Best scanning manager program?

I have an HP 7410 all-in-one, running under XP Pro. The scan manager
program that comes with the HP isn't very good, so I'm wondering if there's
a great scanning manager program (for documents and photographs).

Any recommendations?

Per T. Wise:
I have an HP 7410 all-in-one, running under XP Pro. The scan manager
program that comes with the HP isn't very good, so I'm wondering if there's
a great scanning manager program (for documents and photographs).

Any recommendations?


Duno from "great", but after taking a strong dislike to Nikon's freebie I
settled on VueScan.

Currently driving a CoolScan 4000 (film) and a CanoScan LIDE-SomethingOrOther
(flatbed).

The price was right and I have no complaints.
--
PeteCresswell

T. Wise wrote:
I have an HP 7410 all-in-one, running under XP Pro. The scan manager
program that comes with the HP isn't very good, so I'm wondering if there's
a great scanning manager program (for documents and photographs).

Any recommendations?

Dunno if your scanner is supported (most are),
but I've been using Vuescan. It has totally transformed
my Epson 4990 into a superb scanning machine.

Some claim it is not user-friendly. I guess that is contingent
on one's degree of familiarization, I find it quite friendly. Once
I worked out the twists of its interface, it turned into a mean
piece of software!

www.hamrick.com
is the place to go to for further info.

Others swear by Scanfast. I've tried their SE product,
came with my scanner. It's friendly, but the interface
got in the way once I became more proficient in its use.

Try it out as well. Google the name and you'll find the site.

Go to www.scantips.com for more than you ever wanted to
know about flat-bed image scanners!

Noons wrote:

Others swear by Scanfast. I've tried their SE product,

Profuse apologies: that should have read Silverfast,
not Scanfast!

On 7 Sep 2005 00:00:29 -0700, "Noons" wrote:

Any recommendations?

Dunno if your scanner is supported (most are),
but I've been using Vuescan.

Vuescan is notoriously buggy and unreliable. Check the archives for a
constant stream of user complaints and bug reports, some duped users
even screaming for their money back. No refunds, though.

However, if you don't care for quality and just want a quick a dirty
web scan it just may do the trick. The only challenge is to locate a
version that "works" (and that's a real challenge!). If you do, resist
the urge to upgrade, or at least keep the old version just in case!

Others swear by Scanfast.

That's SilverFast.

I've tried their SE product,
came with my scanner. It's friendly, but the interface
got in the way once I became more proficient in its use.

Try it out as well. Google the name and you'll find the site.

http://www.silverfast.com

Do note that you need to download a scanner specific version! Most
people consider it very good but it comes at a price. One notable
point I would make is that it's for people who favor "auto
everything".

In the interest of full disclosure, I don't use either of them,
although I've tested them both.

Don.

On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 13:26:25 -0400, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Per Noons:
Some claim it is not user-friendly.

That always mystified me.

And I'm mystified that you're mystified! ;o)

Compared to NikonScan (whose UI seems tb have
designed by somebody's 13-year-old kid trying incorporate every oddball control
he could find...) I find VueScan to be a model of adherence to the Windows UI
standards.

Ah, well, that explains it, then! Your knowledge of UI design is
apparently nonexistent... And that's being as diplomatic as I can
given the context. ;o)

Vuescan doesn't adhere to *any* UI standards! Doesn't even come close!

Vuescan is an ergonomic nightmare! Ever heard of "muscle memory"? Not
to mention hidden settings or, arcane interaction of unrelated
settings or, settings on different tabs influencing each other or,
missing user feedback or, secretly rolling back settings after the
user sets them... etc... etc... etc...

Vuescan is so bad I wouldn't even use it as an example of how *not* to
design a UI - as that risks vaguely implying Vuescan has a UI! ;o)

Mostly if something can be broken or misunderstood, I'm the one what will do it.

The corollary of that is:

If something is broken and confusing you'll be the one who's happy
with it! ;o)

Your above assertion seems to confirm it.

Don.

Per Noons:
Some claim it is not user-friendly.

That always mystified me. Compared to NikonScan (whose UI seems tb have
designed by somebody's 13-year-old kid trying incorporate every oddball control
he could find...) I find VueScan to be a model of adherence to the Windows UI
standards.

Mostly if something can be broken or misunderstood, I'm the one what will do it.
OTOH, I found VueScan to be easily usable without even reading the instructions.
--
PeteCresswell

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
That always mystified me. Compared to NikonScan (whose UI seems tb have
designed by somebody's 13-year-old kid trying incorporate every oddball control
he could find...) I find VueScan to be a model of adherence to the Windows UI
standards.


Akshally, I beg to differ. The UI is not Windows standard at all.
What it is is *portable*. Ie, it is written using a portable library
mechanism that lets it "look and feel" exactly the same regardless
of where you are running the program: Mac, Windows and Linux.

That is, IMHO and given that no one else seems to bother with that
all important aspect, one of the most amazing things about Vuescan.

It is terminally easy nowadays to develop something that looks
"windows-like" or "mac-like" or whatever-like. But to write something
as complex as Vuescan and make it look the same and operate the same
in all three environements is a major achievement.

Having said that, I do not diminish that it has some user interface
quirks. But for the price, I can't complain: have you checked how
many bugs exists in much more expensive software nowadays?



OTOH, I found VueScan to be easily usable without even reading the instructions.

Same here. It was quite refreshing in fact to not have to contend
with cryptic icons and ad-hoc graphics all over the place.

Mike wrote:
Dunno if your scanner is supported (most are),
but I've been using Vuescan. It has totally transformed
my Epson 4990 into a superb scanning machine.


Which edition of Vuescan, Standard or Professional?


I've been using Pro because I want to keep the RAW scans
and reprocess them with all sorts of image filters in GIMP.

These "raw" files, by the way, are not camera RAW files but
raw data *inside* a vanilla TIFF file. That makes them quite
easy to manage with standard OS thumbnails. And better yet:
I can read them with GIMP and process them myself if I'm not
happy with what Vuescan is doing. Can't get any better than that,
IMHO!

Noons wrote:

It is terminally easy nowadays to develop something that looks
"windows-like" or "mac-like" or whatever-like. But to write something
as complex as Vuescan and make it look the same and operate the same
in all three environements is a major achievement.

Having said that, I do not diminish that it has some user interface
quirks. But for the price, I can't complain: have you checked how
many bugs exists in much more expensive software nowadays?

Actually, there is also an advantage in doing cross-platform: a bug which is
at some stage harmless on one platform will show up early on another. The
result is more stable software. That is in part also due to the fact that
writing a cross platform application like VueScan (and to a lesser degree
Silverfast) simply requires a higher level of software engineering skills
than say a windows-only package.

-- Hans