Cheap, good quality. Nice feature of scanning photo's too.
A good alternative for many other expensive scanners.
Colours are good, esp. compared to the Minolta-gang.
Has USB which is very easy to use.

The feeder for the negatives and slides (sometimes). Thick glasssildes won't work.
Not suitable for win 2000 yet.
Win NT 4.0 won't work after update with servicepacks.

Best start for film scanning.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

Minolta, Nikon

Good scan quality on all types of film, esp Colour negatives.

Ability to scan up to 5x7 photos is a bonus.

Brilliant software!

Prone to dust, and feeding can be awkward.

For the money, you cant beat the quality this scanner can deliver. The software is very easy to use, and works well. While the scan quality of the 5x7 images is not amazing, it does the job, and saves you having a separate flat bed for most tasks. (It can scan CD covers with no problems for example)

Customer Service

Support website is good.

Similar Products Used:

None

Quick at scanning multiple items (negative strips) at ne time. Pretty good photo scans

Terrible with negatives (the only reason I bought it). Showed a lot of dust (although color was good) even after meticulously cleaning the strip.
Also, only scans photos at 300 dpi. If you're looking for an all in one...consider another. I returned the product.

Decent scanner, but negative scanning quality and photo quality definitely NOT worth the money. Plus side, VERY easy to use.

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

UMAX

Installation Easy
Great Reproduction of old 35 mm slides from 1960's & 1970

Some of my old slides are square, no short side. I believe they are mounted on a thicker mounting than this scanner is made to accept. Consequently, I have to toggle the slide to get it to scan.Sometimes slides get stuck and I have to eject them. It is only problem I have had.
I would love to have a more detailed manual, as I am a novice at using this product. Although, the Quick Reference Scanning Sheet is good, I would love to have more detail to learn by.

Our experience has been good so far. Their expertise and technology (HP) is wonderful. Would rate them high in these areas. I am impressed with my HP S20xi and hope to use for many years.

Customer Service

Have found no 800 #, but just got my scanner yesterday; have not had occasion to call.

Similar Products Used:

None

Excellent scans from negatives. Very little tweeking is required. Simple and intuitive software.

None yet.

I have to say up front that this was my only choice for a photo scanner, since I don't have any free slots in my PC for a SCSI card. That said, I'm extremely happy with this scanner. It does an outstanding job with negatives and properly exposed slides. Forget about underexposed slides - way too much noise in the scans.

Customer Service

Not needed. Would be nice if it had Win2K drivers, but they're supposedly coming in the spring.

Similar Products Used:

None

Great scanner for negative color and B/W!
Good but not that great with dia scannes.

You have to put in the filmstrip for every new frame you scan.

Great scanner for the money spent!

Similar Products Used:

None

The HP S20 was cheap and therefore an inexpensive way to begin to learn the digital darkroom craft. It produces good scans, particularly of negatives. The accompanying software is excellent, particularly the sharpening tool. The histogram tool, which shows blacks and whites that are off the scale is also useful. It is reasonably fast to use and set-up and configuration were simple with the USB connection and Windows 98. I like the fact that it does not use fiddly negative holders and is capable of full-frame scans (important with full frame SLRs like my Nikons). It will scan 48 bits into Picture Window, which is the image software I use.

I would say that this is probably not the scanner you want if you are interested mainly in slide scanning as it has some problems with noise in deep shadow areas. With negatives, however, it is outstanding.

This is a fine entry level scanner especially if scanning black and white or color negatives is your main interest. I use Fuji Reala and Fuji Superia 800 and both scan beautifully with this machine. It does OK with slides, but where there is high contrast there are shadow detail problems that are annoying.

Customer Service

NO occasion to try it.

Similar Products Used:

I've used the Nikon LS-1000, which I did not like as much (athough it did better with slide shadow detail). The Nik

Can Scan negatives, slides, and photos up to 5x7. USB interface, capable of 48bit color depth if used through Photoshop, good dynamic range, easy to use.

Cannot scan APS (not that I use that format, but it's good to know before you buy), sensitive to dust w/ no auto touch up.

I got this scanner after getting totally fed up with my roomates $50 flatbed scanner. The S20 is easy to set up and use and produces beautiful scans with minimal efforts. The 48bit depth is nice when makeing color/contrast adjustments in photoshop, but the file can get BIG (around 44meg). The software that comes with the scanner is also nice because it will highlight the points of the picture that are absolute white or above or absolute black or below (values below 0 and above 255). This makes it a bit easier to adjust the exposure for folks like me that goof it up every now and again.

I wish it had the Digital ICE auto touchup like the more expensive scanners, but not a bad job for the $400 price range. Only thing to watch out for is if you shoot any APS format, this scanner cannot handle it.

Customer Service

Not needed yet.

Similar Products Used:

none

Very easy to set up.
USB
Ease to use
Very happy with results

None so far

I am very happy with this product, but then again, I only use it to send e-mail of my slides to friends. Anybody who owns this product should put it in a plastic bag or keep it covered up because it is prone to dust getting in the scanner.I would rate the overall higher but like I said it is very prone to dust.

Customer Service

Haven't needed any

Similar Products Used:

Microtek X6 Flatbed

Price, USB connection. Easy installation. Ability to handle up to 5x7 prints as well as negatives and slides. HP quality. Bundled Ulead Photo Impact & Photo Explorer immage editing software are quite good and much easier to use than Photo Shop.

None noticed to-date.

I find that well exposed Kodachrome slides and well exposed Kodacolor negatives scan best. Print scan quality, although only 300 dpi, surprised me. With slides and negatives I find it best to use minimal adjustment for the scan and then adjust the file with Ulead Photo Impact. I'm still learning.

Customer Service

None required. I Used the on-line help screen which quickly solved a software crash.

Similar Products Used:

None