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PC Pro currently recommend this one (as recommended above by Dutchman as well)- its a bit more expensive so you may need to give her some help...
The Other Tim
Canon CanoScan 8000F
COMPANY: Canon
PRICE: £165 (£194 inc VAT)
RATING: ISSUE: 102 DATE: Apr 03
VERDICT: Flatbed scanners are ten-a-penny these days, but the CanoScan 8000F stands well above the crowd for everyday tasks, while the generous software collection makes it top value.
Having established itself as the leader in slimline, ultra-cheap flatbed scanners, Canon is moving into the demanding world of scanners for serious photographers. The CanoScan 8000F is a well-engineered, quality device targeted at the kind of scanner user for whom 'good enough' simply isn't.
The hardware looks good, but also feels well built compared with the plasticky alternatives from Epson and HP. Unlike Canon's cheapest slimline range, this is a full six-line colour CCD scanner, supporting 48-bit colour capture and output, and offering an optical sampling rate of 2,400 x 4,800ppi.
Four quick-task buttons on the front trigger various everyday scanning jobs: copy (scan to printer), scan (scan to application), file (scan to disk) and email. You can customise how these work using the CanoScan Toolbox software utility. The product also operates well with the bundled programs, including a decent version of the leading OCR package OmniPage, which can handle full-colour documents (many bundled OCR programs don't).
Reflective scanning is a clean and trouble-free experience thanks to the ScanGear TWAIN driver, which lets you toggle between a really easy mode and a not-too-difficult advanced mode. The automatic cropping and rotation features worked well during testing, and the colour enhancement option produced good results every time. Usefully, the advanced mode allows manual control over the image using curves, some basic options for removing dust and scratches, and an unsharp mask filter.
A small transparency adaptor lamp is built into the lid. This works in conjunction with two special plastic 35mm film holders: one for holding two six-shot positive or negative strips, and another for holding four mounted slides. In contrast to many similar scanners, the CanoScan 8000F's uncomplicated film holders are quick and easy to load up and a no-brainer to position correctly on the plate thanks to a recessed notch at the far edge.
Transparency scanning is a pleasure, with the device presenting the frames as individual preview thumbnails. The results we achieved were significantly better than we'd normally expect from a sub-£200 scanner, partly due to Canon's FARE (Film Automatic Retouching and Enhancement) Level 1 technology, which uses an infrared system to identify and remove dust and scratches from the film surface. FARE really does work brilliantly. Our only reservation is that certain high-contrast images can produce 'noisy' posterised effects in the colour transitions, but even high-end scanners aren't immune from this problem.
Regarding the hardware, one potential problem could be the flimsy white plastic backing sheet that covers the transparency lamp when scanning reflective originals: the peg holes look too easy to tear. We also found scanning speeds rather slow, especially when you add on the lamp warm-up time between every scan. But the CanoScan 8000F is still a solid and reliable performer that's great value for money and produces high-quality results.
Alistair Dabbs
SPECIFICATIONS: 48-bit colour flatbed scanner, 16-bit greyscale scanning, 2,400 x 4,800ppi optical sampling rate, 9,600ppi interpolated resolution, USB 2 interface, 217 x 297mm document scanning area, 12-frame 35mm filmstrip and four-frame mounted slide transparency adaptor, four quick-task buttons (copy, scan, file, email). Adobe Photoshop Elements, ArcSoft PhotoStudio, ArcSoft PhotoBase, ScanSoft OmniPage, Presto! PageManager, TWAIN driver for Windows 98, ME, 2000 and XP supplied.
