Customer Ratings & Reviews
- Model:
- RS40
- |
- SKU:
- 6484525
Customer reviews
Rating 4.4 out of 5 stars with 26 reviews
(26 customer reviews)to a friend
Customers are saying
Customers commend the imageFORMULA RS40 Photo and Document Scanner for its compact size and user-friendly interface. They are particularly impressed with the quality of the photo scans, noting that the output is surprisingly high. However, some customers have expressed dissatisfaction with the CaptureOnTouch software, finding it somewhat awkward to use.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
- Cons mentioned:Wifi
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Can be a winner if Canon fixes software
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Being an enthusiast photographer for over 35 years that uses Canon gear, my expectations for the RS40 were high. Sadly, I was disappointed in the scans the device produced. I was also confused that most people that had reviewed the RS40 loved it and there were very few people that didn’t. I was getting lines in my scans. Not from magnified physical lines or other defects in the prints. It’s worse in dark areas but even in mid tones. It varied depending on the lighting in the photo. Colors could also be way off too. Especially when using auto settings. Also blocky sky gradients like in a sunset photo. The best results were when I turned off all auto settings and adjusted the brightness and gamma manually. I use a Datacolor SpyderX Pro Colorimeter to calibrate my monitor. I compared the scans to an Epson ES-580W I reviewed Jan. 2021, Minolta Scan Dual III slide and negative scanner and to taking a photo of the print with a Canon EOS R and EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM. I discovered that the lines were caused by data compression creating patterns with the way a jpg file is created with blocks. Think very highly compressed jpg. When viewed at 300%, you can see the blocks that make the lines at 100% and lower. I got that no matter which file format I used to output a scan. Shadows and blacks could even look like it had a film of haze over it when trying to bring out shadow detail. I didn’t see this as much with preset settings that had higher contrast settings. But why? Firmware? Drivers? Software? What I couldn’t understand is why the Epson ES-580W Document scanner that’s meant for primarily business use scanning receipts and printed documents, was soundly beating the Canon RS40. The RS40 is designed to primarily scan photos and it should have out performed the Epson. I contacted BB with my concerns and sample scans. They referred me to Canon. I discussed the issues with a Canon engineer and sent them sample scans too. Canon sent me another RS40 to evaluate just to make sure I didn’t have a defective one. I got the same results with a different RS40. Kinda off the wall, I wondered if it might be related to Windows 11. So I tested the scanner on a computer that is still on Windows 10. Noticeable difference! Different software and driver versions. Lines were only visible if you used extreme settings. Also two different software versions that were both up to date at that time. Now just one version listed for Windows 10 & 11. I emailed Canon my findings on the replacement scanner and that Windows OS made a noticeable difference. I have read reviews of the scanner on BB and several other places. Looks like I'm the only one to try it on both Windows 10 & 11. I guess everyone that loved it was using Windows 10 or a Mac maybe? Assuming results on a Mac are the same as Windows 10. Yes, the Windows OS is the difference between a 3 star not recommended and a 4 star barely recommended. Lines were still there but much harder to see. Canon said there was only supposed to be one program bundle for the OnTouch software and driver. As of March 23, 2022 there is only one I could find and a newer version than the previous two. It is supposed to be compatible with Windows 10 and 11. After testing it, I still got the lines on Windows 11 and less on Windows 10. The Canon engineer told me he would be sending my findings to the Canon engineers in Japan and they would update the software, drivers (firmware?) if needed. If you own this scanner you might want to keep check on that. Canon’s packaging is environmentally friendly. A power supply brick and USB cable are included as is a quick setup guide. Windows 11 setup went off without a hitch. However, when I went to use the scanner it couldn’t find the twain driver. I had to reload the drivers several times before it would work. If you hit the start button without opening the Capture OnTouch program first it will do it every time and require a reboot to fix the problem. And on 2 occasions it required reloading the driver again. I didn’t have this problem with Windows 10 on a different computer. I also want to note that I have a Canon TR-150 printer installed on both PCs and I had to reinstall the drivers for it on the Windows 11 PC for the printer to work. Both now work fine. Never a problem with the Windows 10 PC. Comparing it to the Epson ES-580W document scanner. Using its photo presets is about as bad as Canon's, mostly overly contrasty. Like the RS40, I can tweak the settings on the ES-580W to produce excellent photo scans by adjusting brightness, contrast and gamma. Colors are spot on with the Epson too. The ES580W is a 30 bit color scanner and the RS40 is 24 bit. What that means is that you have 8 bits (255 steps) per color channel on the RS40. You have 10 bits (1024 steps) on the ES580W. That’s 4 times the dynamic range. This could also account for the lines and blocks along with digital compression in shadows. If you’re going to be scanning large photos like 8X10 you probably won’t notice lines. If you’re scanning 6X4 and 3X5 you will in the shadows and even in the mids. If you plan on cropping from a small photo it can be a problem. Then there are the inaccurate colors and high contrasts using presets. See photos. Both scanners do not produce what they are capable of at default settings. Especially if the photos they are scanning are dark or very contrasty. Same for over exposed