I bought the Minolta Dual Scan II (note not Dual Scan...but the newer
version) about two weeks ago (it is around the same price range as the Canon
FS2710) and I haven't had any problems.
Unfortunately nobody in my area sold the Acer, so for me it was choice
between the Minolta vs. Canon. If you have a lot of old dirty slides, then
I guess Acer with Digital ICE will be the one for you.
For me I chose the Minolta:
1. better software control than the Canon. Canon's aquiring program sucks
and is not as natural to use. Of course with both scanners you'll probably
use Vuescan, but I still seem to can better scans with negatives with the
Minolta OEM software... I dunno maybe i need to fiddle more.
2. Canon, you must scan one slide at a time. even with negatives, you need
to move slider on the holder when you want to scan another. Minolta uses a
tray system (which can be loud/noisy) but it can allow 4 slides at a time
and 6 negatives. also sales person said that Minolta's tray system allows
for straighter scans. sometimes the Canon scans are slightly crooked.
3. Minolta may be USB, but USB devices has the advantage of being
hot-swappable which means they can be turned on after the computer has been
booted, and it will be detected. If I remember correctly, SCSI devices need
to be turned on before you boot the system, in order for the SCSI controller
to detect it.
I live out in Vancouver, Canada and there is a Minolta factory service depot
nearby so I'm not too worried about servicing...I can drop it off myself if
necessary (whereas the Canon scanner needs to mailed out to a service depot
in the next province...).
I know that we have seen several people complain about banding on the
Minoltas, but again i haven't seen anything wrong with mine so far...
you can read more at this thread:
Just my 2 CDN cents...
-Dave.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of Jerry
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2001 12:59 PM
To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
Subject: Re: filmscanners: which scanner for slides ?
I received several replies with helpful information from my original email.
My choices seem to be
Acer 2740
Canon FS2710
Minolta Scan Dual
<snip>
