VueScan Reviews

I've been VueScan for many years. Not only it's a great program, a few times that I had to move from one computer to another and could not find a driver or a password, people there immediately respond to my emails with helpful hits.

With Vuescan my Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED scanner works as it should. Firstly I tried Nikon software but it was poor. Although Vuescan has plenty of parameters to work with it gives the chance to control the work. I have tried other scanning softwares but always find Vuescan easier and more reliable.

I've been VueScan for many years. Not only it's a great program, a few times that I had to move from one computer to another and could not find a driver or a password, people there immediately respond to my emails with helpful hits.

I bought the software in January 2004.
Don't remember what scanning software and scanner I was using at this time. Also it must have been Windows. Most realistically i had a scanner but a not working manufacturer Scanner software.
Relatively soon i bought a predecessor (5xx?) of the Fujitsu Snap Scan S300 but I was still using the original software.
It took some years until i realized that i can use VueScan therefore. I did.
When the Fujitsu scanner started to become unreliable (having even been traveling by plane and hand luggage to court registries to scan docs). As I was working on Apple some tricks were necessary to get it working, as the S300 scanner is designed for Windows. After these tricks (outside VueScan) it worked with VueScan.
Now, another ten years later,now normal Intel Mac-Mini is abroad and i had the ScanSnap300 in front of me with the 2020 MacBook Air M1 and a scan demand. So i tried (being afraid of the need to install Rosetta).
VueScan Installed, No need for Rosetta. A test showed it worked.
I needed (i think the 2nd time) to refresh me serial number (free of charge). Now, the Software is registered and i scanned 15 pages as pdf with OCR to German language. All fine.
When i read the story of Ed Hamrick (the Webpage, about VueScan) I started to realize that:
"Ed Hamrick has always been interested in photography, and when he purchased his first film scanner (an HP PhotoSmart) in 1997 he decided to see if he could produce better quality scans than the software that came with the scanner. The result of this was a program called VueSmart. After upgrading to the Nikon LS-30, Ed modified VueSmart to support multiple scanners and renamed it VueScan."
Maybe since 2000 i had been using special software from Cologne for these Nikon Film scanners. I have not used them in the past years.
Well, yesterday I took an Nikon ED5000 and scanned a slide. It worked and was much faster. Need to investigate further.
Unfortunately I had given away a A3 SCSII scanner. But ..
It may be noted VueScan is also in use with a Canon Lide 80 flatbed scanner.
These are the types of small but very innovative people and businesses the world needs. (Mainly in the German spoken Europe, the larger versions are called Hidden Champions).
Imagine what Hardware is and could be kept when having a most recent software like VueScan. And they - Hamrick - send regular updates.
These 80$ (USD) in 2004 were a very good investment. Also in the people to keep this running.

I bought the software in January 2004.
Don't remember what scanning software and scanner I was using at this time. Also it must have been Windows. Most realistically i had a scanner but a not working manufacturer Scanner software.
Relatively soon i bought a predecessor (5xx?) of the Fujitsu Snap Scan S300 but I was still using the original software.
It took some years until i realized that i can use VueScan therefore. I did.
When the Fujitsu scanner started to become unreliable (having even been traveling by plane and hand luggage to court registries to scan docs). As I was working on Apple some tricks were necessary to get it working, as the S300 scanner is designed for Windows. After these tricks (outside VueScan) it worked with VueScan.
Now, another ten years later,now normal Intel Mac-Mini is abroad and i had the ScanSnap300 in front of me with the 2020 MacBook Air M1 and a scan demand. So i tried (being afraid of the need to install Rosetta).
VueScan Installed, No need for Rosetta. A test showed it worked.
I needed (i think the 2nd time) to refresh me serial number (free of charge). Now, the Software is registered and i scanned 15 pages as pdf with OCR to German language. All fine.
When i read the story of Ed Hamrick (the Webpage, about VueScan) I started to realize that:
"Ed Hamrick has always been interested in photography, and when he purchased his first film scanner (an HP PhotoSmart) in 1997 he decided to see if he could produce better quality scans than the software that came with the scanner. The result of this was a program called VueSmart. After upgrading to the Nikon LS-30, Ed modified VueSmart to support multiple scanners and renamed it VueScan."
Maybe since 2000 i had been using special software from Cologne for these Nikon Film scanners. I have not used them in the past years.
Well, yesterday I took an Nikon ED5000 and scanned a slide. It worked and was much faster. Need to investigate further.
Unfortunately I had given away a A3 SCSII scanner. But ..
It may be noted VueScan is also in use with a Canon Lide 80 flatbed scanner.
These are the types of small but very innovative people and businesses the world needs. (Mainly in the German spoken Europe, the larger versions are called Hidden Champions).
Imagine what Hardware is and could be kept when having a most recent software like VueScan. And they - Hamrick - send regular updates.
These 80$ (USD) in 2004 were a very good investment. Also in the people to keep this running.

With Vuescan my Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED scanner works as it should. Firstly I tried Nikon software but it was poor. Although Vuescan has plenty of parameters to work with it gives the chance to control the work. I have tried other scanning softwares but always find Vuescan easier and more reliable.

Been using VueScan Professional since February 2017. Canon stopped supporting my 9950F scanner, reducing it to a dead ornament on my desk. I was resigned to having to buy a new scanner but discovered VueScan. Installed it and the Canon scanner immediately worked again and continued to do so till yesterday. Following installation of a new PC the Canon 9950F/VueScan stopped working. Ed Hamrick responded within hours to my Support request and the scanner was quickly up and running again.