photos. Some photos are beyond help with any scanner. You can adjust settings to compensate for those sorts of things, up to a point. However, both scanners should be close and the Canon should beat the Epson since it's primarily a Photo scanner that can do documents and the Epson is the opposite in that manner. And it should be able to do it well at default settings. The Epson beats the Canon and it ought to be the other way around considering their primary uses. Features and controls are lacking compared to the Epson ES580W too. No WiFi and no color touch screen. No graphic LCD screen at all. Just a green 7 segment display. And costs $80 more. I do want to point out that the Epson - FastFoto FF-680W which is primarily for photos too, costs more, lacks any kind of a display but does have wifi. Has the same hardware specs as ES580W. Please see photos scanned with the RS40, ES-580W and taken with an EOS R full frame mirrorless camera. After you click to expand the photo, Right click and open in a new tab for full resolution scans. I have description info on the photos themselves. The RS40 will scan Polaroid and old Kodak ColorBurst instant photos and the ES-580W won’t. Build quality looks and feels good but the ES580W feels a little better. I cannot recommend this scanner due to questionable image quality, lack of WiFi, lack of any kind of an info screen and it costs more than one I reviewed a year ago that performs better. As for my Canon camera bodies and lenses, they are outstanding and I would highly recommend them. But not the RS40. Here’s a link to the Epson ES-580W I reviewed for those interested. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/epson-workforce-es-580w-wireless-duplex-touchscreen-desktop-document-scanner/6442937.p?skuId=6442937
No, I would not recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Scan quality
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Bring your old photos to digital life
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.The Canon Image Formula RS40 is a good scanner. It is compact but I wished it was a little smaller to be honest. Setting it up was relatively easy. When I opened the box, the scanner had a few protective labels that needed to be removed. Once those were removed I just had to install the paper tray (photo tray) and that was it. Before physically connecting the scanner to the computer you have to download the Canon software which was simple and quick to set up. The software URL is provided inside the owner's manual. Once the software install was complete (quick install), I scanned some old photos that I had. The quality was pretty good. It was hard to notice any differences from the original photo to the scanned result. The scanning was not as fast as at first. After changing a few settings I realized that for photo scans the scan speed is kind of slow in order to preserve image quality. I then scanned some regular paper and the scanning speed was fast. I also really liked the option to scan double sided sheets. This is really a plus. On the scanner there is an LCD screen that has a number on it. The number pertains to which setting you want to use. For example, the number 1 is for photos, the number 2 is for double sided sheets and the number 3 is for single sided sheets. You can set up to 10 presets with customs configurations. Configurations varying from the output folder or email to the image settings. Overall this scanner does what it was intended for and converting old photos to digital it is a breeze. I was very satisfied with the results. In the box you get the scanner, power cord, USB cable, manuals and a soft cloth to wipe and clean photos to avoid scratches which I appreciated.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Ease of use, Scan quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great Scanner, Quick Easy and Simple
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.I was in search of a scanner that would scan multiple items at one time quickly. I really enjoyed how easy this was to use and install / setup. Only concern was how noisy it was upon scanning the items. There are a ton of customized settings to allow deeps high quality scans. Documents and images scan very well without issues. I would recommend this scanner to anyone who is looking for the need to scan multiple items quickly and at one time.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Scan qualityCons mentioned:Software
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Creating a Vault of Memories with Canon
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.I am so happy to have come across the Canon RS40, and even though the name is bland it is its capabilities that are going to be so helpful this summer as my 70 year old grandma and I organize family photos she's had since the early 60's and 70's. A little backstory, she has 4 photo albums that she's kept safe from sunlight and the elements in order to preserve our family's pictures. She isn't savvy with technology so I offered to do a little something for her. Well I did some practice scans and sent them to her and she was in awe, she couldn't understand how sharp and clear the pictures came out. That was motivation enough to scan all of the family photos and categorize them for her so that I can upload them to a digital photo album she can glance back at on her tablet (I taught her how to listen to music on a personal tablet). The scanner scans photos really quick, and I love that it does multiple (up to 40 at a time). I do wish that the software was a little more dynamic in range, it feels clunky compared to mobile phone picture editing software. It's a small concession I'm willing to adjust to because of the magnificent ability to scan my photos so beautifully. If you're on the fence about it just think about all those memories that you have that you certainly want to preserve. I also have a digital picture frame hung on my wall and I plan on using these photos to showcase them in the large gallery digital frame. I can honestly say this was a very smart product to get because it is going to help our family's pictures live on for a long time!
