Canon CanoScan LIDE30

Canon CanoScan Lide 30

CanoScan LIDE30 Review, by Richard Jantz July 16, 2002

Show More Show Less

0 Comments | 0 Topics | Print Only This Review

• Reviewed by: trailsman442000

  Strengths: Easy set good color.

  Weaknesses: A little on the slow side.

  Overall: This scanner works well has good colour is fairly simple to operate, could use a little more speed however. I just recently purchased this Canon scanner and installed it and I am over-all pleased with it. It takes up little space is in no-way bulky. Over all it will meet my needs as far as scanning documents goes.

• Reviewed by: danjryan

  Weaknesses: Claims to be USB 2.0, but isn't.

  Overall: Maybe if I'd read more reviews, I would have discovered this before it were too late. This scanner is peddled by Canon as USB 2.0, but in fact is "USB 2.0 Full Speed", an inferior standard no faster than USB 1.1. If you want real USB 2.0 throughput, you'll need a scanner that is USB 2.0 High Speed. Do I need to say that this is a disgusting con and that you should all send Canon a message and buy from another vendor?

• Reviewed by: zazonz

  Strengths: Good scan quality. No powercable.

  Weaknesses: A little slow.

  Overall: Been wanting a scanner for a while. I wanted to be able to scan receipts and rebate forms. I was actually looking at the LIDE 20, but at $50, it seemed a little too much. When I found the LIDE 30 for $30, I decided to take the plunge. The image quality seems very good, but as I said before, I am not working with photos, so it does not have to be the greatest, as long as it is legible. I love the fact it has no power cable, because I have no open spaces on the strip. It seems a little slow, about 30 seconds a scan, but it starts immediately. Software is easy to use. Open the toolbox, hit scan, give the file a name, and hit scan again. It come with with Arcsoft PhotoStudio and Photobase, ScanGear, and OmniPage. I did not use these as I have Photoshop already.

• Reviewed by: Lavrans

  Strengths: It looks real nice. Low profile, small desktop footprint.

  Weaknesses: The software was way too difficult to install and utilize. This truly was "rocket surgery", and too hard for me to figure out.

  Overall: For openers, I had to download a demo of Photoshop just to be able to try to ddo anything. I'm on an iMac G3 "snow" computer with both OS 9 and OS X. Here's what Canon had to say when I emailed them: "Regrettably, the Omnipage program is not compatible with OS 10.2 or later. The computer will need to be booted directly into OS 9 to install the program. Once installed, the program can be accessed through OS 9 or classic mode. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. The OS X plug-in for the LiDE 30 will require Adobe Photoshop 7.0, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 or the Canon Scangear Toolbox program. When usingthe Scangear Toolbox program, the scanner can only scan directly to the hard drive, e-mail or fax. It will not scan into an image editing program other than the Adobe programs mentioned above. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause." I took it back to Micro Center and traded it even for an HP 3670 ($79.95) and guess what? Simple plug and play. It worked just fine the first time with no extra fiddling about. No need for Photoshop or OmniPage- the necesary software by HP is built right into the application! Caveat Emptor! Larry Miller Cambridge

• Reviewed by: UncleSteve0

  Strengths: Ease of setup and use; value (price).

  Weaknesses: CIS (contact image sensor) technology has low (almost zero) depth of focus. Color accuracy not as good as my old HP PhotoSmart S20.

  Overall: I purchased this unit to scan a large number of family photos, almost all B&W. Results were good IF the entire photo was in intimate contact with the glass scan surface. Any 'buckling' (common with old, mounted photos) resulted in out-of-focus scans. Also, the recessed glass scan surface made scanning of larger mounted photos (matte 'frame' larger than scan surface) impossible due to the noted limited depth of focus. RE color accuracy: although most of my photos are B&W, I did scan a few color photos, as well as my color test chart. Some colors seemed to be 'off': 'red' more like orange, 'magenta' more like red, 50% nuetral gray had a blue cast.