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HP SCANJET 5530 PHOTOSMART SCANNER 4800DPI 48BIT USB 2.0 (HP (Hewlett-Packard)-Q3871AA2L)

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  • SCANJET 5530 PHOTOSMART SCANNER 4800DPI 48BIT USB 2.0 (HP (Hewlett-Packard)-Q3871AA2L)
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HP Scanjet 5530 Photosmart Review

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- The HP Scanjet 5530 Photosmart has the same automatic photo feeder as the Scanjet 5500e model it replaces. The feeder holds a stack of up to 24 prints (either 4-by-6 or 3-by-5 inches). New to this Scanjet model is ArcSoft Collage Creator, a software application that can be used in tandem with the photo feeder to organize scanned images, to add creative effects, and to provide predesigned layouts for printing. Another notable enhancement is an automatic photo restoration feature, which did a respectable job of correcting faded photos and improving the lackluster color of our test images. This time-saving feature is added to the HP Scanning driver, which provides a basic interface for beginners and easy access to advanced features, such as color and tonal adjustments. Making such adjustments during the actual scan generally results in a crisper and cleaner-looking image than what you might be able to accomplish using photo editing software to correct a post-scanned image.

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User Reviews for HP SCANJET 5530 PHOTOSMART SCANNER 4800DPI 48BIT USB 2.0 (HP (Hewlett-Packard)-Q3871AA2L)

  • Reviewed by: ionrunner

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Good scan quality

    Weaknesses: Photo feeder does not work right. HP Software is atrocious. Photos run through feeder always cropped wrong--apparently unfixable.

    Overall Evaluation: Other reviewers who gave this scanner a one-star rating got it right. Read their reviews for a detailed description of problems. My experience pretty much dittos theirs. Let me start by saying that I am a really big fan of HP products, and had high hopes for this scanner. I didn't mind the size or weight of this unit at all. The problem is is that the primary reason to buy this scanner is for the automatic photo feeder, and it plain just doesn't work! Fuji paper photos don't feed at all. The photos that do scan are always cropped incorrectly: part of the image is cropped, always on the same sides, and part of the scanner is included as part of every scan. According to HP's support site, their is no remedy for this problem.And the HP scanning software could have been written by 12 monkeys during their lunch break...it's horrendous! There is no excuse for a company with the expertise and experience that HP has to produce software with such a poor interface, and it doesn't even work right. I don't know how many times I spent an hour baby-feeding photos through the scanner, only to find out it didn't save a single, solitary image. Where the @%$!* are they??? It somehow managed to rename some of my other images, though, that I had saved on my hard drive...what the **!?? I searched all over the web for reviews and comments on this torture device, and anybody whose actually used it for any length of time and tried to get help from HP got bupkis! This thing is defective and HP should step up to the plate and give buyer's their money back or something that works like it says it will on the box!

  • Reviewed by: erbug

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Excellent just as a flatbed scanner. Quick, nice scans of pictures and documents. Easy setup. But...

    Weaknesses: The HP software really makes the scanner useless for it's intended purpose.

    Overall Evaluation: This could really be a great product. HP needs to update the software for this scanner. HP's own "explorer window" which by default tkes you to the "MY Pictures" folder, does not allow you to creat a new folder. You have to go in the backdoor by using My Documents and create your own various folders for your pictures. Then reopen HP's program to scan the pictures. OK. You could use XP's scanner wizard which seems to work fine on the first batch of pictures but after the first bacth has run through the scanner the second time the wizard can't detect the pictures in the feeder tray. The only way I've found to get around this is to restart the ocmuter. All-in-all, I oculd have scanned the photos individually with just a plain flatbed scanner quicker.

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