Scanner Reviews

Although this little guy works very well so far as a SmartMedia card reader, it is not also a 4-port USB hub as advertised. I have not tried the CF reader functionality, as I do not own any CF media.

Plug and play - all I did was insert the USB plug into one of my slots and 10 seconds later it was installed (all by itself - no drivers from the CD needed) and XP prompted for reboot - that was it - 30 seconds and it was done

I was skeptical at first when I heard that Microtek was coming out with a medium format scanner, as I had only seen 35mm scanners from them. My skepticism aside this is a great product. I read a few reviews online and decided to live a little and take the plunge. I received the scanner, set it up and then went to work with it. The installation was flawless in Windows XP and the firewire connection seems very responsive. As for the actual scans the images come out crisp and very detailed. ScanWizard Pro allows me to plug in all my profiles which is nice as I can simply add in my ICM profile from my printer and off I go. I am pleased so far with the progress that this scanner has made, as I have hundreds of scans to go.

I have been a Microtek fan for quite a few years, having started out with a Scanmaker III, then a Scanmaker 5, and finally progressing to the 1800f. The 1800f has firewire and USB connections, which makes switching between my PC and Mac effortless. Much easier to use then the old SCSI scanners I had and much improved optics. I was pondering getting a slide scanner but this one works great for archiving the thousands of slides that I have from my photography days. It has a slide holder so that you can have it scan quite a few slides at the same time, thus a nice time saving feature like my Scanmaker 5. The difference is this one has much crisper images and is light years ahead in speed. Overall I am very impressed with the scanner and its abilities.

When you are going to spend a lot of money on a large purchase like this you like to shop around and know that you are getting everything for your dollar. I found out that nothing short of a drum scanner is going to come close to the optics in this scanner. I feel like it is the Mercedes of scanners, with features like anti-vibration and other features that you don't really know exactly when they do but know that they are contributing to the operation of the scanner. Since we have received the scanner we have been very pleased. I called up technical support to get the run down on how to operate the scanner and a very nice gentlemen walked me through the operation and use of the scanner. This is very important as customer service should be of critical importance, for when you buy a product you like to know that there is someone there for you if you do need help. Overall 10/10 as we speak.

Need a 4000dpi scanner but don't want to go over your budget? Get this scanner. If you have any experience with scanning film, you can get great scans from this one. It is really nice, producing very sharp scans. No, it does not have digital ICE, so you may want to make sure your slides or negatives are as clean as possible.

(I have scanned slides from 1975; and have taken a lens cleaning cloth and dampened it with distilled water to clean these old slides. I did a scan before cleaning and after-what a difference! What I deemed was ruined or unusable turned out to be very usable-with only very minor touching up for spot removal in PhotoShop 5 LE-what a relief. I would use a soft lens cleaning cloth only for wiping-be careful, after blowing the usual dust off.)

I am running a 900 Athlon, Win ME, and 256megs of RAM. I can upgrade to 768 megs but haven't had to, and have scanned many slides in one session. Once it does the final scan it has a strange whirring noise straight out of a 50's Science Fiction "B" movie-kind of amusing to me. It looks like an armadillo.

It comes with an SCSI card to install in your computer; I removed the firewire card for my Microtek 8700 to make the bay available for this scanner-the 8700 runs fine on USB, and is not any slower. First turn on the scanner, let the indicator lights stay on, then turn on your computer.

The Pros:

1. Sharp scans

2. I would select auto focus in the preferences menu-it works well.

3. You can adjust the gain (D-Max setting from .05 to 4); I usually hit automatic, and adjust from there when necessary. This is an excellent and useful feature.

4. Scan Wizard Pro software is nice-I have almost the same with the 8700-but do not have the Adjustable D-Max option. With a dark or underexposed slide, using curves or bright/contrast might help also, before scanning. Most "purists" like to do this after, but I've had to do this before-it helped-get that shadow detail.

5. It seems to do a multipass (ever so-slightly back & forth) on very high-4000dpi scans, with little or no noise. I have noticed once you open the scanned image in Photoshop-there is usually an improvement, especially when it comes to noise.

6. Scan time is not too slow-it took about 3 minutes and 45 seconds for a 48bit 4000dpi, scan-1:1 ratio-the file was a little over 100MB. When I get to Photoshop, after any adjustments (if necessary) in 16 bit mode-curves, levels-I switch to 8 bit mode and save these files with LZ Compression checked-save some disc space for these high resolution scans until they are saved to CD.

