Hewlett Packard ScanJet 5470 Cxi Scanner

Rating:
Summary: Great for scanning documents and photos, but nothing else
Review: I was looking at film scanners before happening upon this unit. I was torn between the ability to scan pictures and the desire to scan negatives, but felt that I didn't have to compromise with this scanner! At 2400dpi (the same res as a film scanner) I figured I would be getting the best of all worlds, but you know the old saying, "If it looks to good to be true..."

Here is the bottom line, this is a great scanner for documents and photos. In fact, scanning a 4x6 photo produces excellent results... better than scanning the corresponding negative. How is this you ask? I would like to know the answer as well. As far as I can tell I could not get HP Precisionscan Pro to get what I'd call a decent scan on a negative. Theoretically a 2400dpi optical scan would give me about a 3200x2300 pixel image. At 48 bit color, one could imagine the detail. Well keep imagining. As I mentioned the best I could get was the same scan quality of a 4x6 print and even that was questionable. I sent an e-mail to HP support and have had no response for 4 days now. I'd like to give HP the benefit of the doubt, but if I can't get answers, I'm sure I can find anther scanner at 1/2 the price to do photos and documents just as well, even if it is the 4470.

Rating:
Summary: Great for scanning documents and photos, but nothing else
Review: I was looking at film scanners before happening upon this unit. I was torn between the ability to scan pictures and the desire to scan negatives, but felt that I didn't have to compromise with this scanner! At 2400dpi (the same res as a film scanner) I figured I would be getting the best of all worlds, but you know the old saying, "If it looks to good to be true..."

Here is the bottom line, this is a great scanner for documents and photos. In fact, scanning a 4x6 photo produces excellent results... better than scanning the corresponding negative. How is this you ask? I would like to know the answer as well. As far as I can tell I could not get HP Precisionscan Pro to get what I'd call a decent scan on a negative. Theoretically a 2400dpi optical scan would give me about a 3200x2300 pixel image. At 48 bit color, one could imagine the detail. Well keep imagining. As I mentioned the best I could get was the same scan quality of a 4x6 print and even that was questionable. I sent an e-mail to HP support and have had no response for 4 days now. I'd like to give HP the benefit of the doubt, but if I can't get answers, I'm sure I can find anther scanner at 1/2 the price to do photos and documents just as well, even if it is the 4470.

Rating:
Summary: Works OK
Review: This is a fairly decent scanner with some useful features and a few quirks. The first scanner that I received was faulty. By a diligently searching the Web and then fighting the HP automated phone system, I managed to get through to HP technical support without having to pay (you've got to lie to the system until you find an option that lets you through to a person because if you tell the automated system you're calling about this machine, they will tell you that you have to pay to talk to tech support). After being put on hold for an hour, I finally got to talk to a person in India who asked me to describe the problem. It wasn't until I got the machine to make its horrible grinding noises that the tech support person could hear all the way over there in India that she agreed there really was a problem. 10 days later, I had a free replacement arrive from HP. In reading other reviews for this scanner, I can see that I wasn't the only one who received a faulty machine the first time around. I'm not sure whether this is due to a bad inspection team at HP or that the machines do not stand up to the rigors of shipping very well. In any case, if you need a working machine in a hurry, this might not be the best choice.

My new working model does most of what I needed it for. It has an array of buttons on the front that allow you to do a quick scan, send to the Web, e-mail, and photocopy, and a few other buttons whose purposes I haven't deduced yet. (The scanner came with a quick-start card and software, but no manual.) The software included a limited version of Corel Print Office (without templates)- -like Microsoft Publisher, E-Fax messenger Plus, HP Photo Smart (for organizing photographs), and HP PrecisionScan. No OCR software was included. The software installed satisfactorily on my aging IBM 600 Laptop running Windows 2000. Of these software packages, the only one I actually use is the HP PrecisionScan.

Black and white text images scan with acceptable, but not great quality. I used the photocopy button on the scanner to photocopy some pages from a book, and a handy copy machine interface appeared on my monitor, where I could select the number of copies, the quality of the print, and adjust the contrast. With the text and photo setting selected, the page came out printed gray, so I had to choose the text-only setting. With the text-only setting and high quality printing selected, the background text was white, but the letters of the text were still rather pixilated when the copies came off the printer. In a pinch, I could use this scanner for photocopying, but this wouldn't be my tool of choice to get the job done well.

One of the main reasons I selected this scanner was that I needed an affordable way to scan in photographic slides for my Website and PowerPoint shows. This scanner comes with an ATA device with a backlight for scanning slides and negatives. The plug for the ATA device is on the back of the machine, and it's a real trick to get it in. I found myself standing the scanner on end vertically and fighting with the plug, praying all the while that I didn't break something inside the machine while I struggled. But in the end, I got the ATA plug in, and vowed never to unplug it. Which is a pain, because then you need to find a place to store the ATA device within a short distance of the scanner, but not on the glass because its funny shape will dent the scanner lid. When I finally got the ATA working, I found the scanning quality once again to be acceptable, but not great. After scanning a slide, I almost always have to adjust the color in my photo editing software, usually bringing down the blues and playing up the reds. I had better luck with the old non-electrical plastic reflective slide scanning pyramids that HP used to give away. I wish you could purchase them somewhere- -I've found directions for making them out of paper on the web, but the plastic ones worked at least as well as the expensive ATA device.

I've also tried scanning some negatives using the ATA device. Ugh! I tried scanning them in negative mode with the PrecisionScan software, and they came out dark with no reds at all. With a lot of brightening, the image was generally recognizable, but not aesthetic. I also tried scanning negatives in slide mode and then reversing the colors in my photo editing software, with virtually identically results- -dark with no reds. By changing the scans to gray scale and lightening them a lot, the images could almost be made acceptable, but not quite.

