June 11th, 2007 by ketyung
Are you having several boxes of those old and dusty 35 mm slides and film negatives? Here is a device that is handy enough to help you convert all your negatives into digital pictures. Which you can then upload those digital copies to flickr for better storage instead of keeping couple of dusty boxes that take up lots of space.
It’s pretty easy to use, just place slides and negatives into a tray that aligns eash properly. Touch the button, the image will then get scanned instantly . Thanks to its 5MP CMOS sensor, which provides 10 bits per color channel for data conversion, and uses fixed focus and automatic exposure control and color balance, resulting in clear digital images without loss of resolution. It can scan images up to 1829 dpi. It comes with USB cable, which you can just plug it to your PC’s USB port for transfering scanned images.
Buy online, $100.00, at HammaCher.com
via [UBerGIZmo]
digital picture converter,shop online,gadget,digital slide converter,picture converter,slide converter,negative converter
Technorati Tags: digital picture converter, shop online, gadget, digital slide converter, picture converter, slide converter, negative converter
October 8th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Will this slide to digital file converter work with Windows Vista?? If not, is there a unit that will?
October 8th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
The product page says it needs windows xp for the included software to install. But, I believe it can work with vista too. Or you can enquire more about it at hammacher
October 9th, 2007 at 8:26 am
I too have Vista and wondered about this, so I called HS and was told it only works with XP. If any one knows of another web soucrce or manufacture that has one of these gizmos that works with Vista, I would appreciated learning of it. Thanks!
October 9th, 2007 at 8:51 am
thanks Ruth for your info
October 10th, 2007 at 7:05 am
Wonder if this also wrks with a MAC?
October 10th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Has anyone seen the quality of the pictures this produces? I don’t need anything wonderful (like from a scanner) but I would like to be able to recognize the people in the photo.
October 11th, 2007 at 10:46 am
I too have Vista and wondered about this, so I called HS and was told it only works with XP. If any one knows of another web soucrce or manufacture that has one of these gizmos that works with Vista, I would appreciated learning of it. Thanks!
October 16th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Brookstone.com has one made by Veho that is Vista compatible.
October 19th, 2007 at 11:46 am
I bought one (not from HS as they keep shoving the ship date back every couple weeks) but it’s the same unit. I got mine from ThinkGeek.com for the same price as HS and it shipped out the very next day). I am using Vista and this is the first app that has been able to completely crash my new Vista system (Blue screen), although I was able to successfully transfer several puictures before it crashed. Seems it’s the driver for the scanning software that is at the root of the problem. I’m sure there will be an updated Vista compatible driver coming soon. (fingers crossed)
The picture quality is adjustable (low, medium, high). Using the medium setting, my slides come out at 2592 x1680 (or something like that…) Way to large for my needs, so I run them all through Photoshop after scanning. The image quality is very good (providing you allow the scanner the full 5 seconds per scan). If you hit the scan button too quick (before the 5 seconds) the image quality is severely diminished.
October 26th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Will this be made to work with a MAC?
October 26th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Does anyone know if this will work with the little 410 slides as well?
October 31st, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Here’s the skinny, as far as I can tell from hunting around, all the machines we are talking about are made by one company, VuPoint Solutions, for the various suppliers - Brookstone (under the Veho name), Hammacher Schlemmer, Frontgate, Summit, ThinkGeek, etc.:
http://www.vupointsolutions.com/fs-c1.asp
VuPoint makes it clear they sell it through resellers… The only one I am not sure about is the Veho from Brookstone - though many of the specs are the same and it looks exactly the same save the Veho logo, it is the only one that works with Vista and costs $30 more ($129 vs. $99)
I found reviews of it in several different places, I think all positive:
http://www.brookstone.com…
http://www.smartcomputing.com/…
Of note - The slide converter businesses that “Scan your negatives/slides for you” seem to charge in the neighborhood of $0.25 to $0.50 per slide (25 to 45 cents), which means that this device would pay out in as little as 200 slides for the XP compatible device for ~$100, if the quality is comparable.
