Canon CanoScan 8600F Flatbed Scanner

CanoScan 8600 Flatbed Scanner

Posted Feb 4, 2007 - I was given the family responsibility to archive all the old family photographs. I was looking for a scanner that had a good quality output, was easy to use and wouldn't take us too much space on my desk. The CanoScan is just that. I have been very happy with all of the above. I'm still getting used to using the software but overall I am very pleased with the quality and ease of use.

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Outstanding slide scanner

Posted Mar 25, 2007 - I had never thought that a flat bed scanner could do a good job of scanning slides while they were still in the cardboard mounts (distance of the image from the actual glass). However, this scanner has proved me wrong. After scanning over 200 slides with quality approaching the original slide, I'm impressed. I have a dedicated slide scanner (Acer), however its slide holder manages to damage the corners of every cardboard mount and the time required to place the slides in the holder is frustrating. The CanoScan 8600F provides easy undamaged placement of the slides in the scanner and produces comparable quality scans of slides. The only other choice would be a dedicated slide scanner such as the Nikon Coolpix scanner at a cost significantly higher. This type of scanner because of the cost would only be justified for a commercial slide scanning operation.

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Excellent Scanner

Posted Jan 15, 2007 - I haven't used this scanner very long yet, and haven't had the time yet to try scanning slides. However what little I have scanned so far, I'm very pleased with. This scanner is quiet and fast compared to my previous Canon D1250 scanner. The scanner also feels very well built. Its heavy and even has an on/off switch, which my previous two scanners never had. I prefer having and on/off switch. There is also a thin blue light that lights up on the cover when the power is on. Mine also came with Photoshop Elements 4.0, which is nice to have. I haven't tried it yet with Vista, but read that it works ok with it. The software though is confusing. It has two drivers that show up in Microsoft Digital Image Suite, and I'm not sure which is best to use. One is a WIA driver, the other is a normal driver.

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CanoScan 8600 Flatbed Scanner

Posted Apr 8, 2007 - I have used the scanner heavily for over one week now and I am happy with the purchase. I have scanned dozens of color negatives, old and new photos of varying quality and size all with excellent results. I am most impressed with the softwares ability to compensate for faded photographs, they really come back to life with a click of the button. I purchased the scanner with a specific project in mind - to digitize all the family photos, so I have scanned negatives more than anything else. Scanning negatives can be very time consuming with this product, and I have experienced one or two software crashes in the process. Overall however the CanoScan has been very much up to the task and given very good results.

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Great Canoscan 8600F Flatbed Scanner

Posted Nov 20, 2006 - I have had excellent results when scanning a wide variety of originals: pencil and crayon drawings,photo prints, and many mounted 35mm slides. The ease of use and the outstanding results are impressive. I even like the retro look of the unit.

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Very Pleased

Posted Jan 11, 2007 - I did a lot of comparison shopping before purchasing and this scanner offered more than the competitors at a better price. My prior scanner was a UMAX Astra 2200 that I used for scanning pictures and as a convenience copier, but UMAX stopped updating the drivers when Windows XP came out so even though I could still scan, much of the functionality had been lost. The Canoscan 8600F is a tremendous upgrade. The quality of the scans is very good. There should be a printed manual. On the one hand, the scanner is deceptively easy to use. The one-touch buttons for copying, photofilm, email and pdf have all worked great. The operating software is well designed and user friendly. The included software programs, particularly Photoshop Elements, have been easy to use for the most common tasks, but to learn to use them to their full capabilities would take time and effort. But, even so, while this is only a high-end consumer level scanner (as opposed to a professional level scanner), it is not a toy. To get it to perform at its best requires some effort. My first scan of a picture was very grainy. It turns out that for certain pictures (such as pictures in magazines, and at least some digital photos like the one I was scanning, you have to turn de-masking off to get a sharp scan. Had I used the "Easy Scan" setting and selected "Magazine" as the source, the software would have turned off de-masking automatically. But nowhere did the on-screen manual tell me that issue until I went to the "troubleshooting" section. Similarly, my first photocopies were not good because the scanner was showing the white background of the page I was copying as multi-colored. Copies were good on default setting. Scanning of multiple slides is easy (once I figured out how to set the scanner up for slide scanning), with excellent results. Creation of multiple page pdf documents was a breeze. I have not yet tried film scanning or the optical character reading program.

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Alexandre

Posted Dec 7, 2006 - Overall, below the level expected of Canon for this kind of price. Buttons on the top of the scanner are now more confusing than before. It can create you a PDF right away? How about just scanning the picture. Didnt' try slides, can't comment on that. Disapponted with the product. Returned.

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8600f canscan

Posted Dec 1, 2006 - Average lack lustre scans. Main issue is slide scanning doesn't work. Forget FARE or multi slide scanning. Consequently this is an expensive print scanner. Don't buy if you intend scanning slides. Canon support do not respond to emails. Phone support: don't waste you time. This company is no longer interested in their customers. They used to be. Should now be called Can I Scam. Go elsewhere.

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8600F

Posted Dec 18, 2006 - So far I am happy with the scanner. It is generally fast and quiet. I haven't tried any slide scans yet and hope that these scans go well. The overall look of the scanner is OK, but I wish that it was a bit smaller. I liked the size of my previous LIDE and the fact that it only needed one cable for power and connection to the computer.

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Nice scanner

Posted Dec 1, 2007 - I have a bunch of Canon items, I consider them good products at decent prices. This scanner, although a bit expensive, is a quality product thus far. I've been using it to scan old pictures and do a little touch-up. I haven't used it to scan film/negatives yet but plan to learn about that soon. Speed/scan time is acceptable to me. I try to keep the drivers up to date although they don't release updates all the time.

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Good and capable scanner...

Posted Sep 29, 2007 - Solidly built construction. Unit is quiet compared to an old unit I've used. The software is fairly comprehensive but could be a little easier to use. I appreciate the fact this can scan pictures, negatives and slides. I'm looking forward to try scanning some negatives.

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Unbelievably good scanner

Posted Jul 8, 2007 - I have had numerous (a dozen or more) scanners and this is certainly the best of all. It replaced a Canoscan 8400f, which was certainly the second-best. Anyway, the buttons on this and the accuracy of the scans make this a real pleasure to use. It was worth the extra $50 or so I paid. The construction is VERY solid, though it has a somewhat tall profile as a result. Down sides: On-off switch moved to the back instead of the side (duh) and the power supply is one of those boxes with the integrated plug, so it takes up a lot of room on the surge suppressor. Their older model had a detachable AC cord that didn't use the extra space.

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Canon Scanner

Posted Jul 4, 2007 - Seems like a good machine, Highly rated by Consumer Reports, received promptly, Has many features right on the machine so you don't have to do everything though the program.

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