Also, the scanner now works without that "waiting for service" error, so must have been one of those things I guess.

Just a shame the performance on negs is so iffy, but if it's OK with transparencies, I reckon I can null that out with some work on the driver settings.

Guess what!? That "POS" Agfa e20 works FINE on my mate's PC with Win2k - so I said he can keep it

For £40 in 2001 I think I can waive a tenner now

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Posted on: 04 February 2004 by Laurie Saunders

I use a Canon lide 3o......would have got the Lide 50 at the time (about a year ago...it was over £100 then)......I believe it can be had for less than £50.......I`ve no complaints

Laurie S