HP ScanJet 8200 Professional Image Scanner

I've had this scanner for over 3 years and I've never got a decent scan out of it. I've had to play around in Photoshop to make anything usable, but detail in never there. Everytime I scan I have to unplug it from the mains then replug it to restart it so that the software can find it. I've updated to all the latest software, but it never got any better. The default settings are unusable, the auto scan select never includes the whole image to be scanned so you have to delete it and do it manually again, it's just rubbish! So I'm here at Amazon looking for something better.Mac OS10 [[ASIN:B0000A01L1 HP ScanJet 8200 Digital Flatbed Scanner

Using this scanner is a frustrating experience. The current software from HP's site does not work well with Mac OS X. There is an option to descreen, but it doesn't do anything. The descreening option is either on or off, there are no parameters to set. The software interface is not intuitive, and the scanner is noisy, too. This is some of the worst software in recent history. There is no "scan" button. What kind of scanning software doesn't have a nice, big "scan" button? Don't buy this scanner. Buy an Epson or Agfa instead.

I use a scanner daily in my work as a college teacher, as I put most of my teaching materials online. I was impressed with the specs of this scanner, revews were positive, and was happy for about two weeks. Then I bought a new Mac G5, OS 10.3 Panther. The 8200 software was incompatable for a very long time, during which I had to go back to my old scanner, as did all other Mac users. Amazon was not my friend here. Hp finally issued an new version of the software, of which all I can say is beware, under no circumstancces should you install this on any system later than 10.2.8. If it has been some time since you used a windows machine, you might get all teary-eyed and sentimental when you start experiencing system crashes, kernel panic, data loss. Hp's reaction is screw you, you bought the machine, and now you expect it to work? Do you realize how little we care? I have learned to deal with daily crashes, and reinstall my system software about every two weeks.

I have windows xp. I installed the software, connected this scanner via USB 2.0, and have had nothing but misery since. For example, while I am writing this I am waiting the 5 minutes it takes to do a negative scan job using the HP software. Everything about this scanner is slow. Ok, well I once scanned a text document in, that went pretty fast, but if you want anything greater than 200 dpi scans be prepared to wait - and wait.

The software is horrible. Instead of an integrated interface, you have to launch a "director" application which then launches an application for each scan you want to do. Then when the scan is done, that program closes and a picture viewer application opens. If you want to scan again, guess what, you have to work through all the applications again, opening, closing, waiting and waiting.

My dad bought one of these with the auto-feeder attachment. He seemed happy, so I got one without the auto-feeder. One day I asked if I could use the auto-feeder - I figured I could automate the painfully slow process - and it apparently broke, one week out of the box and has never functioned again. He had given up on it.

This scanner sucks for scanning negatives. You open the director, click on scan picture, wait for the picture scanner to open, up pops a box asking if you are scanning a photo, negative, or slide - select negative, app closes and relaunches itself... wait... ok, it scans in the whole negative and auto selects one frame of the negative. Ok, not the frame I wanted, but I slide the selection box to the frame I want. Not enough detail in the default scan, so I select zoom in on selected area.... wait... ok, it zooms in on an area slightly out of the area I picked before. Readjust selected area. Turn off automatic color adjustment because it always over saturates the color - I am unable to turn this off permanently - ok, select 1200 dbi (If I select anything higher, computer hangs, scanner times out, 8 minutes later I get control of application again but need to reboot to get scanner to work).

Oh, hey, scanner software reports it is done. Nope, "unable to connect to device". That is funny because I had done all the steps described above via the same connection. Back to the drawing board. Its taken me hours to get to the 14th frame in one roll of film. This will take me months to get all my old photos scanned in.

Wish I had bought a Nikon or Cannon. You should avoid this piece of equipment.

Sigh.

I previously left a warning that this scanner was incompatible with Mac OS X Panther (10.3.x). However, HP has just released a driver for this scanner, and all compatibilty issues seem to be resolved. If you purchase this scanner within the next couple months (before the newer models with the driver included reach the outlets), you may find that you need to download the driver from www.hp.com. When I downloaded the driver, my computer mistook it as an Adobe Go Live file. If this happens, single click on the downloaded file and open it with Stuffit Expander (or similar program). This should work and give you a folder with several options. Rather than just the Mac OS 10.3 plug-in, select the icon for the general scanjet installer. If you have any other trouble, HP service should be able to help. Now that I finally got this contraption to work, I'm amazed at the quality and speed. You'll be very happy with this scanner.