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Scan quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great for your home or office
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Over the years I have used many scanner-printer combinations to create digital copies of pictures and documents. Those devices worked as designed and met my needs but were always somewhat slow and deliberate in their process. Now enter the Canon Image Formal RS40. The Canon RS40 is a dedicated scanner on steroids! I didn’t realize how much I really needed this scanner until I started to use it. RS40 looks like a small upright printer, with the paper feed in the upper back and a fold out exit tray in the front. You can scan various size pictures and documents with ease. Setup is simple when you follow the enclosed setup instructions. During the setup you are prompted to download the scanning app to your computer and complete the setup with the app. Once you are all installed and setup, you can start scanning. Through the application you can either scan pictures, scan single sided documents or double-sided documents. All scans are saved to folders with “canon” in the folder name. The performance of this scanner is outstanding. It is fast and easy to use. You can configure it through the application to meet your needs. It will scan a stack of 4X6 pictures in seconds. Documents run through it with ease and are very high-quality scans. This is a must for any office to digitize your documents or pictures
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Scan quality
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Well...It's great as a document scanner!
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Self chosen as the family curator I have stacks of photos dating back 70 years of family history. Always looking for smarter ways to digitize I thought I would check out this Canon imageFORMULA RS40 and see if it could offer me some improvements to my current scanner that doesn't plan nicely with my Mac. First Impressions: I was quite pleased when unboxing and saw the small footprint and solid footing. There is no sliding around with the RS40 and immediately impressed me. Set-Up: The instructions included a website that I needed to type in to download the software. Why is it that a little foresight couldn't have been put into the website used. Invest in some short redirect links rather than the mess that was your 3 dot, 4 forwardslash, 43 character monstrosity. To be fair - installation was simple and straight forward once I reached my website destination. Software: The capture software was pretty basic. The interface was straight out of Windows 2000 but it does the job easily enough. There were plenty of output options and ability to connect to cloud services, though you did have to hunt to find the options. Scanning: Photo scanning is slow. No way to sugar coat it. I guess I could say that it's way faster than arranging 3-4 photos at a time on a flat bet scanner! That's a plus! Scanning documents on the other hand was more than adaquate and I love that it was able to scan both sides of a document and place in the correct order. Prices may vary, and maybe this scanner will drop into a value niche, but if your main purpose is scanning photos there are other alternatives that scan faster for about the same price. Quality of Scan: Well this is where we go off the rails. The main purpose of a photo feeder is to eliminate the need to edit orientation after the scan. No matter what I did I could not set a collection of photos in the feeder in a way that would push the photo through in a manner that would output a clean/straight scan. It's possible that other scanners I have used corrected for this with software, but there's no chance that I am going to scan thousands of photos and then have to go back to each one and crop/realign them, nor will I sort by size. A scanner like this should be able to accommodate a reasonably clean stack of photos of roughly the same size. Redeeming Values: I do like the build quality and simplicity of the quick start buttons. The Documents I scanned for my accountant were fantastic. I'm considering using the RS40 for document scanning and other scanners for my photos.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great for BackingUp Family Photos
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.This scanner is perfect for the photo archivists And anyone looking to digitize or organize all their business files, tax documents, legal papers and even receipts The scanner tray can hold up to 40 photos at a time, up to 5x7 inches. They don't recommended more than ten 8x10 photos to batch scan. Although it is possible to batch scan photos of different sizes from the document feeder, it's best to stay with photos that are all close in size. I noticed several crooked looking photos when scanning too many different sizes at once. Canon advertises scanning speeds of 40 photos per minute, but that is with 4x6s in grayscale at 300 dpi. In color it can scan 30 photos per minute ( 4x6 @ 300 dpi). I ran some timed scans at different settings with 40 photos in the feeder tray. 6min 35sec @ 600 dpi with all enhancement options and 4x6 photos 5min 42sec @ 1200 dpi with all enhancement options and mostly 3x4 photos and some 4x6s 5mins ....... @ 1200 dpi with NO enhancement