So, if you're looking for a scanner that produces acceptable, but not great, scans from text or slides, and you already have your own OCR software and you don't need to scan negatives, then this scanner might do the job. But buy it well before your deadline in case you get a bad one and need to return it.

Rating:
Summary: Works OK
Review: This is a fairly decent scanner with some useful features and a few quirks. The first scanner that I received was faulty. By a diligently searching the Web and then fighting the HP automated phone system, I managed to get through to HP technical support without having to pay (you've got to lie to the system until you find an option that lets you through to a person because if you tell the automated system you're calling about this machine, they will tell you that you have to pay to talk to tech support). After being put on hold for an hour, I finally got to talk to a person in India who asked me to describe the problem. It wasn't until I got the machine to make its horrible grinding noises that the tech support person could hear all the way over there in India that she agreed there really was a problem. 10 days later, I had a free replacement arrive from HP. In reading other reviews for this scanner, I can see that I wasn't the only one who received a faulty machine the first time around. I'm not sure whether this is due to a bad inspection team at HP or that the machines do not stand up to the rigors of shipping very well. In any case, if you need a working machine in a hurry, this might not be the best choice.

My new working model does most of what I needed it for. It has an array of buttons on the front that allow you to do a quick scan, send to the Web, e-mail, and photocopy, and a few other buttons whose purposes I haven't deduced yet. (The scanner came with a quick-start card and software, but no manual.) The software included a limited version of Corel Print Office (without templates)- -like Microsoft Publisher, E-Fax messenger Plus, HP Photo Smart (for organizing photographs), and HP PrecisionScan. No OCR software was included. The software installed satisfactorily on my aging IBM 600 Laptop running Windows 2000. Of these software packages, the only one I actually use is the HP PrecisionScan.

Black and white text images scan with acceptable, but not great quality. I used the photocopy button on the scanner to photocopy some pages from a book, and a handy copy machine interface appeared on my monitor, where I could select the number of copies, the quality of the print, and adjust the contrast. With the text and photo setting selected, the page came out printed gray, so I had to choose the text-only setting. With the text-only setting and high quality printing selected, the background text was white, but the letters of the text were still rather pixilated when the copies came off the printer. In a pinch, I could use this scanner for photocopying, but this wouldn't be my tool of choice to get the job done well.

One of the main reasons I selected this scanner was that I needed an affordable way to scan in photographic slides for my Website and PowerPoint shows. This scanner comes with an ATA device with a backlight for scanning slides and negatives. The plug for the ATA device is on the back of the machine, and it's a real trick to get it in. I found myself standing the scanner on end vertically and fighting with the plug, praying all the while that I didn't break something inside the machine while I struggled. But in the end, I got the ATA plug in, and vowed never to unplug it. Which is a pain, because then you need to find a place to store the ATA device within a short distance of the scanner, but not on the glass because its funny shape will dent the scanner lid. When I finally got the ATA working, I found the scanning quality once again to be acceptable, but not great. After scanning a slide, I almost always have to adjust the color in my photo editing software, usually bringing down the blues and playing up the reds. I had better luck with the old non-electrical plastic reflective slide scanning pyramids that HP used to give away. I wish you could purchase them somewhere- -I've found directions for making them out of paper on the web, but the plastic ones worked at least as well as the expensive ATA device.

I've also tried scanning some negatives using the ATA device. Ugh! I tried scanning them in negative mode with the PrecisionScan software, and they came out dark with no reds at all. With a lot of brightening, the image was generally recognizable, but not aesthetic. I also tried scanning negatives in slide mode and then reversing the colors in my photo editing software, with virtually identically results- -dark with no reds. By changing the scans to gray scale and lightening them a lot, the images could almost be made acceptable, but not quite.

So, if you're looking for a scanner that produces acceptable, but not great, scans from text or slides, and you already have your own OCR software and you don't need to scan negatives, then this scanner might do the job. But buy it well before your deadline in case you get a bad one and need to return it.

Rating:
Summary: scanner for the die-hard graphics artist
Review: This product was first shipped with styrofoam residue on the INSIDE of the case... this caused spots on all of my pictures.

But Amazon was very quick at replacing the defective product. On second try, I found the 2400x2400 dpi resolution to be so much more than was necessary that I was shocked. My experience with inferior products worried me about buying anything less. At 2400, you could probably make highway billboard posters without any added granualarity!

As for speed, the scanning rate is very quick for 400dpi and less. The software included on the CD-ROm facilitates productive work. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was how powerful, precise and quick the photo negative/slide scanner is! This feature kept me from returning it. It, too has nice editing tools in the software and integrates well with Adobe products.

If I were to buy over again, I would downgrade to the 4400 series.

Rating:
Summary: scanner for the die-hard graphics artist
Review: This product was first shipped with styrofoam residue on the INSIDE of the case... this caused spots on all of my pictures.

But Amazon was very quick at replacing the defective product. On second try, I found the 2400x2400 dpi resolution to be so much more than was necessary that I was shocked. My experience with inferior products worried me about buying anything less. At 2400, you could probably make highway billboard posters without any added granualarity!

As for speed, the scanning rate is very quick for 400dpi and less. The software included on the CD-ROm facilitates productive work. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was how powerful, precise and quick the photo negative/slide scanner is! This feature kept me from returning it. It, too has nice editing tools in the software and integrates well with Adobe products.

If I were to buy over again, I would downgrade to the 4400 series.