Lastly - what about quality? Well, one of the businesses that claims to be the best at this says they deliver 2000 DPI vs. 1829 DPI for this machine. I am not an expert on Megapixels and DPI’s, but from reading (and from other reviews), people seem satisfied with the quality thus far.
I am about to take the plunge to scan all my dad’s old slides, and we’ll see how it goes!
October 31st, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Thank you, R&R, for the very useful info on this matter. Let us know how you make out!
November 11th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Can someone please send me some scans on hudobec@siol.net? I would really like to se output of this gizmo? Or just put them on flickr or something,.. ?
tnx
November 13th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Hudobec, did you get any images? I’m curious about how you thought they turned out. I’m trying to buy this for my dad for Hanukkah, and I’m finding it backordered everywhere! (And Hanukkah is much earlier than Christmas this year, so I call dibs =) ) Thanks for all your help everyone, it’s good to find useful info like this on the internet…
November 15th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Ruth - you are welcome… however, I am now stuck in the Hannukah backorder line
with Emily… I ordered this to have it for Hannukah and it isn’t going to get here. I was going to convert all of my dad’s slides to CD for my mom for the holidays, and at this rate I’ll get it done who knows when!
If others have more info on what’s happening with these devices, or an alternative, we would all love to know! I find it weird that the exact same device is offered with Vista capability (for $30 more) by only one distributor. Seems like it would be out there from a few places now that Vista is gaining broad usage. And, I am also amazed at the lack of affordable alternatives to this device. I must be Googling for the wrong product description or something, because I pull up this device or scanners that most people write negative reviews about.
November 16th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Forget waiting for HS to get these in stock. When I called them they told me there were more than 2000 people waiting for these to come in. Even if they get an order for 1000 in stock, you’ll still probably have to wait another 6 months or more for yours from HS.
Check out ThinkGeek.com. They have the same unit for the same price - IN STOCK - and ship out the very next day.
It’s only a matter for time before a Vista patch is released. You could still have one of these in plenty time for Hannukah or Christmas.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Will this take strips of unmounted Transparencies as well as mounted slides? And has anyone used it for color negs yet? If yu used it for negs had did you change the scanned neg to a positive?
November 21st, 2007 at 3:21 pm
OK, I’ve read all of the comments, but has anyone actually seen any images from these units?
November 21st, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I’ve now scanned over 400 slides with one of these and am quite pleased with the output.
I’m working on a “family project”. Taking my Dad’s vast collection of slides and reviewing and scanning them, then burning them to DVD’s and sending out o the family. Trying to get it done by Christmas - and I still have ten carousels to go!
Anyway, the problem is that all of the slides that I’m working with are from the late 40’s through the 60’s and many of them are falling apart and show discoloration and other signs of age and long-term storage, so they’re hardly a fair baseline from which to evaluate the capabilities of these devices.
However, now after scanning more than 400 slides I’d say I’m very satisfied with the quality and would recommend these to anyone looking for an efficient (although somewhat tedious) way to convert their slides to digital format.
November 26th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Not a very sophisticated digital photo person, but I use Picasa2 (from Google) for my photos. Would I be able to use it to “work on” the converted slides and then make them into CDs or prints?
November 28th, 2007 at 10:42 am
Can someone please tell me if this converts more than one slide at a time? Meaning, can I stack 20 slides, press the “Go” button, go have dinner, and then come back? Or, does this require the user to manually one-at-a-time feed slides in?
Thanks in advance.
Dave
November 29th, 2007 at 7:45 am
The slide tray will hold 3 slides at a time (the negative tray holds 5). Each slide takes a few seconds to scan and you have to move the slide tray over to the next slide manually. This isn’t something that you’ll load up and then go have dinner and come back to. It requires your constant involvement.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:49 am
Karleen: Once you scan the slides, they’re just like any other computer graphic (.jpg format) and can be manipulated by any graphics software, including Picassa2.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
ThinkGeek has them on backorder (2-3week)also..