options mostly 3x4 photos with some 4x6s 1min 30sec @300 dpi no enhancement options and 4x6 photos I used the same photos at the 1200 dpi scans and compared the image quality and look between the enhanced photos and non-enhanced photos. The enhanced photos had better clarity, contrast, color saturation, and lighting. Without the enhancement some of the photos had hidden details in the darker areas, with the enhancements the darker areas were brightened up without white washing the rest of the photo. Without any enhancements selected the color and lighting outputs are extremely close to the original photos scanned. So far everything I have scanned has had very life-like colors, saturation and contrast, even with the auto enhancements on. The photo enhancements include; auto photo fix, red-eye correction, face sharpener, digital face smoothing, paper texture correction, and fade correction. To further adjust and tweak these options there is an advanced settings dialog box. The max optical scanning resolution is 600 dpi. The scanner is capable of putting out an interpolated resolution of 1200 dpi, for images that you would like to enlarge for bigger prints. There is also a photo carrier sheet for torn or odd types of media, like polaroids and textured pictures. The carrier sheet can fit photos up to 5x7. The scanner is also great at scanning any type of documents. The feeder tray can accommodate up to 60 pages, and can scan small items like business cards and larger items up to 14inches, in the standard mode. For longer documents, you can go into the scanner driver settings and set the scanner to "Long Document" scanning. The directions for doing this are in the operator's manual (which is automatically installed within the "Canon" program folder. Just make sure you select "original document size" and set the paper length to auto sense, otherwise the document will end up being 118 inches in length. It won't stretch the image, but will fill the rest of the document length with white space. The document scanner can auto deskew scans and can remove scan through from marks on the back of the page, and remove the background from text scans. The RS40 auto scans the back of photos and documents at the same time as the front, if the scanner detects an image or any text there. It can also create searchable PDFs and save scans as .tif and .jpg This is probably the best and my favorite scanner that I own. It's extremely fast at scanning and editing photos and documents. My other scanners would take 40 to 60 seconds per photo. The RS40 is going to make short work of the many boxes of old family photos we have stashed in the house. I'm very impressed with not only it's speed but also the ease of use. You can store your own custom "job"s by type of media, scanner settings and output format, in the app. The jobs can be automatically used by pressing the "job" number on the scanner, and hitting start. You can also make a bunch of custom scan modes in the app which can be activated from the app. It's even capable of setting the storage location to most cloud apps.
I would recommend this to a friendRated 5 out of 5 stars
Even Grandma can do it
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.I love old photos. I have boxes and albums full of them dating back to the 1970’s. It has always been a challenge trying to decide how to view them in the digital age. My printer/scanner combos have been too daunting to learn the best way to scan and it was, generally, one photo at a time. I saw this Cannon photo and document scanner and decided I would try it. I was very pleasantly surprised at how truly small it is. While it is small and easy to move around, it is mighty in its capability. It will work with with my Mac desktop or my 13” Samsung laptop. Be sure to remove all the tape and packing material. Included in the box was a small cleaning cloth and a plastic sheet you may need for odd photos. It is recommended to clean the photos with the cloth. Also included is a printed quick start guide, something I always appreciate. I downloaded the app that tells you how to finish the set up, and get started. Everything was so simple and easy to understand. I spent a few minutes moving around in the app. Honestly, the most difficult part is choosing which photos to start scanning. I picked several 4x6 prints and wiped them off with the the cloth. Frankly, it didn’t seem to matter since the pics had been stored in a box. Paying attention to the included directions I loaded just 3 photos to see how everything worked. I pressed the power button and the app guided me on what to do. Scanning is so easy. The prints scanned in flawlessly and quickly, no jams, no hesitation. Suddenly there they were on my laptop after sitting in a box for nearly 40 years. I can scan as many as 40 prints at a time, different sizes, set up albums and name each picture if I want to. The pictures look great and there are editing tools in the software to touch up those old red eyes, blemishes and tweak the color and brightness. I still have my work cut out for me. This Cannon can do the job. The only issue is, I still have to decide which photo is worth saving and, sadly, organize them into albums! I think this is a great new product and highly recommend it. By the way, it can certainly scan any document you need and get rid of all that paper.
