Canon Scanners and TWAIN

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Level 5

4,684 points

Canon Scanners and TWAIN

Now I suppose it's all relative depending on what you are used to.

Does anyone have anything good to say about using Canon scanners with TWAIN ?

That is using the scanner from within another application, ie. Image Capture, or Graphic Converter. MS Word even offers importing images from TWAIN-compliant devices, but lets keep it simple for now, Image Capture or GC.

I'll make it simpler, by allowing this to any version of OSX, 10.3 and later. It's currently an MP600R, but I can change to another, if it works.

The current TWAIN standard hasn't changed in nearly 7 years, so it shouldn't be hard for a company like Canon to actually provide drivers that support it. The scanners and ulti-function devices do advertise TWAIN-compliance.

I should have known though, HP, Epson, Ricoh, Xerox, Fujitsu, Kodak and Adobe are all members of the TWAIN group, Canon isn't.

Still if anyone has anything good to say, please let me know.

Or if you can recommend a top-range multi-function device (essentials: multiple ink tanks, paper tray / cassette - rather than a feeder, Ethernet connectivity, 48-bit scanning - through TWAIN of course, for duplex A4 letter, coloured stationary and occaisional photo printing. Everything else (card readers, WiFi, etc is just frills) I'll listen, budget up to $1000. I suppose a standard footprint is also required, everything seems to 450mm wide nowadays.

This will be going back to the store (I have 28 days) after 2 days, just so I can get back to work on my 10-year old HP DeskJet and Epson Perfection, both which work perfectly, albeit slow.

MDD 2x1GHz; MacPro 2xQC; 23 & 17 Cinema;17" PBG4;32GB iPodTouch, Mac OS X (10.3.x), Mac SE; iMacG3; Aston Martin V8; AppleTV v1.1

Posted on Jul 25, 2008 1:29 AM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,098 points

Jul 25, 2008 3:09 AM in response to Simon Teale

Does anyone have anything good to say about using Canon scanners with TWAIN ?

Mine works flawlessly scanning via TWAIN into Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and/or Image Capture.

Regards

TD

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Answer 2

Simon Teale Author

Level 5

4,684 points

Jul 25, 2008 3:49 AM in response to Yer_Man

With a complete uninstall and re-install, I've managed to get some progress ...

I can TWAIN Acquire and the ScanGear software kicks in and lets me preview and scan (at only up to 1200dpi - nowhere near the advertised resolutions). It scans, but doesn't pass the image back to the calling application.

Do you scan over Ethernet, or USB2 ? Did it work from out-of-the-box ? Which updates did you need to apply ? Scan 12.13.0 ? Network 2.2.0 ? or Network 2.6.0 ? My Image Capture doesn't even see the scanner, GC does. Any details most welcome ....

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,098 points

Jul 25, 2008 4:28 AM in response to Simon Teale

I assume you've see the following

http://software.canon-europe.com/products/0010397.asp - that's drivers etc for the MP600R

and this

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307113

Regards

TD

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Answer 4

Simon Teale Author

Level 5

4,684 points

Jul 25, 2008 6:12 AM in response to Yer_Man

seen it,
downloaded them all,
installed the ones suitable for OSX 10.5.
(I have still have an OSX 10.3 PMG4 that need to use the networked scanner too).
Uninstalled all the Canon clutter (MP navigator, naff OCR software - already have OmniPage Pro, et al).
And now GC can scan from it, although it asks me to acquire it every time.
Image Capture sort of works too, but again I have to browse shared devices, and click on the tiny TWAINUI button for each page scanned. I also have to set a lot of options to get the image back into Image Capture, options which do not apply if I want to use GC. ie. I may use Image Capture for scanning letters, GC for scanning photos.
You don't realise just how truly bad software can be until you've used Canon. And all these years I've been so lucky and not known it with Nikon cameras, Epson scanners and HP printers.

If you have any ideas for getting OSX 10.3 scanning working .... this has already cost me more than twice the price of the MP600R in lost time alone, so it's about an inch away from going back to the store.

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Answer 5

Jul 25, 2008 9:36 AM in response to Simon Teale

The Canon software works fine for me, but then, I am not trying to use new software with an operating system that Apple no longer supports. As one of my friends says, "Software has expiration dates, too!"

It works with other software, but it works with MP Navigator more easily, and that can be customized to open in the other applications. If you insist on doing things the hard way, expect to have a hard time.

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Answer 6

Simon Teale Author

Level 5

4,684 points

Jul 25, 2008 11:43 AM in response to Bruce De Benedictis

"new software" ?? The MP600R is over a year old now.
And the version of TWAIN that I want it to support is unchanged since 2001. I don't need any of the other Canon software if the driver is actually TWAIN compliant.
Further, the specification for the scanner states full support from OSX 10.2.8, with reduced support for some included software from OSX 10.2.1 to OSX 10.2.7.

I ditched the cheap and nasty USB cable that came in the box and used my prized high quality 5m USB cable (high grade copper and gold plated contacts). It works like an absolute dream on the Mac Pro / OS X 10.5 now.Image Capture loves it, and doesn't even need the naff ScanGear software. Image Capture also now has access to nearly all the advertised features of the scanner, particularly the higher resolutions above the limit of 1200dpi in ScanGear. It doesn't have access to the advertised 48 bit bit depth scanning. GC still needs the ScanGear software.

But I paid the extra $150 over the MP610 for the Ethernet connectivity. And for the promised full support from OSX 10.2.8.

So it looks like it's just a case of really bad Canon software getting in the way if you want to do anything other than a USB2 connection. Marking this as solved and I'll ask again in the Panther forum ...

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