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I have been trying to weed through all the reviews an the different scanners and getting a bit confused…
Alot of the reviews for different scanners are stating thst the product does not work with Kodachrome slides, it that true of this product??Looking at all of mt mothers old slides, they are ALL Koachrome. Also one review of this product states that the software is terrible. Have you found that to be true?
December 6th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Is there a product like this that operates with Apple computers?
December 8th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
The image quality doesn’t sound too good but its fairly inexpensive for a dedicated slide scanner. See the review below.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/buyer/reviews/120578/veho-vfs001.html
December 10th, 2007 at 6:49 am
No one seems to respond about Mac compatability. Does anyone know if it would work with MAC’s ?
Also, most of my slides are Kodachrome. Does it copy those?
December 10th, 2007 at 8:04 am
Hi, it works for Windows XP only
December 10th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
We have negatives of several film sizes. Does anyone know what film sizes this can accept?
December 12th, 2007 at 6:57 am
I would appreciate follow up e-mail comments on this subject.
December 12th, 2007 at 10:16 am
1) This particular set up will not work with a Mac. (XP only - no Vista)
2) Image quality is what you would expect from a $100 scanner - not top notch but certainly acceptable (at least for me).
3) I’ve scanned many Kodachrome slides with no problem.
4) The unit comes with 2 slide trays, one for slides (holds 3 at a time), the other for negatives (holds 5 at a time).
5) As far as what negative sizes it will accept, the negative slide tray has windows that are approx. 1″ square, so that would abviously be the maximum size limitation.
December 15th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Since this sounds like a wash for Christmas, can anyone suggest another slide scanner that I could buy in time?
December 16th, 2007 at 12:56 am
What size are the photo after being scanned in?
December 16th, 2007 at 6:49 am
Check out the Canon Cano Scan 4400F
December 18th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Karleen asked on 11/26 if she can use the scanner with Picassa. The answer to that is YES. You can actually scans things into Picassa directly.
My experience with this device has not been great.
The PhotoImpressions 6 software supplied with the scanner crashes upon startup on my machine (a VERY standard HP laptop).
It scans images one-at-a-time only.
The quality of the scan seems to be highly dependent on the amount of time you allow for the exposure to saturate the imaging silicon.
The resolution is OK but not all that high.
When I called VuPoint Solutions about the failure of the supplied software they were very nice but they seem to be completely unequipped to actually fix something that is wrong with their product.
It’s too bad, I would have liked to have a product like this. I’m going to return mine to H-S and rake them over the coals for shipping a product that never should have made it out of qualification testing.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:21 am
Someone was asking about whether this product would work with a Mac - the answer is, yes, if you have boot camp installed on your computer (which requires the new OS-X).
You can boot your mac into windows XP, download all the slides you want, then mail them to yourself. After that, you can reboot the computer over to Mac and open the mail up, and download the photos. It’s a little more work, but it’s a way to use this product.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:58 pm
I had the Vupoint slide scanner from Hammacher. It worked great for about 100 slides (I have Windows XP) but then it froze when I hit copy. I called VuPoint and they told me to uninstall then reinstall. It worked for 15 more and the same thing…did this 2x. I returned it and am waiting for new shipments…there are none around. Its a great idea if it only worked.
December 26th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Works fine with Vista. You need to install both the scanner driver and Photo Impression in XP Compatibility mode and as the Administrator. Photo Impression works OK both in Vista and XP Compatibility mode. Will work out of Picasa2, but you will not get the settings screen which does a calibration and allows selection of resolution, color depth and slides or negatives. I have only scanned a couple of slides, but quality of the scans seems OK. Allows a wide range of resolutions, including TIFF, which of course makes for very large file sizes. Overall much easier to use than my old PrimeFilm 1800u, resolution is much better, and scanning is much faster. Haven’t tried negatives yet.
December 27th, 2007 at 9:54 am
NOTE: The units sold by Hammacher Schlemmer and Brookstone are NOT the same. I telephoned VuPoint Solutions to confirm this. They manufacture the Hammacher Schlemmer model. The one sold by Brookstone is distributed by Veho Products, a UK company (www.veho-uk.com).