I would recommend this to a friendRated 4 out of 5 stars
Just what I needed for digitizing printed photos
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.This is an excellent scanner for someone who has a lot of photos to digitize. Do not be fooled by the size and weight of the box. It is packed well and, when the packaging is removed, the footprint and weight are very reasonable. The setup process was simple. It did take a very long time to download the driver software, so plan on leaving it connected for over an hour on a high-speed connection. One of the strong points of this scanner is the speed and the photo handling. I am glad that I waited for an auto-feed scanner instead of settling for a flatbed which would require me to load each photo individually. The scanning speed is very good. I tested loading up to 30 4" x 6" color photos and I was able to scan them in a single pass without any jams. This was truly impressive. The scanning process can be started with a simple touch of the button in the center of the top panel. The output is good, but not great. If there is any weakness, it is the software. Managing the output was not intuitive, things such as identifying the location where to store the photos, the ease with which you can rename the file prior to saving, and the format for saving. A printed manual is not included but you can download one from the internet. It took some time and practice to learn some of the nuances of the software, especially for improving the scans. Overall, I am very happy with this photo scanner and I am enjoying getting my photos digitized after putting this task off for so long.
I would recommend this to a friendRated 5 out of 5 stars
Lots of features!
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Fist off - follow the instruction for a easy setup. It instructs you as to when to plug the scanner into your computer - and this is important as you need to get the app FIRST. Overall - this is a great workhorse scanner. I have a combination of documents, photos and flyers that I scan in regularly. This scanner has made quick work of my backlog of items to scan since my previous scanner was not compatible with Windows 11. Photo scanning quality was GREAT. My photos looks very good scanned in, and the app offers many enhancements that you can perform on the photos - including red-eye fix and an auto fix. Very nice for new users. Document scanning work well too. Adjust your dpi settings to get the right combination of quality to file size that you desire. The document feed works great and I LOVE, LOVE the dual sided scanning feature. If the second size if blank, you can set the program to automatically remove blank or empty pages. The job button on the front allows you to program 9 quick-set programs. This is great for switching between media types easily. Also know that you can customize the output locations for each job - so if you have multiple folders that you put things in - this feature was made for you. In all - I really like this scanner and have used it DAILY since I received it. I don't normally give 5 stars to many products, but this one has earned it from my view.
I would recommend this to a friend- Pros mentioned:Scan quality, SizeCons mentioned:Software
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Good quality, outdated cable.
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.The Canon RS40 photo scanner does many things right, but desperately needs an update in certain aspects. The RS40 is about half the size of a fax machine, yet it has trays that can be extended on both ends. Extending and retracting the trays make for a great space safer in order to be able to store the machine on a desk with limited room. The Box has no software, but rather a quick start manual, and instructions for where to download the software. Inside the software is where you find the full manual in a PDF file. There are specific things about this scanner that are so out of date, it makes me laugh. For instance, the instruction manual gives instructions for using a PC running Windows 8.1…Not to mention the included “High Speed” USB 2.0 B cable just to name a few. On the software side, I did manage to have a few issues when I used it on Windows 10 for the first time. After a few reboots, I was able to get things scanning correctly. I had no problems at all using this with my MacBook Pro. The quality of the scans are surprisingly high. You can adjust the DPI to a max of 1200 for incredible results, but I found that a DPI set at 600 was more than sufficient to give me a good quality pic. The scanner lets you stack up to 40 pictures in the tray at once, to minimize the time you spend having to insert pictures in the tray. It scans through the pics fast, much faster than a standard printer scanner. What’s nice about the software is while the RS40 is scanning, it gives you the results in real time on your computer. It also allows you to rotate and crop as the pics are scanned in, then it automatically saves the edits as the imports. Overall, I think the RS40 is a great machine if you have an abundant number of photos laying around. This makes it fast and easy to turn all your psychical photos into digital ones, plus lets you save them all in one place. The software was finicky at first (only on Windows 10), but then it was fine. There are plenty of useful tools including color correction, red eye etc. The scan quality is really good, and with a max of 1200DPI it gives you outstanding quality. My only complaint is the old cables that it uses, I think adding a USB-C interface would have greatly benefited this in the long run. Other than that, I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to digitize their old photos.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Scan qualityCons mentioned:Software, Wifi
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Fast Scans, Software needs more work, no WiFi
