The Canon 9900F scanner

Page 11.

Conclusion

I must confess and say I was very excited when I heard about this scanner, it has all the specifications and features that should make this scanner stand head and shoulders above its competition. The FARE technology, especially the Dust & Scratch removal, is excellent. I would not have believed it would be possible to get such clean scans and I have tried it with plenty of dirty pictures (dusty) with great results.

The 35mm film scans were better than I had expected from a flatbed scanner and at 3200 dpi they nearly matched a dedicated film scanner output, but not quite. The 35mm scans will be more that adequate for all but the most critical work. The 9900F came into its own when presented with large format films. The scans from 120 film are certainly useable for most professional work. Using the scanner at its maximum optical resolution of 3200 dpi is going to produce some massive file sizes and should capture all the detail that's on the film. I'm sure Canon are going to score with social and wedding photographers. A scanner that will scan 120 roll film and 5x4 sheet film, for £299 has to be a bargain. However, Canon have not fully grasped the needs of the professional photographer. A 120 strip film holder that enables two strips of three or four frames to be scanned at a time, would be an essential item.

The scanners optics are some of the finest lenses to be found in any scanner, as you would expect from Canon. The lens, a Canon Super Galileo 2, is a 6 element lens with an extra large aperture, this is claimed to give edge to edge pin-sharp pictures. The scans certainly had a lot of quality in them, but you had to resort to a heavy application of the Unsharp Mask filter.

Scan times were slow and a three second time for preview as claimed in Canon's brochure was optimistic to say the least. Warming up and doing an Adjustment calibration took over 1 minute and subsequent scans took between 10 and 20 seconds to preview. Scanning film is a near silent process, document scanning was slightly noisier, but not objectionable.

Although the 9900F is tailored for photographers needs, with an emphasis on film scanning, we should not overlook the document scanning side. Restoration work is big business and being able to scan every last drop of detail on old but valuable photographs is imperative. The Canon did not fail on this account. Being a professional scanner for photographers, I am surprised at the inclusion of the quick start buttons at the front. The buttons enable fast Copy, Scan, Scan to File or E-mail. This is great for the average home/office use but not essential for photographic work.

Throughout this review I have complained about the ScanGear scanning software, but have not made much mention of the other bundled software. A full version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 is included, this is an excellent application which would suit someone who has just got started in digital photography. I would suspect most photographers who are going to buy this scanner will already have Photoshop. Instead of the plethora of other miscellaneous software, I would have liked to see something along the lines of SilverFast 6 included.

Would I buy it?

I think this scanner has a lot going for it and at the price it does represent excellent value. A couple of years ago you would have had to pay a four figured sum for something of this quality. I would be tempted to buy it, but I would want better scanning software first.

Verdict.

Canon have some stiff competition for this price slot. The 9900F is an excellent scanner which is let down by poor and basic scanning software. This scanner promises so much but is not delivering as yet.

Pros:
Excellent build quality
Batch scanning
FARE technology
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0
Price (£299)

Cons:
ScanGear scanning software
Flimsy film holders
Slow scanning speeds

www.canon.co.uk 

© Vincent Oliver 2003 www.photo-i.co.uk
Please use the Forum to post your questions and views.