Hi Shel, it might be worthwile to get a model which includes SilverFast software. Purchased independently, it is very expensive, but some versions are bundled with scanners. It definitely is among the very best scanning software, with instant previewing of everything, colour management and others. I have a very old scanner with old version of SilverFast, now pretty old (new it was quite expensive), but the SF does work very well, and makes the scanner much more usable than most bundled software, even though the age of the scanner. Most good scanners come with SF as an option, and some also with an IT8 target for calibration.
Software makes a half of any scanner, I think. On another product, I found VueScan's user interface totally stupid for my needs, with everything so slow, e.g. updating the view when changing colour. In contrast, SF does everything instantly (also supports batch mode, but not all versions). OTOH, VueScan (I only tried the trial version, but it should be the same except it marks the image) is good as well in some things, but more for "geeks". Look at www.coloraid.de for source of inexpensive IT8.7 targets and free profiling software. Frantisek