December 29th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I wrote a pretty long review of this scanner on Amazon.com. To summarize, although the build quality and physical usability are GREAT, the device is hobbled by its drivers. They are EXTREMELY poor. And when I say poor I’m talking in comparison to mainstream drivers like those from Canon, Epson and HP… They appear cobbled together from a legacy Microsoft video component wrapped within a Visual Basic-style shell, making the device barely usable and often unsuitable for even casual home scanning. It uses far too many CPU cycles and provides very few user settable parameters. Most notably, if you watch the automatic level adjustments go through their paces, you can see them move past fairly decent settings to stop on settings that have tossed out nearly all the detail in the image.
With an investment in quality drivers this could become the ‘go to’ low-midrange scanner. And make no mistake, the hardware is definitely there for a low-mid range device, it is ONLY the drivers that are holding this device back.
December 31st, 2007 at 9:59 am
[…] quick excerpt of some of my favorite posts and most commented posts, as follows: Most commented Slide and negative to digital picture converter What a Chinese clone of Nokia N95, but it isn’t a slider! Hands-on review of Motorola RAZR 2 […]
January 1st, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Re: VuPoint FS-C1-VP Slide-to-digital scanner (from HS)
First, the GOOD NEWS: It works on Vista. The resolution seems to be as advertised. For a $100 scanner, it’s entirely acceptable. Now the BAD NEWS: It doesn’t seem to have the dynamic range required by some of my slides. In particular, with landscapes having a bright sky, if I wait until it finishes level-adjusting, the sky is solid white (no clouds). If I press the copy button early (to get the sky detail), then the foreground is dark. I’m still searching for the solution (which is why I’m here).
January 5th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
After reading these comments earlier today, I went out to Brookstone and bought the VFS-001 for $130. This is the one that works with Windows Vista that several people above posted about. This afternoon and then again this evening I converted about 100 slides with no problems. Installation of the software is simple, as is learing to operate it. The directions were very easy to follow. I had no glitches in scranning. The slides automatically scanned and were sent to “My Pictures” as jpegs. The resolution is great. I had several color slides from 1941 that came out looking as good or better than those from the late 60s. I highly recommend this product to anyone who is looking to convert old 35mm slides to digital. (And thanks to everyone’s previous comments and recommendations.)
January 12th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I got one from Hammacher-Schlemmer, but can’t seem to get it to
work with my machine (HP Pavilion zv600). I’ve installed the
drivers (and Arcsoft s/w) provided and also tried
“fresh” (I hope) versions downloaded from vupointsolutions.
The unit *displays* the slide I put into it, but when I try to
select “snapshot” or just press the “copy” button, I invariably get
the “Fail to capture image” error response.
Does anyone know if there is some simple mis-configuration that
I should be looking for to correct?
January 15th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I have a Vehofilm/slide scanner and when I plug in the USB it says “not recognized”. I have a laptop with ALi USB ports (none of them will work). I also have XP on my computer.
Please help.
thank you.
Roger LeBoutillier
January 20th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Sigh… Folks, I finally received the Veho scanner from Brookstone (that says it is Vista compatible) and am going to try it…
I will caution folks that a review I ABOVE SAYS THE VUPOINT AND VEHO ARE NOT THE SAME - I don’t understand as they look IDENTICAL! but that is what the poster said (he called them and was told the Brookstone model is made by Veho, and the Hammacher Schlemmer one is by VuPoint… Any insights, confirmations, or otherwise?)
You can find the Veho at:
http://www.veho-uk.com/index.php….
and VuPoint at:
http://www.vupointsolutions.com/fs-c1.asp
My earlier post with some information is below…. As soon as I try it I’ll weigh in. Anyone with perspective on Veho vs. VuPoint?
