Price, quality, performance, in box support for 35mm and APS films.

No Windows XP support (with none in sight), not officially supported by VueScan.

The CanonScan FS2720U is a very capable dedicated USB film scanner capable of scanning both traditional color/b&w 35mm negatives and slides, in addition to both color/b&w APS film. Adaptors are provided for both 35mm strips and APS film formats - which seems to be unique to the Canon because the APS adaptor is usually an accessory that would otherwise be purchased separately. Older film types, including Kodachrome and glass slides may be questionable. The scanner appears to be a slightly repackaged and apparently improved version of the Canon FS2710. The basic difference is the FS2720U has a built in USB-to-SCSI interface, whereas the FS2710 is a SCSI device. This has its good points and its bad points. The good point is once the software is installed, scanner plugged in and turned on, and configuration software executed, the scanner runs flawlessly. The bad point is from what I've been told from Canon tech support, the Canon FS2720U is not compatible with Microsoft Windows XP, with what appears to be no support in the future, which made me feel a bit cheated. Additionally, the scanner is not officially supported by Hamrick Software's ScanVue because of the additioinal complexities of this built in USB-SCSI interface. Additionally, because the scanner does not have an infrared scan (FARE from Canon and ICE from Nikon), dust and surface abnormalities (scratches) will appear in the final scan which, depending on the level of dust or film damage, can be cleaned using Photoshop, Elements, et al. At this price point, no other dedicated film scanner has this technology, so it's running par for the course. I've scanned a large number of Ektachrome, Ektachrome EC slides as well as various consumer films of various speeds, including Kodak, Fuji and Polaroid with astonishing results. In many cases, with a bit of canned air and Photoshop, I can get results that are superior to the Kodak Picture Disk CDs in fidelity, color rendition and resolution. I have also scanned at the FS2720's fullest resolution, re-sampled, cropped and enlarged 35mm negative scans to 11 x 14 on an HP DeskJet with no sacrifice in quality. The scanning software is fairly basic, but does offer standard color controls including levels and curves. The full manual is on CD - a printed abreviated version ships in the box. The good news and bad news is the scanner does work with Hammrick Software'

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Canon FS2710

good value excellent resolution fairly intuitive software for beginners

Negative holder takes up alot of space All scanned in images require major "brightening" before they can be printed.

Overall an excellent product. Setup via USB was easy, as was software installation. The dust cover for the scanner is cheap plastic - I think it will break every time I touch it. Scanning slides is very straightforward, although I agree with another reviewer that the slot for slides is wider than it needs to be, and you can put the slide in the wrong place. Holder for negative works well, but plan on another foot of extra space on the front of the unit if you are using this holder (it effectively doubles the footprint of the scanner). Scanning is very quick. Making adjustments for type of film, scanning resolution, etc. is very intuitive. When I first scanned in slides the pictures were extremely dark - this can be tweaked with the adjustments in canoscan software - but I am still getting the hang of this. It would be nice to be able to crop a photo and have it display just the cropped part of the image. This may be possible to do - but is not readily apparent to me.

Customer Service

Have not used.

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None

High res, easy to use, compact and attractive unit.

Color fidelity is not there, particularly in the brights and the darks.

I did quite a bit of research in buying a film scanner, and I was initially pretty pleased with my results using this scanner. Although my scans'' color accuracy was always somewhat off, I thought it wouldn''t be a problem tweaking for good final results. I was wrong. I can''t seem to get the color true to the original, and I have spent hours fiddling with the color controls both in the Canocraft software and in Photoshop. I''m particularly disappointed with the amount of noise in the darker "shadows", and in the "whites" in my pictures. I have printed with two different printers, both with similar results. My next step was to try to use the Hamrick software, VueScan, to bring my scans into Photoshop. What a mess that was! I specifically asked Ed Hamrick if his software would support an FS2720U on a Win2000 Pro platform, and he assured me it would. Wrong again! After a few emails back and forth, he''s refusing to refund me my 40 bucks! I''m at the point of returning the scanner, if I can, and spending to get myself a Nicon.

