Conclusion

VueScan has a lot on offer for a modest price tag, there are so many features buried within the software that it almost becomes difficult to find the right tool for the task. Fortunately, the interface constantly changes, so if you say "Lock Image colour" on the first tab, then the Color tab options change etc. Now this could be regarded as user friendly, but if you are new to the software then you are going to be searching around for those settings which you could have sworn were on the colour tab. Once you get used to the interface, it is not too bad.

I tried hard to find fault with VueScan when I first started this review, everything seemed to work a treat, print scans are great. However, when I started to scan film the tables turned. I don't think the scan quality is anywhere near good enough. Just to keep the review totally fair, I scanned the same transparency on both the Epson 4870 and the Canon 9950F. Canon's ScanGear (an interface which I don't rate) did a very good job with the colours and produced some nice looking scans. EpsonScan and the 4870 also produced a good looking scan. VueScan made a mess of the Canon 9950F's capabilities, but worked marginally better with the Epson scanner. I can only conclude that supporting over 400 scanners is too ambitious, perhaps this number should be reduced and more attention given to individual scanners.

Scan made with ScanGear	Detail
Scan made with Canon 9950F and VueScan	Detail (noise in bearskin)
Scan made with Epson 4870 and VueScan	Detail (hint of noise in bearskin)

(above image suffers from mild camera shake, its the colour and noise that I am looking at)

Mr Hamrick has invested a lot of time and thought in this software and I wouldn't want to trash his efforts, but the end result must justify the price tag no matter how modest. For me film scanning on VueScan falls well short of expectations. I have spoken with Ed Hamrick (author of VueScan) and he seems to be willing to change any aspect of the application that people find problems with. The only trouble with this, is that you get the feeling that you are paying to become a Beta tester. Having said that, once you have purchased the software then all the updates are free. I am prepared to re-test this software at a later stage, I feel confident that the problems will be resolved very soon after Mr Hamrick reads this review.

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Reserved recommendation.

Price:
Standard edition $49.95 - One year upgrades
Professional edition $89.95 - Unlimited upgrades

http://www.hamrick.com/