———–
Here’s the skinny, as far as I can tell from hunting around, all the machines we are talking about are made by one company, VuPoint Solutions, for the various suppliers - Brookstone (under the Veho name), Hammacher Schlemmer, Frontgate, Summit, ThinkGeek, etc.:
http://www.vupointsolutions.com/fs-c1.asp
VuPoint makes it clear they sell it through resellers… The only one I am not sure about is the Veho from Brookstone - though many of the specs are the same and it looks exactly the same save the Veho logo, it is the only one that works with Vista and costs $30 more ($129 vs. $99)
I found reviews of it in several different places, I think all positive:
http://www.brookstone.com…
http://www.smartcomputing.com/…
Of note - The slide converter businesses that “Scan your negatives/slides for you” seem to charge in the neighborhood of $0.25 to $0.50 per slide (25 to 45 cents), which means that this device would pay out in as little as 200 slides for the XP compatible device for ~$100, if the quality is comparable.
Lastly - what about quality? Well, one of the businesses that claims to be the best at this says they deliver 2000 DPI vs. 1829 DPI for this machine. I am not an expert on Megapixels and DPI’s, but from reading (and from other reviews), people seem satisfied with the quality thus far.
I am about to take the plunge to scan all my dad’s old slides, and we’ll see how it goes!
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
i just called h-s and was told there is no patch for visita and none is expected anytime soon, nothing is being worked on because they are working on something for mac
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
So does the Veho unit have the same drivers as the Vupoint? It sounds from reading the previous comments that the hardware is good on the Vupoint model, but that the software drivers leave a lot to be desired. I’m very interested to hear from someone using the Veho model to see if things are better. Any thoughts?
January 24th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Does anyone know if the trays hold 3D (stereo) slides? My mother has a box full from my brother’s bar mitzvah (1961) that I would like to convert to pictures to make a digital slide show for his 60th birthday in May. Even if the tray will only hold 1 slide at a time, that’s better than nothing. There’s not much out there (portable scanners, that is) for 3D stereo slides, and I’d like something portable because Mom is 1200 miles from here and I’d have to go out there with the portable scanner and a laptop to do it. Thanks bunches for any replies.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I am holding my breath to hear back for R&R’s report on the quality….
January 24th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Not only will this scanner not work with Vista, which they will tell you if you call their support number, but installation of the driver may damage your machine. I got the dreaded blue screen of death (shades of XP and Win98) and a dead computer that would not reboot. I was ready to do a full System Recovery (an HP Pavillion) which wipes and reformats the C: drive, when I remembered that the scanner was still plugged into the USB port. Removed the scanner, booted into safe mode, then a normal start, and now back in business. There are absolutely no warnings in the Hammacher Schlemmer, Brookstone or other ads that there is a Vista problem. Caveat Emptor.
January 25th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I’m a bit confused by the most recent post - There are several users who have posted that the Veho works with Vista (not the VuPoint to be clear, which it seems is made by a different company and is not Vista compatible yet and not related to the Veho though they look identical).
To quote from above:
“Tony Says:
December 27th, 2007 at 9:54 am
NOTE: The units sold by Hammacher Schlemmer and Brookstone are NOT the same. I telephoned VuPoint Solutions to confirm this. They manufacture the Hammacher Schlemmer model. The one sold by Brookstone is distributed by Veho Products, a UK company (www.veho-uk.com).”
I’m unclear if the HS works with Vista, though a few people have posted that it does. Other posts above aren’t clear if they have the Veho or VuPoint, since it isn’t very clear that they are different products (until Tony posted about his call I quoted).
Morris Levine - which one do you have?
January 25th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
R&R:
You and others seen to have missed my earlier post. The VuPoint works fine with Vista. In order to install, you must set the Compatibility Mode to XP and set the Run as Administrator check-box on the Compatibility Tab (or Run as Administrator on the right click Menu). You do not need Compatibility Mode or Administrator privileges to run Photo Impressions. If you use VuPoint within other photo programs, you do not get as many options as with Photo Impressions. The Veho unit may install and work using the same procedure. If not, you could try to use the VuPoint software. Many times you can use software for similar looking hardware because it really is the same. The Veho looks identical to my VuPoint.
Kirk
January 27th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I appreciate Kirk’s point (Jan 25th) about VuPoint working with Vista if you set to run with Compatibility Mode. However, I was unable to get that far since, as indicated in my post, VuPoint crashed my system (”crash dump,” “fatal error” and the only way to recover was to unplug the device via the USB port. Also, regardless of what VuPoint says about Veho, they are indeed the same device, manufactured off-shore by the same company and distributed by both VuPoint and Veho.
