Canon CanoScan FS2720U

Review Date
April 9, 2003

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.50 of 5, 8 votes

Reviewed by
Kevin , Intermediate

Price Paid
$0.00

Photography Experience
6-10 years , Outdoor

Summary
A good general-purpose scanner at a great price (can be had for ~$300). Best suited for negatives. Some high contrast scenes do not scan well from slides due to higher contrast.

Strengths
Great price, good general performance. 2720dpi is ample for all but large (>11x14) prints. Good TWAIN interface for Photoshop use.

Weaknesses
Cannot handle higher-contrast slides. Examples include silhouettes against a light sky, or sunsets that include the sun as a highlight. Any bright highlight will create lots of shadow noise along the length of the sensor, which is very time-consuming to correct.

Similar Products Used
Drum scans from professional firm.

Customer Service
Canon replaced the first unit I had without any hassle. When replacement unit has same problem with high-contrast images, I knew it was a design limitation. Quality of support varies depending on the individual you talk to. If you're not satisfied, hang up and call again; you might get someone better.

Review Date
January 26, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
owen_Fuji , Intermediate , from Alanson

Price Paid
$279.00 at B&H

Photography Experience
6-10 years , Other

Summary
I've been using a Canoscan FS2720U for a little over a month now and I have been very pleased with my purchase, so far. Any disappointments that I've had with scanned images from this scanner are always atributable to my inability to get a correct meter reading or from using a high iso, grainy film or from using a slow film, that doesn't do well in low-light. When I do my part, I'm always pleased with the results that I get with the FS2720U.
I've also downloaded the trial version of Vuescans scanner software and may be buying it soon, because of the far superior control that is inherent in its design.
Before I purchased this scanner I downloaded the XP-patch from the Canon site for the FS2720U and I've had no problems at all running the scanner on Windows XP.

Strengths
Excellent image quality. Perfect for my use at an "enthusiast" level.

Weaknesses
None found, so far.

Similar Products Used
NA

Customer Service
NA

Review Date
October 15, 2002

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
richb1492 , Intermediate , from Beaumont, exas

Price Paid
$299.00 at B&H

Photography Experience
0-1 years , Other

Summary
We use film scanner in my Photojounarlism class so and loved the way the scans looked so I decided to get one. I saw that B&H had them used at a very good price. The scans have been great and the colors are very nice. I have windows XP and even though the driver are not offically certified they have worked great. The speed of the scans was shockinly fast I have used flat bed scanners for years and this beat them hands down. The software bundle is also nice.

Strengths
**Fast Scans ** Price **Quality of the scans **Size It fits great on my desk ** Software bundle ** Documentation is also good

Weaknesses
* It would have been nice too have all the manals in book form printing them out is a pain. The film carrier is a little on the cheap side.

Customer Service
B&H is a 1st rate compant too do business. The sales staff is nice and all questions are answered fast. They also have geat used products on hand.

Review Date
September 27, 2002

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
adina , Casual

Price Paid
$399.00 at B&H Photo

Photography Experience
2-5 years , People

Summary
All in all, I am very satisified with this scanner. Pictures come thru very clean and sharp, and the software is relativly easy to learn. I upgraded from a flatbed scanner, so this is quite an improvement. I would recommend it to anyone looking to move into a film scanner, who doesn't want to spend too much on it.

Strengths
size, it doesn't take up much space on the desk; image quality, price

Weaknesses
other than speed, which it doesn't have much of, haven't found any

Similar Products Used
none

Customer Service
haven't needed

Review Date
September 23, 2002

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
vsolanoy , Intermediate , from San Jose, CA USA

Price Paid
$499.00 at Fry's Electronics

Photography Experience
6-10 years , Outdoor

Summary
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'

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

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

Similar Products Used
Canon FS2710