Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I tend to have about 3 scanners at any given time: a higher-end flatbed (for photos and film) and two economy models for my antiqarian book business, one newer with a 'good' glass surface (few, if any, scratches) and the second-newest one which usually has scratches, used for rougher items. In other words, I use scanners quite a bit and know a good one when I see it; and this new MKII version of the 9000F is quite good. SPEED: The most important aspect of a scanner for someone who does a lot of scanning is speed: speed in warming up, speed in scanning in high-res. The 9000F MKII is excellent at both, better than my $700 Epson V700 (with one exception). The difference lies in the LED technology of the new Canon. My first thought was that LED may produce inferior results but this is certainly not the case, after analyzing the results. And because the LEDs don't need warming-up, 'warm-up time' is a thing of the past. The one exception in speed tests is scanning at high-res with Canon's FARE software turned on: very slow indeed. However, I personally always make raw scans and then batch-process them in Photoshop, so this is not a factor for me. With FARE turned off, the speed is very good, even in high-res. SOFTWARE: The second most important aspect of a scanner is software, both the user interface and the correction software. Canon's UI software has always been inferior to Epson in that it is dumbed-down and kind of clunky in comparison to the customizable and fluid Epson UI. However, there are now big improvements in this area: I was amazed - really, amazed - at how well Auto Scan Mode works: excellent recognition, cropping, scanning and saving files in just one click. Scary good, really. Auto Document Fix (as opposed to photo fix with FARE) is also quite advanced and, for example, makes text as clear as possible - automatically. And while settings are fully customizable, as Epson's are, Canon still lags behind a bit, clearing your settings at times (Epson requires the user to reset, which is better). One software feature that, again, amazed me, was 'Gutter Shadow Correction': as a book dealer I often scan pages within books; this feature automatically recognizes the gutter shadow (the crevice between pages) and eliminates it. Wow. QUALITY: Let's make this simple: today, even low-end scanners have incredible quality. You are getting what 5 years ago would be a $1,000 professional scanner. To get caught up in dpi and microscopic analysis of scan results is a bit too much when you're talking about a $170 scanner. The highest usable dpi for reflective media is about 3600; anything beyond that is useless (i.e., the scanner's dpi exceeds that of the photo you're scanning!). For film - certain, high-res film - maybe 4800dpi comes into play. Beyond that, get a film scanner - that's why God invented them. To expect the Ferrari of imaging devices for $170 is a bit much. This is why I've always had a separate photo scanner in addition to lower-end scanners for other uses. The 9600 dpi CCD sensor on this scanner is superb. This 9000F MKII has tremendous image quality; don't let anyone convince you otherwise. One unexpected feature is the fact that the scanner includes not only 35mm film capability, but medium format as well. On the downside, Canon no longer bundles Photoshop Elements with the scanner. As for new bells and whistles, the major differences between the original 9000F and the MKII (aside from the improved optical quality) are the external 'EZ Buttons': touch a button for instant copy/scan/email/pdf functions. All in all, an excellent scanner and well worth the money.