Rating: Summary: You get what you pay for! Review: My first disappointment with this scanner was that I could never get it installed on my Win 2000 Pro PC. I was able to get it to work with Win 98 SE without a hitch. It worked great for a few weeks before I began noticing streaks in scans run at more than 1200 dpi. I contacted Tamarack and they acted like they had never seen this problem before. They sent me a replacement scanner that, once again, began streaking after a week or so. I think I was able to figure out what is going on: dust on the optical sensor. When I blast the sensor with canned air, the streaking is reduced, but not completely eliminated. Unless you live in a clean room, you will probably have dust streaking with this machine. I'd recommend this scanner for folks looking to do scans of less than 600 dpi where dust isn't as much of a problem.
Rating: Summary: Low quality Review: One of the first problems I noticed was the negative holder was damaged, one of the plastic frame dividers was snapped off. The missing piece was not in the package, so I have to assume that this unit was a return that was not thoroughly checked before reshiping. During installation, I received a message that several of the files on the CD were corrupt. This may be related to their incompatability with Win 2000, which is not clearly stated anywhere, but I found out from another review that was posted after my purchase. The selection of drivers on their web site was very limited. I tried to download the NT 4.0 driver, but the installer crashed when I tried to run it. A message on the drivers web page stated that several of their older drivers were no longer available because they had become corrupted during a server transfer. I find it alarming that they did not maintain backups of their own drivers. I thought I had researched this purchase fairly well, but apparently some of the company's shortcommings were not obvious prior to examining the product, I plan to attempt to return it.
Rating: Summary: Tamarack Technologies 2400 FS Film Scanner Review: Over all this scanner is OK. It does a good job scanning properly expoused negatives and slides while not breaking the bank. Plan on spending some time experementing with the settings before you find the best setting to produce quality scans. I was able to produce good quality 8x10 pics from scanned B&W and color negs & slides (ISO 50 & 100). Technical support responded to my e-mail within 1 hour and I was able to get updated drivers and DOCUMAN 3.0 witin 3 days. for the price, this is a good scanner for beginners.
Rating: Summary: Soft is outdated, but quality is good for the money. Review: Quality is actually the same as with other 2400 dpi film scanners, but the price is much lower. Be though attentive with scanning options (set color correction to ISO 200 or ISO 400).USB Twain driver (so called DOCUMAN) hanged on Windows 2000, but after upgrading OS to Windows XP all works fine. In Win 98 the scanner is running without any problems. In fact I never use graphic software bundled with such devices. If you have a quality image editor, than you'll have no problems in transforming and retouching those large BMP files, produced by this scanner. In general if you are not a professional photographer, have some time to spend and like me don't need any software support, then it's a good bargain.
Rating: Summary: Installation software sucks Review: The hardware is great, does everything indicated. However the software leaves something to be desired. I had a real problem installing. It required a file (usbscan.sys) that was difficult to find in windows 98. There should be some sort of note as to where you have to look for the file.
Rating: Summary: follow my protocol you will get excellent scanned images Review: The quality difference between this scanner to the high end ones is similar to the difference between Toyota Camry to Lexus: similar good hardware but different level of luxury. The Tamarack scanner worked very well without problems but the software needs to be improved: scanned images most of time were washed out and pale, they also weren't focused accurately. My protocol is: read the enclosed mannual and the FAQ on the Tamarack website carefully before installation, then hook up all the plugs except the USB. Turn on computer then connect the USB to the computer.A pop up menu will then ask you to insert the driver, load the Documen 3.0 to the CD-ROM and then the install process goes smoothly. I threw the Docupal into the trash can - My Microsoft Office does a better job than it. Then I turned on my scanner, started my Photoshop 6.0 (you can install and start the bundled Adobe Photodeluxe or any other twain supported image editing software in similar way), went to file, import, then click Filmscan Twain32; the documen menu lanched automatically within the photoshop. I clicked SETTINGS first to get 2400 resolution for a letter size photo quality image, 1200 for 5x7..., then went to image select, then chose FILTERS and set iso from 100 to 400 (the single most important measure to affect image looking), adjusted bright and contrast, and clicked preview. After seeing the preview images you may need to readjust the filter and scan image individully - the filter is batch adjusting only. At this time you click on the scan button and the selected images will be scanned into my photoshop work space, and then I retouch the image by adjusting level, contrast, color balance, saturation and hue - an excellent picture is done. Criticize: The Documen 3.0 need to be improved in color intensity - the scanned images are too pale a lot of time, if they can add another step of iso setting to 800 in the FILTER then the problem should be solved; the focus is not too good,adjusting contrast with photoshop helps a lot; and the FILTERS adjustments can not be set to each individual pictures and so was the resolution SETTINGS - this led to difficulty scanning all the 6 pictures at one time, instead you may need to scan 6 times for each picture due to different exposure on the negatives. The Docupal makes the whole product look cheap; it should be disregarded. In general this is a very good product at it's price. If the Documan 3.0 can be improved as I mentioned above, this scanner should be a supervalue!
Rating: Summary: multiple problems Review: The scanner came with a bad power supply, so I don't know if the scanner itself actually works. There is no written documentation for installing the USB driver -- you have to search the CD for it. The scanning software hangs if the scanner is connected via USB but is not powered on.
Rating: Summary: Very Good Value for low volume work Review: This film scanner is a good deal for the money, IMHO. Contrary to earlier reviews, this scanner now works in Windows 2000. The reviewer that talked about a broken frame divider was wrong -- the frame is made that way (a partial divider between frames 1 & 2). I had some setup problems due to a conflict with another USB scanner. Solution is to have only one of them plugged into the USB at a time.
Rating: Summary: Horrible scanner. Review: This is bad news. Save your money! I considered many film scanners, and ultimately decided to spend a little more for a top notch Minolta Dimage scanner. This one is the WORST! It is cheap feeling and looking, scans VERY slowly and the images are often poor. There is no Digital ICE (needed after you scan to remove dust, scratches from imge that you cannot see when you place negative/slide for scanning.) This scanner is basically useless, unless you dont mind poor scans with ZERO quality. Spend a few more bucks and get a Minolta Dimage.
Rating: Summary: Tamarack Film Scanner a Mixed Bag Review: This scanner does an excellent job, and at an almost unbelievably low price, but getting it up and running proved to be a challenge. The documentation is so minimal as to be useless, and the help files seem to apply only to flatbed scanners. Everything is written in less-than-perfect English, to make the matter a little more perplexing if a little more entertaining. I was never able to install the scanner as a USB device, even with the prompt and courteous help from their email support. I had to use it with the parallel interface. Once I had arrived at this point, however, I was most pleased with the performance. This scanner is much easier to use than the initial difficulties had made me fear. The scans are fairly quick and of excellent quality. The software is equally good--once you figure out how to use it. This scanner is a good bargain, and I would recommend it for most ordinary uses.
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