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.I picked up this scanner because I have several pictures that I would like to digitize. While I have an All-In-One printer, the photos scanned with it have overblown colors (especially red). And while the All-In-One does a fine job with documents, I did have a period where anything scanned through the document feeder would put a line down some of my scans. The flatbed scanner was fine. I opened doors and panels and wiped everything down, but still couldn't find the source of the line. I think a firmware update finally fixed the issue. It seemed like the Canon imageFORMULA RS40 would give me the consistency I was looking for in a document scanner and the ability to scan photos as I desired. Within the box, you get the scanner unit, a document feed tray that installs very easily, a power adapter, an old style USB-B to USB-A cable, quick start guide, a photo scanning sleeve and nearly post-it sized piece of micro-fiber cloth. The software/driver needs to be downloaded from Canon's website. The quick start guide points you to the Canon website in Japan, but I was able to find the software/driver from the US site. The full manual is missing from the box because it gets installed with the software/driver. The scanner itself has a panel release button, power button, a single digit display, Job Select, Start, Stop and DFR button. Of which, the Job Select and DFR buttons confused me. This forced me to read through the manual. The manual doesn't do a particularly stellar job at explaining things plainly. The software that gets installed is called the CaptureOnTouch V4. There are some of what they call One Touch Scan options. There are 3 options that come with the software: Photo Scan, Double Sided Document and Single Sided Document. You can then create new One Touch Buttons with your job preferences saved as a different job number. On the printer, you can tap the Job Select button to the job number you would like it to perform according to the One Touch Scan options you have available. That correlation wasn't very clear to me. The DFR button is the Double-Feed Release button. If you are scanning a stack of documents/pictures, the scanner, by default, will ultrasonically sense if there has been two pages pulled in by the feed mechanism. Once this happens, the scanner stops, displays a "d" error and then you are supposed to be able to press the DFR button and it will eject the pages. I could not get this button to work correctly. The photo sleeve included helps to make sure that the roller wheels do not damage any photo through the scan process. So any old photos or photos that haven't finished developing can be kept safer by slipping into the sleeve before sending through the scanner. I really like the speed of this Canon RS40 scanner. It is far better than the document feeder on my printer. Document pages whip through this RS40 scanner like nothing. Photos take a little more time. I've scanned several photos and have found that it's adding more scanning artifacts than I would prefer. I believe it's picking up surface imperfections on the photos and converting them into faint lines in the photos. On the one hand, I have to hand it to Canon and the quality of their image sensor. On the other hand, it is causing me a little more work in post-processing. The software, CaptureOnTouch, is somewhat awkward. There are some places where it looks rather modern and visually pleasing (rounded corners). There was time spent organizing the interface, making it look nice. But as you get into the detailed settings, you lose that modern look (goes to sharp rectangles), some of the options extend past the window so you need to arrow over to the options desired and you can't resize the windows to make them easier to work with. The hotkeys make no sense (for example: Save=Y, Delete=J, About=Z, Restore=I, Back Up=X). Once an item is scanned, there are a few places where you can send the scan: Email attachment, printer, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Desktop, a particular folder or send to an application. I was hoping that would give me a curated list of applications, but instead you must find the executable in your filesystem. This is where I think the CaptureOnTouch is rather lacking. Most modern scanner software has OCR (Optical Character Recognition) built in. This means you can scan a document to send Microsoft Word and the document is converted to text that you can edit. It's rarely 100% accurate, so you have to proofread it a bit, but it's better than typing it all out. CaptureOnTouch does have some OCR settings, but I believe it's rather weak. I scanned a 4 page document to send to Word and it took my modern i7 computer a few minutes to convert to text. I've worked with other brand scanners in the past where it can scan receipts and analyze the receipts to help you document all the line items, unfortunately Canon's software does not have this capability. The photo editing options are somewhat limited. There is some page-skew support between -10 to 10 degrees and rotation in 90 degree increments, but the photo editing tools are limited to brightness, contrast, grayscale and black and white or nine preset settings. There are also some image processing settings such as Red-Eye correction, Face Sharpen/Smoothing, Texture or Fade correction, but there isn't a lot of control with that. You're much better off getting an image editing application. My next complaint is that while this Canon RS40 was made available in 2021, it doesn't support WiFi. As people utilize their mobile devices for more tasks, it makes sense to make the scanner available wirelessly to mobile devices. Overall, I like the Canon RS40, especially as it quickly handles my photo scanning needs. But you will need to utilize third party software to complete your photo workflow. Document scanning is quick and easy for the most part. I hope Canon realizes the inconsistency of their software and makes some revisions towards usability and consistency. I also hope that Canon realizes they need to support wireless connections to the scanner so that they can offer use beyond the connected Windows or Mac device.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Ease of use, SizeCons mentioned:Wifi
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great scanner for documents and old photos
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.This dedicated photo and document scanner from Canon is almost perfect to convert old photos into digital files. This is also good for scanning business files, receipts, tax, and legal documents. The device itself was not too big and the setup was a breeze. You do need to download the required software mentioned in the included instructions. I like the automatic double-sided scanning. You can also stack multiple photos, but it works best when you scan the same size photos. The scanner is capable of handling assorted sizes via the document feeder. The best feature is you can scan the photos and store them on your PC or store them to your cloud storage drives using the Canon CaptureOnTouch software. The scanner supports up to 1200 dpi. The software also provides some enhancement features. I liked the Auto Photo fix and Fading correction that enhances some of the old photos in my archive. I wish it had wireless capabilities so you can use it with any device on the network. Overall, this is an awesome scanner that brings your old photos to life digitally.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Ease of use, Scan qualityCons mentioned:Software
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Easily scans my photos and documents for digital s