Customer Service

I gave them one call so far, and they told me to update my video card. It was brand new, but I bought a 64meg card anyways. No better. We''ll see what they say when I tell them I want a refund ...

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none

Quality Speed Price

Slide loading is ackward

GREAT wonderful scanner!!! Colors are amazing and speed is really fast. Set up was easy with USB since I use a laptop. This is the best scanner for the money IMO! The only negative is that the slide loading is ackward. You stick the slide in the slot which is bigger than the slide. I lost the slide into the scanner once and had to "jiggle" it back out.

Customer Service

none

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Olympus ES-10 HP Photosmart

Great price/performance. Very easy plug/play setup.

Needs photoshop to bring out the best in the scan. I assume that most other, even higher end, need this as well.

The FS2720U is a great scanner for the money. My main interest is to be able to scan and produce prints (using the epson 820 -- also a great product)up to 8x10/12 that rival wet lab. The FS2720U does that job quite well. In fact, many of my best negatives/slides (in 30 meg files)appeared better to me when printed on epson premium quality glossy when compared to previous prints at wet lab. I don''t think that there is much that can beat the combination of the 2720 and the 820 when printing up to 8x10/12. It may print even larger as well but I have not had the opportunity to so far to test that.

Customer Service

Average

I wasn''t sure whether the 2700dpi resolution would be enough. So far, I have not noticed anything in the scans to makes me regret the decision to purchase this unit (over one with higher resolution). Every scan has been very sharp (or at least as sharp as the slide or negative) and I have had no problem making enlargements up to and beyond 11X14. The unit operates very quietly, and previews and scans quickly. I have noticed no strong color cast that cannot be corrected with the usual tweaking. Overall, this unit is well worth the money.

Since I was not interested in batch scanning, the lack of this feature is not really a weakness. Any prospective buyer, however, will have to consider this when making a purchase decision.

This scanner produces extremely sharp scans with little fuss. I am using it primarily to print older slides and negatives (color and black and white) and as an alternative to the dicey scans I was getting from the local lab on PhotoCD. The unit is rather small (imagine a shrunken shoe box), but appears to be very solidly made. The case is all metal, and includes a door to keep the dust out. You can scan one slide or negative at a time, so batch processing is not possible with this unit (fine with me). Installation proceeded with little trouble and the software works well with Picture Window Pro, Paint Shop, and Photo Impact 7 (trial version).

Customer Service

Excellent. I had one question about the scanner function that was answered by Canon''s telephone customer support quickly.

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Only PhotoCDs from my local lab.

Very quick and easy to instal. The handbook has dire warnings about not tampering with the power cable (among other things) which I had to do, because we don''t use the same plugs in South Africa - but it worked fine from the word go. Scan quality is impressive - I can see what other reviewers mean about showing up any flaws in your film. After firing up this baby, I''ve been revisiting your site to check out the reviews on negative film! I was particularly pleased with the quality of Photoshop 5.0 LE, bundled with the scanner. I had already bought PhotoImpact 7.0, which has huge capabilities which I''m just beginning to explore, but the Photoshop seems to be quicker and slicker for fine tuning those images. The operating software seems to be pretty good, but I''m looking forward to trying it with Ed Hamrick''s Vuescan when he provides support for the 2720.

This kind of equipment is unbelievably expensive in South Africa - fortunately I was able to get it from B&H in NY, and they provided excellent service.

After spending days of looking at reviews here and elsewhere, I finally opted for the Canon. I was influenced particularly by reports of solid build and, of course, impressive scans. Decided to limit myself to USB type scanners, because this seems to be the only way to ensure upward compatibility with Windows XP.

Customer Service

Not needed

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None

Easy install on 98SE. Truly USB plug and play. I was happy with the documentation. After reading the manual and a short play time, I was amazed at how easy it was to get good initial scans.

So far, I haven''t found any.

Based on all the research I did in looking for my first film scanner, this unit has worked out perfectly for me.I have been shooting digital for 2 1/2 years and decided it was time to digitize 30+ years of slides and negatives. This is a way I can pass on all of our memories to our son. I am very pleased with this unit.

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Flat bed scanners.