Customer Reviews

VuPoint FS-C1-VP Film and Slide Digital Converter

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(50)

 

 

Although I'd been successfully using a Canon CanoScan LIDE 500f to scan OLD 35mm color and B&W negatives, it was slow going. Many of the negatives had curled up with the low humidity of Winter and mounting them into the 500f's slide adapter was quickly becoming a nightmare. I worked out how long it was taking me to mount and scan each negative, and took a look at my remaining workload (about 2,000 negatives and mounted 35mm slides remaining). It became clear I needed a faster solution both in terms of mounting and scanning speed.

Since the 500f's slide attachment only supports film strips, the new device had to support mounted slides. Also, the new device had to be simple to operate, allowing me to get negatives and film strips mounted as quickly as possible, while also having facilities to secure srips curled from low humidity. That's when I saw the VuPoint FS-C1-VP 35mm scanner. It was cheap, simple, and appeared to do everything I needed.

------THE UNIT

The VuPoint 35mm slide scanner is exactly what it appears to be, a 5 megapixel low-mid range CCD in a plastic housing. The housing contains a mini lightbox at the bottom to illuminate 35mm slides/negatives for scanning by the CCD. Simply take your slides or negatives, mount them in the included trays, and slide the trays into the scanner unit. Each tray window snaps gently into place, helping you to align slides/negatives under the CCD. The trays are VERY GOOD at holding curled negatives securely. (Extremely curled/rumpled negatives may introduce shadows into the scan. To relax the slides fully, try holding the tray over a steaming pot for about 10 seconds.)

The build quality of the VuPoint scanner is quite high. Although made of plastic, it has a very nice feel (akin to a 'satin finish' cell phone) and the mounted slide and filmstrip trays appear durable and fit firmly into the unit.

The unit gets power from an attached 4 foot long USB 2.0 cable, so it has an extremly small desktop footprint. The scanner is also insensitive to attitude, allowing usage virtually anywhere, from any angle (sideways on your lap, in bed, etc) making it much more likely you'll get that scanning job done.

------SCANNING

I installed the scanner drivers ONLY, ignoring the image editing software that came with the unit (Photoimpression 6) and instead chose to scan directly into PhotoShop CS3. Using this method I was only able to 'dumb scan' at the highest resolution of 2592x1680. For negatives, this means you will need to invert the image after scanning and then perform color correction/level adjustment/unsharp masking/etc. Mounted slides or film stips will scan positive but will still need additional filters applied for best results. If you're scanning into CS3, create ACTIONS to handle typical slide archetypes (negative, positive, blurry negative, desaturated positive, scratched and dusty slide, etc).

In practice, the scan driver shows you a low framerate preview of the image under the CCD. If you wait between 5 and 15 seconds, the light levels in the image will balance and be ready for scanning. A sequence of positives with extremely different light levels will push your waiting time towards the maximum. In extreme cases you can wait 45 seconds+ for decent balancing.

To initiate a scan you either press the 'copy' button on the unit, or click the 'snapshot' icon via the scanner software driver. Snapshots are quick, but once you have a snapshot you then need to 'transfer' the image to CS3. This can take as long as 30 seconds per image.

The driver holds 12 snapshots. Once this 'buffer' is full you need to transfer the snapshots to CS3.

The driver grabs a decent amount of CPU while its previewing - taking 60% CPU on a 1GHz Pentium M laptop, and 40% CPU on a 2GHz P4. I'd imagine CPU usage would be around 20% on a dual core (will test this out later).

------IMAGE QUALITY

This unit will win no awards for image quality. I scanned in three 35mm mounted slides and viewed them onscreen while simultaneously also using a backlit slide viewer. The raw scans were fairly grainy, with blown out highlights.

I am linking to the RAW scans (with light JPG compression) for your review. Try cleaning up these photos yourself to get an idea of what the scanner is capable of.

http://www.geocities.com/gamedev123/35mm_ektachrome_slide_aug81.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/gamedev123/35mm_fujichrome_slide_jun68.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/gamedev123/35mm_kodachrome_slide_aug81.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/gamedev123/35mm_kodachrome_slide_sep68.jpg


I was subsequently able to clean the slides up in CS3 but couldn't recapture the lost details in the highlights. In some cases the loss of detail was so extreme that the photos were virtually worthless. High contrast photos seem to suffer the most (ex: a person in an unlit room sitting framed in a sunny window). However "normal" photos will occasionally suffer the same fate (a person sitting at a cafe with black shirt and creme colored striped pants = dramatic loss of detail in the pants).