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.The Canon - imageFORMULA RS40 Photo and Document Scanner – White was easy to setup. I only had to remove all protective materials, download the software on my desktop and then connect the scanner to my computer. At first, Winzip kept popping up requesting me to buy it, in order to install the software. So I used open with Microsoft explorer to install the software and had no further problems. I can initiate scanning with the One Touch Scan commands on my computer or on the scanner for PDF and JPEG files. Files can be saved wherever desired and can be edited from that source. Editing is much harder than the easy setup. Many functions can be produced such as changing color into black and white, removing an object from the picture and other edits as well. It takes reading the help section to learn everything that can be done with the software. The Canon - imageFORMULA RS40 Photo and Document Scanner – White allows me the ability to scan and store physical documents and pictures that can be damaged by aging and atmosphere.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Scan quality, Size
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Perfect for home office AND old photos
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.It’s been a long time since I’ve had a standalone scanner. I’ve been simply using the scanner that’s part of my printer. That’s nice for small jobs but it gets very tedious if you’ve got even five or more pages. I’m working on getting my home office plus all of my personal documents paperless wherever possible. This scanner actually made the task somewhat enjoyable (as much as scanning documents can be). I had mortgage documents, tax returns, and a slew of other documents cluttering up my office. I was able to get them all scanned in to my home Mac computer in record time. The difference in speed plus the fact that it does in fact do front and back of the page is huge. I had no issues with initial set up or getting it to work with my Mac and haven’t looked back. It’s actually a lot smaller than I was expecting too. I thought I was going to have to get a different stand to hold the scanner and my printer, but this is small enough that they actually both still fit. My office is never looked better and I genuinely am looking forward to getting to use the scanner again. On that note, I’m hoping to do pictures next. I tried a couple out and they came out beautifully, even some old Polaroids from the 90s. We’ve been going through a lot of old family photos lately, and I’d like to have digital versions to be able to share with other family members and just for easier and safer storage. This scanner is most definitely the answer to that. No complaints, just very happy overall.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Scan quality, Size
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great Scanner
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.Unboxing and set up went very quick and easy. First thing I noticed is the small size of this Canon RS40 scanner. I’m using it with windows on a desktop. And after my father passed away I found two big boxes of old photos in his basement that I wanted to scan and share with the family. I’m am very please with this unit so far both with how fast it scans groups of photos and the quality of the scan. I have found that I need to separate and organize photos of one size to scan at a time. When scanning photos of different sizes sometimes the scan comes out crooked. And who has time to go back and edit all these photos. But I’ve had good luck scanning groups of about 25-30 of all the same size photos and the end scan was good. You do need to make sure the pictures are free of tape and dust just a few issues I ran into. I took away one star for not being able to put multiple size photos in groups without having to go back and edit them all. As for scanning documents (A+) this worked fast and easy. Came in very handy for sending paperwork to my accountant for taxes.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Ease of use, Size
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Flexible and High Quality
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.The Canon imageFORMULA RS40 scanner is a very versatile and easy to use photo and document scanner that doesn't take up much room on the desktop. It works with both Windows and Mac and supports many mixed sized documents and pictures. It also allows single pass, double sided scanning. To use the scanner, you have to download the required software. It is fairly basic but it does the job and allows correction of photos and creation of searchable pdf documents among other features. I primarily used the scanner to copy and correct a bunch of old family photos that had collected and some deteriorated over the years. All of the photos came out looking very close to the original and where software enhancement was used, far exceeded the original. These enhancements included fade correction, auto photo fix, face sharpening and digital smoothing, red-eye correction, and paper texture correction. On the negative side, a few of the scans were not straight. Overall I would recommend this to anyone looking for a flexible scanner capable of producing high quality photos and documents.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Scan quality
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Photo scanner to scan old non-digital photos
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.I got this scanner to scan old photos that we don’t have in digital format. This scanner is pretty easy to set up. It connects to a USB port and has a good length cord so the scanner can be set on a table near the computer. The software wasn’t too hard to install and get the scanner set up and ready to use. It has quite a few different settings depending on how you plan to use it. Since I’m scanning photos, I set it to scan and save as jpg files. You can also select PDF if that is how you want to use it. The photos are placed upside down with the top facing down. There are guides that are used to hold the photos straight. I was able to easily scan a 2” x 3” wallet photo and it scanned it easily. I have scanned quite a few 3” x 5” photos and they scan fine too. I scans to a specific folder on your computer. Once in that folder you can move them wherever you like on your computer. The scanner also has a tray at the bottom that slides out so your photos don’t fall on the floor. I have used some pretty small scanners before and this one is a bit larger. It isn’t huge, but it isn’t little either. So you’ll need to think about where to store it. I have a very small scanner as well, but my little scanner does not do photos. This one is great for photos. I think one could print up to 5” x 7” photos from the scan, but I’m not sure how much larger you would want to print without being too grainy. If you are looking for a scanner to scan all your old non-digital photos, then I think this would work well for you.