7. Small, "footprint" scanner-fits on my desktop-never far away.

8. The film holder has an adjustable sliding lever so you can position your film right at it's edge-not to clip any of the image, and holds the film pretty flat. There are tabs you can knock out for 35mm panoramic scans-watch the file size. The slide holder is good also-you can adjust to make sure they are lined up square. I like Microtek's film holders.

9. At this price, you would be hard pressed to find such a high resolution scanner, with great quality scans, that you can adjust or correct somewhat before the final scan.

10. Color Matching and calibrate your monitor with Kodak's Q60ES slide-this is a pretty valuable tool in itself-that has Color and Grayscale, with a color image-what a bonus. It also includes a Silverfast and Genuine Fractal's-2 things I do not use. I do not use calibrating with the Kodak slide-something you can launch in itself, but for those who do, this is nice. I use one of Kodak's downloadable color profiles.

Cons:

Really, NONE for me. But I must tell you, you should cover this scanner with a plastic bag to keep dust out of it. This is a problem with all desktop scanners. The little front door for the APS option (holder does not come with the scanner) opens, sliding down. This makes it easy to clean the little rectangle in the scanning base of the "tunnel"-something I do before scanning, to make sure any dust is not in there. Your scans will improve, much "cleaner" scans and it is easy to access this area-and fast.

A good way to do this?? Unplug the scanner. You can use an artist's sable brush-(genuine-can use the brush end to remove surface dust on film, slides without scratching or inside scanner before wiping)- on the opposite end of the brush, tape or use a small rubberband to affix a cotton ear swab to that end, letting the swab extend.

Wrap a lens cleaning tissue around the tip-the cotton underneath gives it cushion-and tape or use the same rubberband to hold the tissue around the swab. Moisten the tissue with a few drops of lens cleaning fluid (squeeze the excess out), and you will be able to reach the scanning "tunnel", the bed where the rectangle is, and inside anywhere else you want to wipe down.
Watch the wiring or electrical components. I wipe whatever I can reach-the inner walls, etc. IF your scanner does get dust, this will help remove it. I cover mine with a plastic bag-it works well. If you want to get in there, taking off the cover is tricky-take your time, as it does take some time.

If you want to see some samples scanned with this scanner, go to: geocities.com/kowenphoto/ . The only image not scanned (so far) with this scanner is the opening page and the rose on the second-these were scanned with the 8700. These are not very high resolution shots, for the web.

To wrap this up, I consider this one of my best buys for 2001. This scanner, for me, is digital heaven, without all the expensive add-ons of pricier scanners. If you are familiar with scanning, you already know that if you cover your scanner, and keep your film stored well and clean, you will enjoy using the Artixscan 4000T. Digital nirvana.

In about 10 minutes after getting the scanner out of the box I was working on images I scanned. The panel only has 9 buttons and a very easy display to understand.

The only small draw back I found was that the scan area was not clearly marked for where you put diffrent size paper. I have had it for about a year and I never have to worry about moving it or re-configuring it for my new computer.

This product is just plain simple quality.

Microtek's ScanMaker 6700 debuted splashily on our ...-color ScanMaker 5700, a longtime small-office chart mainstay. In addition to its higher 48-bit color depth and 2400-dpi optical resolution, the 6700 boasts the same sizzling performance, FireWire and USB 1.1 connections, and strong image quality as its older sibling.

For our performance tests, we used the 6700's FireWire interface and the add-in card and cable that come with the scanner. In terms of overall performance, the 6700 was slightly better than the Epson Perfection 2450, another 2400-dpi scanner we tested using FireWire. While the Epson ran faster on low-resolution scans (such as a 300-dpi black-and-white document), the Microtek was twice as fast on our 1200-dpi color photo. The 6700 also ranked highest overall in our August 2002 roundup for image quality. For example, in our print test of a 4-by-5-inch color photo scanned at 100 dpi and 24-bit color depth, it earned the top score thanks to the best combination of sharpness, brightness, and color reproduction (in skin tones as well as other shades).

The 6700 is designed for shared use over a local area network, and comes with LAN-specific software (Microtek LAN Wizard) that enables image sharing, job status reporting, and sending messages to other users on the network. In addition, like the 5700, the 6700 can scan transparencies as large as 5 by 7 inches with its built-in adapter.

WHAT'S NOT: The 6700 lacks an 8.5-by-14-inch glass and doesn't come with an automatic document feeder, so (as with other scanners that have letter-size scanning beds) you'll need to get an automatic document feeder to scan legal-size documents. You can buy a 50-page ADF from Microtek ... After the first year, live technical support is on a pay-per-call basis. The 6700 doesn't support the newer, faster USB 2.0 interface; Microtek says it is working on new models that do use USB 2.0.