The source photos provided were taken by my father and grandfather, using low-midrange SLR cameras - I have no idea of the lens or settings used. I assume these types of images represent typical inputs for this scanner. Higher quality slides with large, in-focus subjects should provide comparatively higher quality scans.

------OVERALL VALUE

As just a raw USB slide scanner, the VuPoint is arguably worth the US$99 purchase price.

The hardware is well designed and very user friendly, looking like something worth at least $99. However, the driver software is horribly amateur compared to the likes of Canon and HP and seems cobbled together AT BEST. It cripples the hardware side of things, turning a potentially quality product into a questionable purchase. Until the driver software is vastly improved, allowing you to switch off the 'auto' adjustment functionality and set your own parameters, there will be no way to scan high contrast imagery.


[NOTE: The AMSHOW direct capture software that is installed along with the driver allows you to access some scan parameters. But I have been unable to make these changes persist or affect my scans into PhotoShop. I eventually installed the PhotoImpression software suite that came with the scanner, hoping it would provide me with a few more scanner control options. Sadly, this is just a consumer level app for rotating/sorting pics and applying canned image effect.]

I have had this scanner about 1 week and after looking at the number of negative comments decided to put in my experience.

Hardware:
The physical scanner looks and feels quite solid. The "scanner" is a 5 megapixel video camera with a close focus lens and LEDs for illumination.

The slide carrier and negative carrier have "locks" on the sides and in the middle that make it difficult to easily change the contents. I filed them off and much prefer it that way. In addition the slide carrier has a ridge all the way around the slide making it difficult to get a slide out after scanning. I filed away the center part of the left and right edges. I could then slide a finger nail in to lift up the slide. The carrier only moves through the copier from the right side to the left. I would have preferred a carrier that could toggle left then right so that you could fill the one side while the other side was being transferred.

It turns out that the hardware takes a lot of power from the USB port. I had 1 computer that the "live image" would not work on (it only provided a partial (20%) image then streaked). A call to the company gave a quick answer that my USB port was not providing enough power. Switching computers confirmed that because it worked in the new computer.

Software:
There are 2 parts. The driver allows the scanner to function with any program that can take scanner input. I used it with ACDSEE, HP photo manager, ArcSoft Photo impression. I understand it could be used with Picasa but didn't try it. The driver appears to be pretty primative but functional.

The "live view" is basically a video feed. When you click "snap shot" or press the copy button you freeze the image for later transfer. You can see the compensations for lighting as the live image changes. You may accumulate up to 12 images before doing a transfer. The annoying thing is that you cannot easily select multiple images. I found I had to control-click on each one. The transferred images looked good. Sometimes the color was a little off, but the detail of the slide was there. Color can be tweaked, detail can not be added to a picture.

I tried it on 3 computers. All were XP SP2. One failed with a BlueScreen of Death. I tried the driver from the manufacturer website but got the same results.

All in all, I think this will do exactly what I want -- scan the boxes of slides that my parents and I have accumulated over the years.

I would like to have had some more options to control the lighting and contrast in the driver.

The 2nd part of the software is the PhotoImpression program. It is OK. If you already have a photo catalogger/editor program you can use it to acqquire the images. You don't have to install anything but the driver from the disk. PhotoImpression was OK.

All in all, worth the money.

I have about 15 years of slides to digitize. It seemed like the Film Scanner was a dream answer - only $100 (roughly) - and looked good (specs, photo).

However, as other reviewers have noted, it was more of a nightmare than a dream. First, the software. You are forced to use the PhotoImpressions software that comes with it. I guess it isn't TOO bad if you have one or two slides to convert. But for more - what a pain! First, there are no options on color correction. The process for acquiring images (scanning) and saving them to your hard drive (or whatever) is laborious and error-prone. And the resulting images require a LOT of Photoshopping to finish the color correction and brightness/contrast.