January 27th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Morris and Kirk - thanks for clarifying… For those late to this post chain:
1. the Veho and VuPoint are indeed the same slide converter device, regardless of the fact that VuPoint claimed differently when a poster called them. Given they look identical, etc. that isn’t a surprise.
2. the Veho branded device is sold by Brookstone (the only place I could find it) and claims to be Vista compatible and is $30 more. The Veho does not claim vista compatibility, though Kirk (posting above) has gotten it to work with Vista in “compatibility mode”.
Does anyone have any perspective on why the Veho is offered as Vista compatible but the VuPoint is not? Kirk suggests above it is the same software - but I only have the Veho so I can’t be sure. What is the VuPoint’s software and version called, and I’ll compare it to mine. Thanks!
January 27th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
It looks like there is now another Brand on the market.
The housing and physical appearance appear to be the same
It appears to use the same OVT silicon
It is branded as “Summit”
See:
January 27th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
The (XP) driver for the VuPoint is identified as version 2.1.0.1 in Device Manager. It appears to be supplied by OVT, OmniVision, the manufacturer of the scanner chip used. On the OVT web site, Vista drivers are not listed for any of their products.
Kirk
January 28th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Do the machines take 126 slides? Have many of these from Kodak cameras from the 1950’s-1960’s. would appreciate knowing.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Did anyone have a similar issue to bill, post #46 on Janaury 12th?
I purchased the the VuPoint through Ham/Sc as a gift. It worked fine on my Dell, but when I loaded it on my mother’s Dell, I have the same issue as “bill.” The photo displays on the screen, I hit the camera icon (or the Copy button on the unit), and I get the “Fail to capture image” error.
We have tried changing settings, uninstall/reinstall, etc. and cannot figure out what to do. The VuPoint website suggested >Control Panel >System >Hardware >Device Manager >Imaging Devices, but only gives directions if the OVT Scanner is NOT listed; it is actually listed in ours so no idea where else to check.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Got an answer to the “Fail to capture image” error - need Windows XP Service Pack 2.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Does anyone know if any of these use a regular usb port or do they all take the 2.0?
February 11th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
NO THEY MUST BE 2.0 ports..don`t waste your time..
February 12th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Alas, the replies to my earlier post (#46) did not help. My HP
Pavilion zv6000 machine is indeed a Windows XP Service Pack 2 machine with support for USB 2.0 ports. Worrying about Windows
treatment of signed/unsigned drivers did not matter. Letting Windows hardware driver installer search the web for updates (a recommendation from the Vupoint Solutions tech help rep.) did nothing. (Trying the drivers downloadable from the Vupoint Solutions web site rather than those bundled on the included CDROM did
not change the end result.)
After repeated attempts to make this device work — including trying
to look at some of the driver software with a disassembler to
see if I could figure out just which module was producing the
“Fail to get image data” message (I could not find it!) — I gave up
and returned the unit.
I remain curious as to just what was going on and would be interested whether anyone has successfully installed this device on a similar machine.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Bill-
I never did get “fully functional” on my HP machine.
Mine is a Compaq nc6220 laptop.
Running XP Professional Version 2002, Service Pack 2
My USB ports are 2.0
All of the software (Arcsoft + drivers) seemed to install OK (if you took the non-Microsoft chance).
I could never get the supplied software (Arcsoft)to run without crashing.
However, the drivers did seem to function and could be seen when I used the input function in Picassa (free from Google).
February 13th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Hello, I have not read all the comments, but I have a Vista Ultimate computer and bought a vupoint scanner. It would not work plugged into the front USB port, but when I plugged it into a port at the back of the tower, it worked beautifully. Mine also said only WinXP but when I was installing it , a prompt for a vista patch popped up and after following the directions the scanner works like a charm. I’m an old woman and no tech expert and I have never had more fun “discovering” old slides and negatives I had forgotten…passing them on to the children and grand-kids is a lot of fun. Good luck. Marcie
March 9th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Does anyone know what i should do now that I scanned more than 500 slides incorrectly…? When I calibrated the scanner I accidentally chose “negative” instead of “slide” which gives me ghost images instead of clear pictures. I’d like to switch from “negative” to “slide” but I can’t figure out how to do that! Please help! Thx Becky
March 13th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Will this machine work on the Vista Home Premium?
