Make Your Mac Scanner Work Better With VueScan.

Even in the digital age I use a scanner; actually, I use three scanners; an HP, an Epson, and a Canon.

I don’t use their scanner software on my Mac. I use VueScan. Is there anyone who knows more about scanners for Mac than Ed Hemrick? He’s the VueScan guru.

Scanning once was the way to go to get digital photos. Then digital cameras matured, improved, and dropped in price, and the scanner got used less and less.

The need to scan will probably be around for many years, and the value and quality of scanners continues to go up while prices continue to drop.

What cost up to $1,000 only a few years ago can be had for about $150 these days. My three scanners on my Macs were purchased over a few years but I don’t use the manufacturer’s software to scan images.

I use VueScan. I’ve used VueScan for many years, starting back during the internet dot com bubble years when I lost the software for a good scanner I had, and updates were not available.

Back in the day, scanners were a bit more expensive, so I tried VueScan and I’ve been a user ever since.

Why? VueScan often produces better looking images than the software supplied by the scanner manufacturer.

Is that possible? It’s just light, right? It’s just driver software, right? Wrong.

If I believed in magic, I’d swear that Ed Hamrick has some sprinkled into VueScan. Scanning good images has a lot more going on under the hood (literally) than we understand, considering the price of most scanners.

First, VueScan is painfully easy for those of us into casual scanning lifestyle (always practice safe scanning). A few clicks gets you into features you never knew existed on your scanner.

In fact, VueScan often unlocks features in a scanner not evident with the manufacturer’s scanner software.

The proof, as they say, is in the taste of the pudding, so your mileage may vary (don’t you love how easy it is to mix metaphors in English and still make it come out right?).

SInce you can download and try VueScan, do so. It’s a simple install, and you’re not likely to damage anything on your Mac. Oh, speaking of Macs, VueScan also does Windows. And Linux.

Most of us purchase scanners from HP, Epson, or Canon. Remarkably, there are just under a gazillion scanner models on the market, many from other manufacturers other than the big three.

Even Apple had a scanner years ago. VueScan will make it work again. There’s also scanners from Agfa, Kodak, Linotype-Hell, Minolta, PIE, Polaroid, UMAX, and some I can’t pronounce.

VueScan makes them work again on Mac OS X. Many older scanners pre-date USB and Firewire connections, in lieu of SCSI. VueScan works with most USB to SCSI converters (sorry, no wireless or parallel).

All total, as of the latest VueScan update, there’s support for over 500 scanners and nearly 200 digital camera RAW files.

And speaking of VueScan updates, there’s one about every week. Seriously.

What do you get with VueScan? First, a better interface. You’ll see. It’s simple, straightforward, and the myriad of features available for many scanners are just a click or two away.

Second, VueScan often produces superior scans with the same hardware. That’s the part you get to try on your own.

What is there to gripe about with VueScan? Back when I bought VueScan, there was a single price. Now there are two. The standard edition price is $49.95, and the professional edition is $89.95.

My rub is that the standard edition includes free upgrades for a year, while the pro edition is forever.

The pro edition has a few extra features, including ICC profiles and color spaces, IT8 color calibration, and can create raw scan files. And you get unlimited upgrades.

I could say more. More about the simple interface, more about all the extra features that will show up on your scanner, more about the quality of the scanned images. But why. Remember, the proof is in the taste of the pudding, so taste VueScan yourself.

Click Here to see the VueScan details, get the download link, and read all about Ed Hamrick.

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