Having set itself as a stalwart in slimline, ultra-cheap flatbed scanners, Canon is moving into the world of scanners for the serious photographer.

The hardware looks good, but also feels well built compared with the plasticky alternatives from Epson and HP. Unlike Canon's cheapest slimline range, this is a full six-line colour CCD scanner, supporting 48-bit colour capture and output, and offering an optical sampling rate of 2,400 x 4,800ppi.

Four quick-task buttons on the front trigger various everyday scanning jobs: copy (scan to printer), scan (scan to application), file (scan to disk) and email. Reflective scanning is a clean and trouble-free experience thanks to the ScanGear TWAIN driver, which lets you toggle between a really easy mode and a not-too-difficult advanced mode. The automatic cropping and rotation features worked well during testing, and the colour enhancement produced good results every time.

A small transparency adaptor lamp is built into the lid. This works in conjunction with two special plastic 35mm film holders: one for holding two six-shot positive or negative strips, and another for holding four mounted slides. The CanoScan 8000F's uncomplicated film holders are quick and easy to load up and a no-brainer to position correctly
on the plate thanks to a recessed notch at the far edge.

Transparency scanning is a pleasure, thanks to Canon's FARE (Film Automatic Retouching and Enhancement) Level 1 technology, which uses an infrared system to identify and remove dust and scratches from the film surface. FARE really does work brilliantly. Our only reservation is that certain high-contrast images can produce ‘noisy' posterised effects in the colour transitions.

Regarding the hardware, one potential problem could be the flimsy white plastic backing sheet that covers the transparency lamp when scanning reflective originals.

Overall, the CanoScan 8000F is a solid and reliable performer, and well worth the purchase.