Been using VueScan Professional since February 2017. Canon stopped supporting my 9950F scanner, reducing it to a dead ornament on my desk. I was resigned to having to buy a new scanner but discovered VueScan. Installed it and the Canon scanner immediately worked again and continued to do so till yesterday. Following installation of a new PC the Canon 9950F/VueScan stopped working. Ed Hamrick responded within hours to my Support request and the scanner was quickly up and running again.

I have TRIED to use Vuescan with my HP Scanjet 4050 for documents, photos, negatives and slides. I have had NUMEROUS difficulties using the software.

Based on my experience I believe that I bought and paid for BETA software that has not been fully debugged. WORSE still is the ATTITUDE of the owner of the company, Ed Hamrick. As noted by others, he does NOT provide SUPPORT at all.

I have sent numerous emails describing my actions and including Screen Captures of each step. Apparently, that is INADEQUATE for Mr. Hamrick to provide assistance! He requires steps that are incomprehensible to me:

1) Run VueScan

Step 2 is important, no .ini files can be loaded by this procedure and the procedure should have less than 10 steps. The simpler the procedure, the better. (I have NO idea what Hamrick means by this)

Then email me the procedure (recipe), the screen capture and the vuescan.log file. (I have NO idea what the vuescan log file is! Mr. Hamrick DOES NOT clarify).

I have TRIED to use Vuescan with my HP Scanjet 4050 for documents, photos, negatives and slides. I have had NUMEROUS difficulties using the software.

Based on my experience I believe that I bought and paid for BETA software that has not been fully debugged. WORSE still is the ATTITUDE of the owner of the company, Ed Hamrick. As noted by others, he does NOT provide SUPPORT at all.

I have sent numerous emails describing my actions and including Screen Captures of each step. Apparently, that is INADEQUATE for Mr. Hamrick to provide assistance! He requires steps that are incomprehensible to me:

1) Run VueScan

Step 2 is important, no .ini files can be loaded by this procedure and the procedure should have less than 10 steps. The simpler the procedure, the better. (I have NO idea what Hamrick means by this)

Then email me the procedure (recipe), the screen capture and the vuescan.log file. (I have NO idea what the vuescan log file is! Mr. Hamrick DOES NOT clarify).

I've mailed mr. Hamrick with one simple question: "Can I use my scanner at full capacity or will there be some sort of limitation when purchasing the cheapest option?" Now, more than 20 emails later, I'm still without an answer. I've never encountered this level of unprofessionalism. It's laughable.

Needless to say I will never ever buy their software.

I've mailed mr. Hamrick with one simple question: "Can I use my scanner at full capacity or will there be some sort of limitation when purchasing the cheapest option?" Now, more than 20 emails later, I'm still without an answer. I've never encountered this level of unprofessionalism. It's laughable.

Needless to say I will never ever buy their software.

Beyond the fact that the software doesn't work properly, and when pressed on the multiple issues, the response is a rude demand by the developer to go through a long, convoluted troubleshooting process, every single interaction with the developer is belligerent and combative.

None of the other reviews on here overstate just how ill-equipped this individual is to engage with the general public. I understand that people have varying abilities to interact with people in a socially acceptable way, but don't choose a customer facing industry if you lack that fundamental capability.

The last interaction was probably the most comical. I submitted a fairly lengthy email to the developer citing my willingness to go through with the troubleshooting procedures if he would commit to resolving the myriad issues. (I didn't want to squander my time) I even ended it with a very cordial and friendly, "Thanks, buddy."

I didn't hear anything for nearly 3 weeks, so I emailed back following up.

The totality of his response.

>> My name isn’t “buddy”

I won't say the developer is a sociopath, but he is ill-equipped to handle communications in a socially acceptable way, so be forewarned before purchasing the software and -pray- it works perfectly...forever.

P.S. Regardless of the stated policies, the developer will not voluntarily refund you. He will just abuse and blame the issues on you.

Beyond the fact that the software doesn't work properly, and when pressed on the multiple issues, the response is a rude demand by the developer to go through a long, convoluted troubleshooting process, every single interaction with the developer is belligerent and combative.

None of the other reviews on here overstate just how ill-equipped this individual is to engage with the general public. I understand that people have varying abilities to interact with people in a socially acceptable way, but don't choose a customer facing industry if you lack that fundamental capability.

The last interaction was probably the most comical. I submitted a fairly lengthy email to the developer citing my willingness to go through with the troubleshooting procedures if he would commit to resolving the myriad issues. (I didn't want to squander my time) I even ended it with a very cordial and friendly, "Thanks, buddy."

I didn't hear anything for nearly 3 weeks, so I emailed back following up.

The totality of his response.

>> My name isn’t “buddy”

I won't say the developer is a sociopath, but he is ill-equipped to handle communications in a socially acceptable way, so be forewarned before purchasing the software and -pray- it works perfectly...forever.

P.S. Regardless of the stated policies, the developer will not voluntarily refund you. He will just abuse and blame the issues on you.

Great software, TERRIBLE people. I am an archivist at a community college and was interested in using the software at work. We needed a tax ID and when requested, we got this response:
"I'll simplify what I already told you:

No, I don't have to do this by law, and I won't send you this. Go away, don't buy VueScan.

Is that clear enough?

Regards,
Ed Hamrick"

I will not be giving these people any more money.