Microtek ScanMaker i900 Flatbed Scanner

I have owned the i900 for about six weeks and I am very happy with the way it scans both negatives and regular photographs and other media. The quality of the scanner itself is excellent and coupled with PhotoShop Elements and ScanWizard Pro, it produces excellent digital files. Installation of the ScanWizard Pro software posed a few challenges but once installed it has worked perfectly. I haven't had the chance to try the SilverFast AI program yet as I am quite happy with the ScanWizard Pro used in twain mode with PhotoShop Elements (supplied with the scanner).I bought the i900 to replace an older Microtek flatbed and an HP S20 negative and slide scanner. The i900 is far better than the older model on reflective scans and it does an equal or better job with color slides and strip 35mm negatives as compared to the S20. The i900 does make some odd noises as it warms up and calibrates but it is very quiet in actual scan operation. Scan times vary depending on the resolution you set for each operation.The negative holders that fit into the drawer on the i900 are a neat feature used in conjunction with the ScanWizard software. It takes a little experimentation to seat the negatives property in the holders, especially the 35mm strip holder, but the scans are excellent. Microtek includes a glass holder for odd size negatives that don't fit in the other holders. You can scan up to 12 slides or 12 35mm negatives (two strips of 6 exposures)at a time. The ScanWizard software allows you to make custom settings for each slide or negative or you can just use the same settings for each one. Each slide or exposure is then scanned individually and sent to PhotoShop for further editing if necessary. Compared to my older S20 that allows only one slide to be scanned on each operation, the i900 is a real time-saver.The only complaint I have so far is that the Digital ICE program doesn't work as well as I hoped. On normal or regular setting, it doesn't remove the scratches or defects very well. Further experimentation is needed to find out if it can be made to work as advertised.Overall, this is a very nice scanner that I am using on a daily basis and am quite pleased with it.Update - April 27, 2009:I've had the scanner for over a year now and have made hundreds if not thousands of scans of negatives, slides and prints. I still use the ScanWizard software and it produces excellent quality scans. Recently, I have been scanning older B&W negatives using the supplied glass holder and have no problems at all. I use the ScanWizard settings to get the best quality I can before scanning and then finish the adjustments in Photoshop Elements. I use this scanner almost daily and have not had any problems with it. It is true that the initial setup can be a real pain but once you have it all going, it does an excellent job.

I bought the i900 because I wanted a scanner that would do slides & negatives besides normal reflective scans. I have an old Scanmaker E6 that is still working great, so I decided on the i900 because it was cheaper than most film scanners and could do more than just film. I considered the i800 but decided against it as it seemed not to be as heavy duty with a cheaper, lighter construction and using a brick power supply rather than an internal supply like the i900. Anyway, at first I was frustrated because trying to scan negatives using ScanWizard was not working. I kept getting images that looked more like a brightly colored mosaic than anything. Finally, just when I was ready to give up, I loaded the supplied SilverFast Ai program and tried scanning negatives with it, and they came out beautifully! (I had ScanWizard's settings correctly set for negative scanning, but something isn't working right in that program; also couldn't get Microtek's website at all; seems to be off-line for the past couple of weeks, but I'm not too concerned since SilverFast works!)This scanner does a wonderful job scanning negatives; I didn't believe how it could turn those orange-tinted negatives into normal photos. Normal reflective scans are just as good and the scanner is significantly faster than my old E6. This is by far the best scanner I've seen; my next project is to find some of my old slides and see what kind of job it will do with them. I suspect it'll be as great as the negative scans! At the discount prices you can get this scanner for, it is certainly worth considering!

I should have heeded the warning of another reviewer who tried to install this scanner on a Dell XPS with a dual core processor. After being up all night and installing and reinstalling the scanner software innumerable times, I gave up and returned the Microtek i900 to Amazon. Not only would the scanner not preview or scan anything, including documents, photos, transparencies or negatives (I tried them all), but it made such a thunking, jackhammer-like racket that my husband threatened to divorce me if I did not return this very disappointing piece of equipment immediately. As soon as I get my refund, I'm ordering the Epson 4990 -- it's cheaper and hopefully will actually work straight out of the box.

I bought this scanner based on its good reviews found on the internet. I needed to scan quite a few different images including newspaper, magazine, b&w photos, and color photos for a documentary film the results were excellent. I dont have a ton of experience with other scanners but everything we scanned came out great!

Can only give 1 Star - it did not work out of the box.No Lamp light, no carriage movement, and sort of looked like somebody blotted their pink lipstick on the mirror.Had high hopes, if it had just worked.Maybe this was one in 10,000, maybe.