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"$200 Paperweight" on by KingTechie
Pros: It's Black and Shiny
Cons: HP totally misleads you that all its functions are supported in Vista
Summary: I purchased this scanner three months ago to archive my father’s 20 year old slides. It got good reviews and according to HP “is Certified for Windows Vista”. That “certified” line is a crock. While it can be used to import pictures into Vista’s new Photo Gallery, it takes about 5 minutes per photo and you can’t do anything advanced with it. No text conversion, no slide of negative scanning, no E-mail or Print button function, no preview, no selectable area, no photo editing or other bundled software support – basically you get nothing they claim this scanner can do. This may be a good scanner and it may work great for XP but HP’s inability to place a disclaimer that none of the advertised features works under Vista (they still advertise it as fully supporting Vista) is dishonest. You will only discover this when your directed to download the Vista driver online only to see it provides minimal WIA functionality with a promise that full software release is imminent. Vista’s 6 months old and still no driver. This scanner is a $200 waste for Vista owners.
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"apparently the scanner one dreams about, for all kind of negative or transparencies" on by danber1958
Pros: Very nice design, looks good on your desk
Cons: a normal scanner at a very high price
Summary: I Have bought this flatbed scanner to replace my older CanonFS 4000 US, in order to scan quicker, but mainly to scan larger negatives, other than the 35 mm.
The HP has a better resolution, but the scanned pictures look blurred, out of focus.
I have compared the same slide scanned at 4000 dpi on the Canon to the same slide scanned on my new HP at 4800 dpi... The new scanned image looks blurred. One could not distinguish the grain of the emulsion.
There is no way to focus the lenses of the scanner on the surface of the slide, neither manual nor automatic.
One can still use this scanner for very good poor quality scans, just like a cheap flatbed scanner.
Scanning also takes a long time, but this is not a real worry, compared to the lack of optical definition. -
"What a "Hunk"! Great Design, Performance and Price." on by wgminer
Pros: A well built, versatile scanner, Superb output from photos, film and slides. Smooth multi-scans for less than $200.
Cons: A big black machine, with large footprint and stiff lid. Software has improved but still less intuitive and slower than other manufacturers.
Summary: I had given up on dedicated scanners and was making do with an HP All-In-One. The time came to get serious about preserving thousands of photos and slides from my lifelong hobby. I was very close to Canon and Epson models but their high end machines were very expensive. This was a pleasant surprise, which combined advanced scanning features with a reasonable price. This machine performs especially well in my all HP digital darkroom. The equipment communicates well during various stages of processing. Driver updates, product manuals and editing software are also nicely integrated.
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"Take it back" on by Micah59
Pros: None what so ever
Cons: Software, Speed and Quality
Summary: What a waste of money, I purchased the scanner brought it home "error" detected upon installation of the software. Clean up the registry and reinstalled the software. Then attempted to accomplish some scanning, system crashed (event log, stated DCOM failed, and HP Drivers rejected by system), I had the lastest updates. Finally got everything working again then the software crashed attempting to scan slides at 2400 dpi. Took it back and purchased an Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner (No Problems!!).
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"Awesome w/Mac Snow Leopard" on
Pros: Can crop scans to letter size- G4010 didn't.
Easy to use.
Has white block to cover transparency unit when scanning papers.Cons: Seems to save multiple .pdf pages separately, even tho' I scanned as additional pages.
Has a bit of blue tinge in scans towards one corner- can compensate with adjustments.Summary: Improvement in software over the G4010. Can use on Mac Snow leopard. Nice to have the cover for the top unit so it doesn't show through, which happens in the G4010.
HP Scanjet G4050 user reviews
