scanner recommendation for OS X?

[leonw]

Someone I know is about to purchase a new scanner for her Mac running OS X. Does anyone have recommendations on what brand and model to buy or not to buy? Thanks in advance.

[chemistry_geek]

I have a Hewlett Packard ScanJet 5300CXi. I purchased it 2 years ago for ~$300. It came with software that only works with Mac OS 9, BUT I downloaded the shareware utility VueScan (search http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/) and it works better than HP's own software. I was very skeptical of shareware, but VueScan REALLY does a good job on image quality and it's only $40.00, and it works with A LOT of scanners, not just HP. Not only is there the ability to change preferences for novices, but for advanced users who know a lot about image quality. You can do SO much with VueScan. I know it works with HP scanners very well. I'm a very satisfied customer.

[Captain Code]

I agree, VueScan is a great app and works with my dad's HP scanner as well. I'm going to get him to register it so I can actually save images without the water mark thingy.

[chenly]

After all the grief HP software (scanners at school and Kinko's, print drivers, utlities, etc...)(Note: this rant does NOT apply to HP-UX. HP-UX rocks!) has caused me, I want to take Carly Fiorina by her prissy hair and dunk her head in DeskJet ink. Seriously, tho', the companies that make dominant hardware almost always make lousy software.

[Javintosh]

you complaining about HP software?!?!?

obviously you have not had the pleasure of using UMAX's software...

Not only did a 5 year old design the interface, but once I had to do a batch of 250 scans in a hurry. With UMAX's software I scanned and archived everything. I burned a CD and then I got burned...

About 10% of the images had portions which were nothing but random noise!!!

I've been putting off buying VueScan until that moment. The $40 I spent on VueScan was some of the best money I've spent on my computer.

but getting to the point... When I needed a scanner, I only had 1 requirement: FireWire

If you think about it, at 12Mbps you might as well be scanning over an old ethernet network!

I ended up with an UMAX 6400 because UMAX had the only *reasonably-priced* FireWire scanner. I've been extremely happy with the scanner since I bought VueScan.

[ksignorini]

I just bought an EPSON Perfection 1250 and downloaded the "trial" drivers from EPSON's website:

http://www.epsondevelopers.com/macscan/scantofile.jsp

It works great in OS X using these trial drivers.

The only problem I've had is launching the TWAIN driver from inside GraphicConverter but Mr. Lemke himself said in an e-mail to me that he's never test the TWAIN support in the carbonized version of GraphicConverter in OS X.

Kent!

[chenly]

Javintosh: Would you not agree that, in the professional space, Umax also makes dominant hardware? What did I say about companies which make dominant hardware?

[Javintosh]

I *think* you are right about UMAX being dominant in the low end of the professional scanner market (under 5K). I don't know how they fare further up, but I think the PowerLook line is very popular.