Tragically flawed
Written: May 23 '04
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Pros: Unique product. The feeder would work for me if the software wasn't so bad.
Cons: Software is horrid, frequent jam errors (even when it isn't jammed), bad technical support.
The Bottom Line: Not recommended, but it CAN batch scan a stack of photos. You might lose some hair in the process and portions of the photos will likely be cropped off.
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| cyberben3d's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Scanjet 5530 Photomaster Flatbed S... |
I bought this scanner with the Automatic Photo Feeder so I could digitize my grandparents' photo albums and create a present for my mother. I'm now seeking a refund directly from hp. This is why:
1) The APF is not usable.
2) The scanning interface is abysmal. (actually a script running in Internet Explorer!)
3) HP support has offered no response to problems.
The hardware would actually be cool for the price. The APF does a good enough job sucking in a stack of photos, jamming frequently but not too frequently. But hardware cannot work without software, and tragically this scanner has been saddled with possibly the worst scanning software ever written - actually negating the usefulness of the APF and making even normal flat bed scans a nightmarish experience. My simple photo album project revealed critical flaws that must have been found in HP's quality assurance department, but inexplicably were not addressed.
DETAILS:
1) Problems Using the Automatic Photo Feeder (APF)
PROBLEM: False "jam" errors. Often the scanner reports that a photo has jammed, but the scanned photo is not jammed at all. It is sitting in the output tray exactly where it should be.
PROBLEM: Scan is not saved when an error occurs (such as a "jam" error) even though the scan was completed successfully (and can be swiped out of the temp folder before it gets deleted if you are quick enough). This is by far the most infuriating item and shows that HP skipped the quality assurance phase of development.
PROBLEM: "Descreen" is not available as a scanning option when using the Automatic Photo Feeder (APF) in batch scans.
PROBLEM: Saved scanning profiles are not applied to photos in the APF - unless there is only one photo in the feeder (or it's the last of a batch) - which forces one to insert one photo at a time, virtually negating the concept of batch scanning a stack of photos.
PROBLEM: Photos are consistently cropped incorrectly. The left edge of the image is cut off, while the right side of the image includes a portion of the scanning hood. It appears there is an offset problem. This problem occurs regardless of the size of the photo and is especially problematic with photos with rounded corners (most of the photos I'm scanning)
PROBLEM: Photos are not saved after each scan. Instead the software waits until all photos in the batch have been scanned before writing the images to the destination folder. This methodology has three major drawbacks. 1) I scanned 6 photos through the APF without realizing there was a photo already on the glass. 2) Any errors / software mishaps will result in lost scan(s). 3) Work cannot begin on scans until entire batch is finished
2) Problems Using the "hp scanning" interface
PROBLEM: Cropping rectangle dimensions do not "stick". Clicking "Descreen" or "New Scan" causes new coordinates to be auto-generated, even when "Automatically Crop Scanned Images" is disabled. Most scanning interfaces remember settings from scan to scan so a pleasant workflow can emerge.
PROBLEM: Number Fields do not always hold their values after typing them in manually. Sometimes this is not evident until several clicks later when the number fields spontaneously revert to previous values.
PROBLEM: After manually adjusting exposure and color settings - moving the cropping rectangle loses them and inserts auto-generated settings.
PROBLEM: Clicking "descreen" makes custom exposure / color settings revert to auto generated values.
PROBLEM: Dragging any of the sliders to min or max causes elements in the interface to become "selected" (like a web page) and can even "scroll" the entire panel behind its frame border so that some controls are inaccessible. Often adjacent sliders become selected and upon operating their knobs the mouse cursor turns into the "CAN'T DO THAT" symbol (circle with line through it). Once this symbol comes up, the slider knob will stop moving. Upon releasing the mouse button the user finds that the knob is stuck to the mouse cursor. Clicking on the interface a couple times will drop the knob and deselect the offending interface elements but by this time carefully placed settings have been lost.
PROBLEM: The "Color Adjustment" wheel features a an un-clickable surface, and an icon that cannot be dragged more than a few pixels before you get the Internet Explorer CAN'T DO THAT icon (circle with a line through it). Then when you let go of the mouse, the icon is stuck to the cursor and the carefully placed setting is lost. This makes trying to do color correction a waking nightmare.
PROBLEM: Menu bar: "Additional Items" and "Scan Preferences" lead to identical menus with identical title bars (the title bar says "Scan Preferences") However, the help file confusingly alludes to some significance in the difference between these panels.
PROBLEM: Auto Exposure consistently over-exposes skies, eliminating subtle details and creating huge areas of solid white.
PROBLEM: I have found no explanation for the "Best quality scan from Automatic Photo Feeder" preference. The only information I found on the hp support web site was that it "Optimizes scan settings for the automatic photo feeder" What does this option do and what would be a reason for disabling it?
3) HP Support responsiveness
After 22 days of promises from HP, they still have yet to address any of these issues. I send them this list over and over and they tell me they have forwarded my comments but they never address the problems. Even the simple questions about the functionality of the product (last item in my list) go unanswered. I've seen some of these issues about their software reported over a year ago and they have never addressed them. As of this review (May 2004), there have been no updates to the software since September of 2003.
From what I understand, this software is used in much of their imaging product line so beware.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 250
Interface: USB
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cyberben3d
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