March 16th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I bought mine from Heartland America. Put it on my New HP with Vista. Worked OK with Patch…. but tends to “white-out” any bright spots. So I tried it on my Compaq Presario with XP. Stilled worked but not at all happy with the “brightness” quality at all. Wish I could control the auto adjust and dim the light…. probably would work great!
It does have a tray that holds 3 slides and you can use just one if you want.
Probably going to send it back and pray for a better slide to digital converter.
Becky, # 68, when you ACQUIRE the scanner, the first step, you check negative or slide.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:31 am
Marcie, I also have a Vista ultimate machine, a laptop, but I don’t get a prompt for a patch when I connect the scanner. Are there any identifiers for the patch on your machine, maybe under the OVT program file, that I could search for online? Any help would be appreciated.
Thx.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
t. Pichette, I will try to answer ‘tho I likely won’t be clear. Mine was working just fine and after about 100 slides successfully added to my pictures , I clicked something inadvertently and jinxed the machine. As to your question, when I first used the scanner, a pop up asked if I would like a patch and I agreed and all was well ’till I did the above. I sent the scanner back to H.S. and in no time had a new one and now I’m hesitant to try it. . Any one who knows about patches would be a great help to us both. Thanks Marcie
April 24th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Bill (#65)- I too have been unable to launch VuPoint Solutions Film Scanner. I am running XP with SP2. The scanner driver and ArcSoft software load fine with no errors but when I launch PhotoImpressions from the ICON the app crashes. I have uninstalled and reinstalled this product more times than I will admit. I too will be returning this item…great idea as it is…but if it won’t launch what good is it?
May 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 am
Where can I buy a slide converter?
May 8th, 2008 at 8:59 am
YES, the VuPoint WILL work with VISTA Home Premium!
I received a VuPoint as a gift from my son to scan many old family slides. Nice thought but I was disappointed to learn it is advertised as only XP compatible. I called H/S and they confirmed this. After reading the above entries, I tried anyway. I was able to load the ArcSoft Software Suite. When I tried to interface the scanner to my laptop, it said a driver was needed (I had previously tried to load the driver supplied with the scanner and VISTA would not take it). By the way, I hate VISTA and prefer XP. Anyway, I again plugged in the scanner and got the prompt that a driver was needed. This time I chose the option for Windows to search for a compatible driver. No response for five minutes so I closed the window. Later, I was determined to give it one last shot; I left the computer to search overnight if necessary. At least an hour later I checked back. I expected no results and I would then ship the package back. To my astonishment, when I came back I had the message that the driver was successfully installed!! I’ve just used the scanner on some 20 year old slides; I scanned them in and emailed some to surprised people, me included. It worked for me; should work for anyone. Just be verrryyy patient while Windows is searching for a driver; there is one out there somewhere.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
The VuPoint Digital slide & Negative converter is evil & should be destroyed !
May 20th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Has anyone used the HP model G3010 flatbed photo scanner to convert slides to digital? It is advertised as being able to scan two slides at a time, and convert them to a digital format via a usb cable. It is advertised to work with Windows XP but the technician at the store advised me there is a driver download available for Vista. It is priced at less than $90 at Office Depot. It also claims 4800 dpi maximum resolution.
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 am
The vupoint drivers page does not seem to offer much Mac support.
However, here is the driver download link:
http://www.vupointsolutions.com/downloads-drivers.asp
May 28th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Just looking at the Veho website, http://www.veho-uk.com/, and it seems that there is a new model ‘coming out soon’. It is the VFS-004 so I may wait until that hits the streets because I a bit wary of some of the negative aspects of the reviews I keep reading about the VFS-001 and similar devices.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I just spoke with the VuPoint people and their Vista compatible viewer will be available in three weeks. They don’t sell direct, but said HS, Frontgage and Wal-Mart will have them by July 1. I can’t wait! I have slides from 1970 to 1985 that I haven’t seen since the projector died in the mid 90’s.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
The unit at Brookstone.com is advertised to work with XP and Vista.