WHAT ELSE: Like the 5700, the 6700 has a lid that includes a built-in lightbox for previewing slides and small pieces of film--a feature that no other scanner manufacturer offers. The 6700 sports five quick-start buttons for scanning, copying, e-mail, OCR, and scanning to the Web; the last transfers your scanned images to the IMira.com photo-sharing Web site.

The 6700 comes with Adobe Photoshop Elements for image editing, Ulead Photo Explorer 6 for image management, ABBYY FineReader Sprint 4 for optical character recognition, and Trellix Web 2.5 for Web page design. Microtek's efficient scanning driver (ScanWizard 5) provides separate modes for beginners and advanced users; the included step-by-step tutorial makes learning how to batch-scan multiple images and perform other image-editing tasks quick and easy. You can easily scan and save 48-bit color images (if you want to store as much raw color information as possible in your original scans), just by using the scanner driver. In fact, it's the only driver we've looked at recently that makes saving 48-bit color this simple. Also, you can save scanned documents in Adobe's Portable Document Format, which many businesses prefer for posting documents online.

UPSHOT: The Microtek ScanMaker 6700 is an attractively priced scanner for offices--networked and otherwise--that need fast, high-quality scans from photos, film, and paper documents.

Microtek ScanMaker 6700

USB 1.1 and FireWire, 2400 by 4800 dpi, 11.5 by 19.7 by 4.5 inches (width by depth by height), 8.1 pounds, 8.5-by-11.7-inch scanning area, built-in transparency adapter, optional automatic document feeder. One-year warranty; free technical support for one year (10 hours on weekdays, call is not toll-free); thereafter, fee-based support is available ....

I'm been shooting film for quite some time and decided to give digital a try. I consider myself to be a professional and wanted a professional scanner, but not something that would put me out. After reading a bunch of reviews I came up with the 8700 Pro. Came with Silverfast which I have heard great things about and this software that lets you blow up a 35mm slide to near poster size without pixelation occuring. Scanner also comes with calibration software that allowed me to plug in my ICM profile into the software for the correct color on everything. Next step is to obtain a great printer.

Microtek is a great company with a great product! I recommend this scanner for the professionals who need a larger scanner without the larger price.

I've been waiting for this scanner for months and months but it has been worth the wait. I had it on pre-order and have finally got the opportunity to get it. I was eyeing the Microtek 6800 for quite some time but decided to hold out for a legal sized scanner that also had positive and negative capabilities. I was also impressed with the price point of $599 MSRP. I was expecting it to push $799 or more based on the speculated features but was pleasantly surprised when the vendor told me.

With that being said I received the scanner yesterday and immediately torn into it. I am impressed with the physical construction of the unit. The scanner has metal railings inside and is quite solid. Nothing appears cheap or thrown together and I appreciate knowing that its not just plastic that was formed together last week. The scanner is both firewire and USB 2.0 so I chose to hook it up via firewire as most of my USB ports were tied up with PDA, Printer, Mouse/Keyboard, Smart Card Reader, etc. Installed the ScanWizard Pro software, restarted the computer and turned on the scanner. Windows XP picked it up and I was able to do a Scanner Test to verify it was working within a few seconds.

Once the scanner was up and running I launched Photoshop CS and then ScanWizard Pro through the File menu. Once it was up I imported my ICM profiles for my monitor and printer. This allows for accurate color reproduction but is not necessary depending on what you are doing with the output. I was very impressed with the time it takes to actually scan. About 10 seconds or less for a preview.

As for the actual scans I was pleasantly surprised. I have a dedicated slide scanner but it doesn't do large format items. I bought a piece of anti-newton ring glass and used it to flatten my items between the 8x10 glass plate that is included. This insures that the image is completely flat while maintaining the benefits of the i900's glassless positive and negative scanning. Scanning at a modest 1200 PPI I was surprised at the quality that I got. Reflective scans of course came out even better. I for one am very impressed with the optics of this unit.

As for the main feature, Digital ICE I can honestly say that this too is superb. I've read online how Digital ICE used to take almost half an hour to accomplish, this scanner does it in roughly a fourth of that time. The images that Microtek has online appear close to what I am getting with the i900. It saves me a considerable amount of time inside Photoshop and on the three photos I've tried they required little to no cleanup work beyond Digital ICE.

All in all I'm very pleased with my purchase. This will compliment my Artixscan 4000 quite nicely. I couldn't have asked for more and it delivers on everything it promises!