The Canon CanoScan 5600F, priced at $149.99, is a scanner that specifically focuses on photos and is more than just capable of delivering very high quality scans for films and photographic prints. At the price of this scanner, you are in a win-win situation if you go for it. If you have a tight budget and you want excellent performance from your scanner, then CanoScan 5600F is the scanner you must go for.
The 5600F is identical to its big brother Canon CanoScan 8800F in many ways. Like its brother, it offers an optical resolution of 4,800 pixels per inch. Like its brother, it uses LEDs as its light source for reflective scans. This ensures that warm up time before scanning is largely eliminated. The 5600F is capable of scanning only one six-frame strip of a film at a time. In order to scan transparencies, this printer uses a traditional cold cathode fluorescent lamp and not an LED light source like its big brother 8800F.
This scanner is extremely easy to set up. All you have to do is to install the software, unlock the scanner, plug in the power cord and USB cable, and you are good to go. The scanner is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Canon also provides drivers for Windows 2000 and Mac OS 10.3.9 through 10.5.X. The bundled software shipped along with the scanner comprises Canon’s scan utility and ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5 for photo editing.
The scanner houses buttons for Copy, E-Mail, and Scan on its top surface. You will also find three PDF buttons on the top of the scanner. These buttons are one each for scanning in color, scanning in black and white, and scanning with custom settings. The 5600F features both Twain and WIA drivers. This means that you can scan from any Windows program with a scan command using this scanner. The feature of the Twain driver is that it provides you with the option between phenomenal ease of use and control over your scan. If you want the scanner to things automatically, just go for the AutoScan mode. The Advanced mode of the scanner enables you to adjust color saturation and balance in your scans. If you are searching for an economical scanner that will provide high-quality scans for photographic prints and film, the Canon CanoScan 5600F is the scanner you must go for.