June 27th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Just got mine (VuPoint) from Geeks. Downloaded Vista drivers and the latest PhotoImpression from the Veho website and everything is working fine in Vista. They are obivioulsy the same product, or at least use the same chipset.
http://www.veho-uk.com/index.php
Also, latest ArcSoft 6.1 is supposed to improve the white balance issue, or so they say.
June 30th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
After reading these reviews and all of the potential problems, I decided to do a search on Amazon for slide scanners. I ended up buying the Canon CanoScan 8800F. It is a flat bed scanner, but has excellent reviews for slide scanning as well, even with some examples from a user that looks pretty good. I hope that it lives up to the reviews. At $169, it is not that much more than the devices talked about here, so I just wanted to point out that possibility.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I bought mine from Walmart under the 21C label. I was somewhat frustrated with the length of time it took to scan the slides on my Canon 5000. Otherwise the Canon scans very good pictures. I have a 9 year old Dell Dimension system.
900 Mhz with a limit of 512 ram.
The 21c is so far a disappointment. I am still running time trials on it, but it is not looking good. I had seen quotes of five second snap times, which was exactly what I was looking for. HOWEVER, that appears only to be the capture time for what would be a preview on my Canon. the steps to actually save the picture to a file on the computer is a different issue, as the machine goes through several minutes of steps to refine the scan into a useable picture. In overall time it appears equal to or worse than the cannon. It is probable that newer systems than mine may indeed do better. I will publish the results. Of the pictures made, using the recommended delays
The software negatively affects the operation of my mouse, again probably due to the low end performance of my pc. It staggers on the programs screen. I have found the software operation itself difficult. And oh yea, the handbook sucks. You may go blind reading the book, use the file on the disk. It leaves a lot out and is fuzzy about what it does cover.
Two other landmines. First, the software immediately goes in and makes itself the primary processor for picture and audio files. When I click the icon for editing, I got a message that it will open temporary editing software, and that you need to buy the long term version. Surprise!!
If my final testing goes as I think, this turkey will be back at Wallyworld in the morning. On the bright side, it forced me to add a USB 2.0 card, and my Cannon now appears to run faster.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Missed completion of a sentence.
The Pictures made were a mixed bag compared to identical pictures scanned on my Canon. Of six pictures only one appeared better than the Canon’s. Low light colors were off and it actually picked up and accentuated dirt on the slide. My canon has a filter for that. One slide had a tunnel affect around the edges that was not rendered on the Canon capture.
July 11th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
BACK IT GOES! I tested the time to do six slides. My Canon loads two at a time. The total time from clicking on the application, to the completion of saving all six scanned pictures to the hard drive, 8 and a half minutes.
The Walmart unit loads three at a time. and from clicking on the application, CAPTURE took 9 and a quarter minutes. BUT WAIT! ALL YOU HAVE AT THAT POINT IS A FUZZY PREVIEW IMAGE LOADED IN THE SCANNER, WITH WHICH YOU CAN DO NOTHING. YOU THEN HAVE TO TRANSFER, OR RATHER SAVE, TO DISK, AND ON MY COMPUTER, AS DESCRIBED EARLIER. THE TOTAL ELAPSED TIME TO CAPTURE AND SAVE THE SIX FILES TO THE DISK WAS 32 MINUTES!! AND THE QUALITY WAS LESS THAN THE CANON.
I suspect that giga speed processors and giga ram may make this a good deal. I would be curious to hear if someone had faster times or if I did not operate the system correctly. For now, I will stick with my Canon.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Scanner software won’t load at installation time on Windowx XP system because the device driver C:\WINDOWS\system32\OVTFBoot.dll with Entry Point “OV550 Start” can’t be found. Internet offers no solution.
Any ideas?