~~ JET SET WITH THE CANON CANOSCAN CS4400F FLATBED SCANNER ~~

When is the last time anyone in civilized society has used a scanner? I mean, paper pictures? Slides? Negatives? What in the world are those?? Anyone who was born before the year 2000 has photo albums, photo boxes and storage that requires no electricity, computer or batteries!

I am such a person. Before the world of digital rocked my world, I was snapping flashes, going to the one hour photo, getting mad over the ones that didn't make it per the blur or not enough light....And, worse...trying to find a place to put them, without them getting wrinkled, ripped, water-damaged or lost. That is the trick. I have had various scanners in the last few years that took up so much time that I never got through one box of photos before I gave up, unhooked 100 wires and put it away.

That is before Canon's CanoScan CS4400F Flatbed Scanner came across my path. This sleek, attractive model was much lighter at six pounds than my other clunky and outdated scanners were! This Canon is both in color or gray. It will run in color if it is a color picture unless you choose gray. Which I do for many of my color pictures to give them old black and white look. For color pictures, it uses a 48 bit, for B&W/Gray it is a 16 bit. The sharp resolution is 4800 X 9600 and really brings to life pictures that may or may not have had the best resolution from the original 35 MM camera that took it. The scanned pictures sometime look better than the original, and that makes it worth all of the effort it takes to prepare each picture. It is easy to hook up to your computer, and does not trip you up with wires all over the place. That is one thing that is important to me, because my desk is already cluttered up enough with office equipment, papers and stuff that it tends to be such a chore to scan through 3 decades and 4 generations of pictures!!

Now, I haven't used this to scan any of my old negatives, but if I ever lost a photo and only had the negative, I would, rather than get it developed at a photo shop. It also scans filmstrips, books and papers with clarity, and perfect copying. You can also retouch, and enlarge pictures, zooming in and out. The scan size is 8.5" X 11.7", so there is a lot of room for multi-photos or business size letterhead. The lid is an Advanced 'Z-Lid' that is easy to lift, and it scans so quickly that you can get through 100 pictures in less than a half an hour. depending on how many things you change (zooming, color, text,etc), you can protect your pictures on your home PC without much time invested.

It comes with the proper registration, warranty (1 year) and software that uploads into your computer, and can be used with Windows 98 or higher or Mac. In the software it has Scangear, Scansoft Omnipage, Arcsoft photostudio, a pagemanager, an eregistration, a toolbox and these are all extras that help you make the most out of the things that you scan. I have not used most of these features, but I hope to do so once I am done scanning!

Unlike my other scanners, the top lid is solid, does not wobble, and it does not "time out" if I leave it alone for awhile. The input voltage is 120 V AC, and it comes with the adapter and USB cable, and plugs into any computer. I haven't had any problem, or irritation with this model. It is virtually painless, and uploads with little effort and much ease.

I have had this for about 6 months or so, and usually do a "blitz" with my pictures. Instead of being annoyed and frustrated, I find this theraputic and relaxing, as I laugh and cry over the pictures that I am nostalging over. I love that this powerhorse does it all. It is beautiful with a chromelike finish, it looks very professional when I have it out, and it stores easily in my cabinet when not in use. If you don't have a scanner, you need this one!! If you have one that isn't "doing it for you", trade her in for a new model!! Canon is as Canon does!