Oct 23, 2014 VueScan's most obvious competition is SilverFast Ai Studio 8, another, significantly more expensive, scan utility that also works with a long list of scanners from various companies, and also. VueScan makes it easy to scan photos and you can queue up multiple shots. The program scans only the part where your photo is located, so you will spend less time scanning images. Besides, scanned files can be saved in RAW format for further editing. VueScan is an excellent alternative for those users who need a software to control the scanner, because this lite program is compatible with more than 500 models. Furthermore, VueScan can be also used to download images from more than 200 digital camera models, so we will be able to use just one program to edit the pictures we import from other. VueScan is one of these options. Let’s see if VueScan holds up to its reputation as the best film scanning software around. Here is the ultimate VueScan review. Vuescan is available for Windows and Mac OS X. Linux users can also enjoy it easily.
Developer(s) | Hamrick Software (Ed Hamrick; David Hamrick) |
---|---|
Initial release | 1998; 23 years ago |
Stable release | |
Operating system | Windows XP or later,[2] Mac OS X Panther or later, Ubuntu Linux 8.10 or later Red Hat Linux 9 or later[3] |
Platform | IA-32 and x86-64 |
Size | Windows: 6 MB Mac OS: 9 MB Linux: 6 MB[3] |
Type | Image scanner and optical character recognition |
License | Shareware |
Website | hamrick.com |
VueScan is a computer program for image scanning, especially of photographs, including negatives.[4] It supports optical character recognition (OCR) of text documents.[5][6] The software can be downloaded and used free of charge, but adds a watermark on scans until a license is purchased.
VueScan is intended to work with a large number of image scanners (over 6000 in January 2020), excluding specialised professional scanners such as drum scanners, on many computer operating systems (OS), even if drivers for the scanner are not available for the OS. These scanners are supplied with device drivers and software to operate them, included in their price. A 2014 review considered that the reasons to purchase VueScan are to allow older scanners not supported by drivers for newer operating systems to be used in more up-to-date systems, and for better scanning and processing of photographs (prints; also slides and negatives when supported by scanners) than is afforded by manufacturers' software.[7] The review did not report any advantages to Vuescan's processing of documents compared to other software. When compared to SilverFast, a similar program, the reviewer considered the two programs to be comparable, with support for some specific scanners better in one or the other. Vuescan supports more scanners, with a single purchase giving access to the full range of both film and flatbed scanners, and costs less.
The Vuescan program can be used with its own drivers, or with drivers supplied by the scanner manufacturer, if supported by the operating system. Vuescan drivers can also be used without the Vuescan program by applications software that supports scanning directly, such as Adobe Photoshop, again enabling the use of scanners without current manufacturers' drivers.[8]
In 2019 when Apple Inc. released macOS Catalina, they removed support for running 32-bit programs, including 32-bit drivers for scanning equipment. In response, Hamrick released VueScan 9.7, effectively saving thousands of scanners from being rendered obsolete.[9]
VueScan enables the user to modify and fine-tune the scanning parameters. The program uses its own independent method to interface with scanner hardware, and can support many older scanners under computer operating systems for which drivers are not available, allowing old scanners to be used with newer platforms that do not otherwise support them.[10]
VueScan works with more than 2,400 different supported scanners and digital cameras on Windows, 2,100 on Mac OS X and 1,900 on Linux.[11]
VueScan is supplied as one downloadable file for each operating system, which supports the full range of scanners. Without the purchase of a license the program runs in fully functional demonstration mode, identical to Professional mode, except that watermarks are superimposed on saved and printed images. Purchase of a license removes the watermark, with a standard license also providing updates for one year, and a professional license with some additional features.
As distributed VueScan supports optical character recognition of English documents; 32 additional language packages are available on its Web site.[12]
In September 2011, VueScan co-developer Ed Hamrick said that he was selling US$3 million per year of VueScan licenses.[13]
Verdict: VueScan is scanner software that allows you to get digital copies of negatives, photos, and documents. Using this program, you can scan several images at once without adjusting the sizes each time.
Although VueScan doesn’t always correctly display the scan result during preview, it edits shots rather well. This is one of the best photo scanning software in 2021 that supports exporting in JPEG, TIFF, and RAW.
The program has 3 scan modes: Basic, Standard and Professional. You can choose a mode for a beginner or a professional taking into account the number of options you need.
VueScan makes it easy to scan photos and you can queue up multiple shots. The program scans only the part where your photo is located, so you will spend less time scanning images. Besides, scanned files can be saved in RAW format for further editing.
The VueScan full version allows you to scan photos, documents, films or slides very quickly. If the picture has problems with color or saturation, you can edit the photo directly in the program.
VueScan runs on all operating systems and is compatible with most flatbed and film scanners and their software. You can use this program without configuring your PC or existing scanner software.
The list of supported scanners includes all popular and even the latest photo scanners from world-known manufacturers such as Apple, Dell, Epson, Canon, Nikon, etc.
The program supports not only new models but also old scanners. Preparing this VueScan review, I managed to scan pictures on a device released in 2002.
In the Basic mode, you can only scan photos without resizing or changing saturation. In the Standard mode, you will have several additional options, such as Crop, Filter, Color, and Output. The Professional mode includes such VueScan advanced features as specifying color depth, adjusting color space, histogram, watermarks, and more.
When scanning a film on film scanners, you can specify its type. You can choose among Kodak, Gold, T-Max, Fujifilm, and others. If you do not know the film type, select Color Negative/Generic.
Thanks to the ability to select a film type, you can edit the scans more accurately. You can set the Fix fade (for old films) and Fix Color options to add brightness and clarity to your shots.
Built-in film or slide editing features don’t always give the desired effect. Therefore, you can adjust pictures in Photoshop. Basic image editing in VueScan lets you capture as many details as possible for later adjustments.
Trimming and rotating features deserve special mentioning. You can easily rotate the image by clicking on the buttons in the lower right corner of the screen.
The program also has the option of automatic cropping, so you can scan images even faster. If you don’t like the result of automatic cropping, you can set the parameters yourself.
If your slide scanner supports batch scanning, then you can enable the option of previewing all images. This feature as well as setting the preview resolution will help speed up the process.
You can choose the resolution that is identical to that in the scan result, and then the program won’t need to scan the same negative.
After setting the parameters, select the folder to save the photo, and all subsequent scan results will be saved in the same folder.
You can adjust brightness, change color depth, and choose the best-suited exposure. Tone correction allows you to clarify certain areas in the pictures. Thanks to the color palette, you can adjust the mid-tone levels. Plus, you get a mask that can add sharpness to frames.
Each of these options is intuitive. Moreover, you can further enhance the picture in any image editor that supports TIFF and RAW files.
VueScan is also used to scan documents. It doesn’t matter whether you need to scan a single page or a 100-page book. The program uses tablet and automatic document feeders, as well as optical character recognition to convert images to text. You will receive a small document with customized colors and rich typography.
You don’t have to spend time renaming each image manually. This software has an automatic naming option. How does it work? The program automatically adds dates, numbers, or other prefixes and suffixes to the name.
VueScan can be tested for 30 days free of charge. Further, a user has 2 options: buy Standard Edition for $39.95 or Professional Edition for $69.95. You will find the current price and nice VueScan discount on the official website.
Eva Williams
Hi there, I'm Eva Williams - a professional blogger, read more