Canon FS 4000 US Reviews

Rating
Reviewed by: Dennis Lehto
(Expert)

Review Date
May 27, 2003

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.55 of 5,
11 votes

Review 1 of 23

Price Paid: $1200.00

Summary:

Excellent value with excellent results. The Nikon 4000 was twice the price, so the Canon FS 4000 was an obvious choice. Other reviews will give details but I wanted to add one item concerning the issue of "black pepper" appearing in high resolution scans of slides. The problem is explained here: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/film/fuji-pepper.shtml The scanning solution is to change the dust control setting to "high". I found that this eliminates the pepper noise with no appreciable loss of sharpness. To save time, I seldom preview, but scan directly to PS 7 and edit there.

Strengths:

Price High scan quality Durable holders APS capability Excellent dust control with no loss of sharpness

Weaknesses:

No access to Photoshop (eg.) when scanning (find something else to do while waiting) Scanning progress bar is inaccurate, i.e. it indicates it's done, but continues to process for quite a while after. If a final scan is aborted it exits the program and you have to start the whole process again. Noisy, but you get used to it.

Similar Products Used:

HP PhotoSmart C5100 film scanner

Customer Service:

None required

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Rating
Reviewed by: procca
(Casual)

Review Date
March 2, 2003

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5,
3 votes

Review 2 of 23

Price Paid: $1099.00 from Henry's (CDN dollars

Summary:

Great scanner. Sharp scans with tons of detail. Easy to use, great adapters and reliable. SCSI or USB? Buy yourself a cheap $35 SCSI card and High Density (50 Pin) cable if you plan to scan at 4000DPI. USB is slower and USB uses CPU resources. SCSI does not use up CPU resources. See table below for comparison. USB SCSI-2 Transfer Rate (Mb/s) 12.0 Transfer Rate (MB/s) 1.50 10.0 File Size @4000DPI(MB) 130.0 130.0 Min Trans Time (secs) 86.7 13.0 Scan Time Min (secs) 48.0 48.0 Total Time (secs) 134.7 61.0 Total Time (mins) 2.2 1.02 Note that USB ties up CPU resources so above values are ideal times. Practical times will be higher.

Strengths:

- Well built - Well made adapters - High quality scans - SCSI interface - Excellent dust removal - High resolution

Weaknesses:

- FilmGet software - No hardware eject button - No USB 2.0 or Firewire interface - Lack of slide feeder or roll film adapter accessories - Fare does not work with B&W - 1/2 price of a Nikon 4000ED

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Rating
Reviewed by: gcookie
(Casual)

Review Date
January 25, 2003

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
3 votes

Review 3 of 23

Price Paid: $750.00 from B & H

Summary:

First of all, if your buying a scanner you should a good quality monitor with RGB controls. I you don't, what you see is not what you get if your printing with an InkJet, like a Epson 1280. This is one nice scanner for the money.

Strengths:

4000 dpi gives me plenty of options. Slide tray works great! Connection was easy in Win 2000 Professional

Weaknesses:

Software! Preview scan is not really clear. Use mostly Photoshop for work. Negative tray is a pain to get negative in without touching it.

Customer Service:

none

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Rating
Reviewed by: davidc56
(Intermediate)

Review Date
January 13, 2003

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Review 4 of 23

Price Paid: $700.00 from hot buys electronics

Summary:

I did a lot of research before buying and finally decided to take the digital plunge. After purchasing Vuescan I am delighted with the results from this scanner. I did not have as good of results with Filmget. I did not like the software and in defense of Canon, I did not give it much time or effort. In my view, VueScan is a requirement. The 4000 DPI scans are incredible. I use an Epson photo 890. That combination will hold me over until an affordable 12 MP camera arrives (Less than $2,500). I would also like to point out that I had no experience prior to purchasing the scanner. Vuescan and the FS4000US are very easy to use. The ability to do one Raw scan and make and preview all adjustments is great. I could not resist the savings with the grey market product from Hotbuyselectronics.com. They shipped very fast and I have not had any problems.

Strengths:

See above

Weaknesses:

Length of scan time - But improved with SCSI card.

Customer Service:

No need

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Rating
Reviewed by: David Ziegler
(Intermediate)

Review Date
October 18, 2002

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
2.86 of 5,
7 votes

Review 5 of 23

Price Paid: $875.00 from B&H Photo Video

Summary:

Because of my limited photography budget, the CanoScan FS 4000 was the logical choice when building my digital dark room -- but not a decision I made lightly. After reading at least 6 reviews and comparison studies, and corresponding with several FS 4000 users, I took the plunge. I'm VERY picky, bordering on obsessive, so the FS 4000 had a lot to live up to, and it did. Scans from negative film have accurate, vibrant color, great contrast, and few defects (thanks to Canon's FARE dust/scratch removal technology). It's operation is simple and fairly quiet, and allows for batch scanning. Enlargements of 8x12" look fantastic (about 450 dpi at this size), and I'm sure I could go to 11x14" without problem. All in all, a GREAT value considering the nearest competitor costs hundreds more.

Strengths:

Solid construction. Good Canon optics. FARE dust/scratch removal works very well without serious degradation to image quality. FilmGet software, while somewhat buggy, does produce great images with little or no post-scan adjustments necessary (even with negatives). Trays (included) allow for batch scanning of 6 negative frames or 4 slides. For APS (not important to me, but may be for some), a motorized APS transport is included. Very simple and painless install.

Weaknesses:

Full resolution scans can take 3-5 minutes (I use USB, SCSI option may be faster). Would like to see some minor bugs fixed in the FilmGet software. While color is mostly accurate, I would like to see color profiles for common film types (like VueScan offers).

Similar Products Used:

PrimeFilm 1800u slide/negative scanner

Customer Service:

The first scanner arrived from from B&H DOA (possibly a defect, possibly damaged in shipping). I called Canon Customer Service at 11:45 p.m. on a Saturday night, and not only were they open, they were

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