The hardware looks neat. But woe betide you if you don't get the slide carrier clicked all the way closed (as I did - its easy to slip up here). I pushed the carrier into the convertor about the first time I used it, and broke a TINY plastic pin that holds a flap in place. I had to disassemble it and remove the flap (works ok without it). But, being an engineer, I was negatively impressed with the design.

The bottom line, I'm slowly working my way through my slides using the Film Scanner. But its a painful experience. Stay away from this, if you can find something better!!

I have had this product about one month now and have converted over 200 slides very successfully. A few things to know...
The user manual leaves a lot to be desired. I had no issue installing software (other places say it only supports XP, so know before you buy). Here is some info that might help you get started without making my mistakes.
The 'conversion' process is simply the VuPoint taking a picture of your slide. Therefore, you need to let the slide 'sit' about 20 seconds before you tell it to copy, so that it adjusts to the light - especially true on slides that have very light and dark areas. Once you have copied ('snapshot' via mouse, or button on top of scanner), then you can (and should) immediately push transfer (you will have already told it where to transfer the image to, in setup, which can be changed at any time). If you do not transfer the picture and you exit the ArcSoft software, your conversion will be lost and you have to do so again. The final transfer quality is much better than the 'snapshot/copy' you see in the arcsoft software. Do the whole process before judging. You still may have to cleanup in photoshop, but mostly due to damaged slides or cosmetic cropping etc..

I have converted both Kodak slides and non-kodak slides. The quality/vibrancy of the slides were very different and this was, of course, reflected when they were digitized.


I only converted slides, not negatives.

I would highly recommend this as a reasonable, long-term solution. If you only have a handful of slides, send them out to get done. But if you want control or have LOTS, then I say give this a shot. It was a great solution for my needs.

First off, the scanner is only certified for Windows XP - it says so right there on the box. So no, that doesn't mean that it works on Vista, Win 2000, ME or 98 - just Windows XP. Yes, some computers have horribly underpowered USB ports (like Dell keyboards) but that has nothing to do with this scanner, it has to do with your computer. Sure, the software could use some considerable enhancements, but it does a very decent job of producing negative scans. I have never scanned any negative that didn't require some type of correction - even on upscale scanners like a Canon that I had. Slides are very difficult to truly scan well. After over 30 years photography experience, I can tell you that they are very difficult to expose properly in the first place. What are you expecting from a $65 to $100 scanner anyway? I mean look at it. It isn't motorized and doesn't scan the entire strip automatically. It is a basic negative / slide scanner that certainly does a good enough job for the money. The software is easy to install (If you are installing it on the correct operating system) I had NO problems with the install or use of it on a Compaq laptop. So if you're looking to scan slides for National Geographic, look at products aimed at that task. A really, professional negative or slide scanner will cost between $500 and $1,000. And it normally says Minolta, Canon or Nikon on the side of it. If you're looking to scan family photos and slides as a hobby, to e-mail or to print and display, this little scanner does a pretty decent job. Shop for what you want.

Was never able to get the software or driver to work on either of two computers. But, even if I had been able to get it to work, I could tell from the rather skimpy user manual that the software clearly leaves a lot to be desired. By today's standards this product offers very little in the way of features and is not worth the hours of trying to make it work before you finally throw in the towel and send it back.

At first I was put off by the many negative reviews, but decided to give it a try anyway. I purchased the VuPoint FS-C1-VP-BX2 about 2 weeks ago and I am glad I did. It took some trial and error and an updated version of the software, but now everything is fine and I am pleased with the results. It's quick, easy to use, and inexpensive. The quality is fine for my needs. If I have a slide or negative that is of special importance, I'll send it to a lab for scanning. For everything else, this is fine.

By far the most serious problem I encountered was the lack of ability to control the exposure manually. For example, the scanner would take a light face in a dark background and turn up the brightness so quickly that the features were wiped out. I tried to do a capture as soon as the image appeared, but that did not work well.