I would recommend this to a friend - Pros mentioned:Ease of use
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Fast, quiet, crisp image scanning...
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.This is my first form feed scanner that supports, and in fact FOCUSES on, photography... I was able to set up the device in minutes - Installation on my desk was as simple as power and USB connection. The driver/software installation was simple on my Windows 11 PC and my Mac. I was able to effortlessly scan documents, as well as old 4x6 and 3x5 photos. The scan software is simple, but there is also a TWAIN driver for use with Photoshop and other professional apps. The scanner is extremely quiet and smooth operating. Most of my images were old 35mm prints of questionable quality, but the high-resolution prints I scanned turned out well. The scanner definitely represents color VERY accurately and this feels exponentially better than my flatbed all-in-one scanner at image quality reproduction. I also scanned several pre-printed photos printed at 600dpi from my inkjet printer, and observed very little/no half toning, artifacts, or effects from re-scanning digital images. This is a killer capability to help duplicate or digitally archive digital prints. I'm impressed with the output quality and would recommend this to anyone looking for a professional capture device for photo prints or documents.
I would recommend this to a friend Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Mighty Canon scanner
|Posted .This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.The Canon imageFORMULA RS40 is both a photo and document scanner that can make your life easier by converting those "papers" into digital files. Setup was a breeze. Download the required software, connect the scanner using the provided cable and then plug it in using the large brick. The max resolution for photos is 1200 dpi and for documents it is 600 dpi. The output quality is really quite good! And you can direct that output to numerous places such as your email, a specific file folder etc. The included software allows you to automatically adjust for red-eye, skew, and sharpen small blemishes. And the OCR software allows you to work with scanned documents as text instead of a photo that can't be corrected after scanning. That's a cool feature for sure. Also for documents, it will skip blank pages. How many times have you seen those blank scanned pages come up? Not any more! Another huge plus, it can scan double-sided. It will scan both sides of a photo or document at the same time! What a time-saver!! You can also set up 1-touch scanning by programming several types of scans to output locations within the software. Then, at the scanner, you set the job number, press "start" and watch in amazement as your items get scanned! As for performance - it is fast! The document feeder can hold up to 60 pages for continuous scanning. Once scanned, you can check out your scanned images and edit if necessary. When you "finish" scanning, the digital files are stored in the location you set. Oh, and you can save those files in various formats as well - you choose. I am using this for a major de-clutter project. I have been saving medical records for years and the stack of folders is everywhere - and continues to grow! Now I just scan and shred! It does require the use of the included cable which is USB-A to that old fashioned square type printer connector. I would so prefer WiFi or Bluetooth because I really don't want another cable in the room. I can only assume its use is to direct the output to one specific computer (PC or Mac). But I don't see why I couldn't set that up with all of the other settings. I also had a difficult time using the photo carrier for mis-shaped photos. The setting for that is deep within the settings, and when I tried to access it, it continually told me there was a problem/missing TWAIN driver. So then I just put the carrier in the scanner, but as it was pulled, it showed as a double pull every time. I couldn't get that worked out. I recommend this Canon imageFORMULA RS40 scanner for those with large scanning jobs that your printer scanner just can't handle and those wishing to de-clutter and rid themselves of those boxes of files!
I would recommend this to a friend