Here is the good news. I emailed VuPoint's customer service, described the problem, and sent a scan that demonstrated the problem. They very quickly responded as follows:

Please uninstall the driver and ArcSoft software from your computer. Then click on this link http://www.vupointsolutions.com/downloads-software.asp and click on the download for PhotoImpression 6.1.8.130. This will download as a ZIP file on to your computer. Extract all the files and install the driver as well the ArcSoft Software Suite on to your computer. This updated driver and software will enable you to manually adjust the exposure before clicking on snapshot. We hope that this will be of some assistance. We apologize about any inconvenience. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to call our toll free number: 1-888-788-6888 or email us at customerservice@vupointsolutions.com.

I did as they said and now the VuPoint actually gives me the ability to control the exposure manually. A slider appears in the OVT Scanner window right above the Snap Shot/Transfer/Format/Exit icons.

A few points:

Make sure you do first uninstall both the driver as well as the ArcSoft software. Use the software rather than Control Panel to do this:

1. Download the software as directed above and extract all the files.

2. Open the Photoimpression 6.1.8.130 folder. There should be a folder within that has the identical name. Open it. Double click on Autorun.exe.

3. Ignore the security warning that the publisher could not be verified. Hit Run.

3. The Film Scanner menu should appear. Click on Scanner Driver.

4. Click on Remove.

5. Go through the corresponding process to remove the ArcSoft Software Suite.

6. Reboot, rerun the Autorun.exe file, install the Driver and then ArcSoft, and reboot.

You should see the .130 version of the ArcSoft with the manual exposure control. It appears on the OVT Scanner window right above the Snap shot/Transfer/Format/Exit icons.

Two other points that address some of the earlier comments.

If your PC doesn't recognize the VuPoint even though you think you have USB 2.0, think again. I thought I had 2.0 because the PC manual says I do and because I see "enhanced" when I look at the description in Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager. However, my iPod keeps telling me I have USB 1.1, and my PC did not recognize the VuPoint. For $10 I bought a USB 2.0 PCI card. It took 5 minutes to install. Now I have 4 true USB 2.0 ports (my iPod transfers faster now) and the PC recognizes the VuPoint.

I have a lot of 110 slides. I fashioned a slide holder out of balsa wood with an Exacto knife and glue. It hold 8 110 slides and works great.

I am running XP SP3 on both my Averatec 2100 and Sony PCV-RZ24G. VuPoint works on both.

I hope you find this helpful

Ken Zwick

I purchased this unit (elsewhere) the other day and am totally impressed with it. I scanned all my slides in with a flatbed scanner with adapter and was sorely disappointed. I saw this unit and researched it a little. I found some pictures that someone had scanned with it on the internet and they looked much better than my slides.

I scanned in a small box full last night and ALL came through like a charm.

It is relatively easy to use (for slides at least - that is all I've used it for) and is much faster than the flat bed which was very slow.

It is easy to run the software and it installed with little problem.

Overall I am very impressed with the results.

One note if you buy one, wait to capture the picture since it automatically adjusts to light levels in the slide and it takes a moment or two to adjust properly.

I recently bought this identical scanner, marketed by Brookstone, for $129. Alas I didn't do my research before buying a slide scanner, or I would have realized there were much better scanners on the market for the same price or less. Furthermore, this model (purports) to work only on Windows XP etc, and not on MAC (to which I'll be moving soon). Finally, I was never able to install the driver properly. Although the software included on the cdrom did not show any error when it installed the driver, my XP could never recognise the device. Brookstone could provide me with virtually no support or assistance. After doing a great deal of experimentation, I found that there was a missing file, which the cdrom did not contain or at least couldn't provide. Fortunately I was able to return the scanner to the vendor (at my expense) for a full refund.

I spent over an hour with this stupid thing tonight. I installed it twice and uninstalled it twice and am returning it tomorrow. When I called them up about the constant crashing, I was told that is you have another scanner, it can cause a conflict. I refuse to uninstall and reinstall each scanner depending on the material that is being scanned. What a waste of time! If you only need one scanner and this is installed, it MIGHT work. I'm very disappointed in this. It'd have been a great idea to have this but I refuse to go thru unnecessary work/efforts to get my scans done.