HP (Hewlett-Packard) Scanjet G4050 Photo Flatbed Scanner

HP G4050 Scanjet scanner

Strengths: large bed for scanning, hi resolution.

Weakness: complicated to use, impossibile to install.

software failed in initial installation and messed up existing operation of the computer. I'm a college professor, PhD, who knows his way around a computer.

The hard drive had to be wiped clean and all programs reinstalled - a mess which took techies 2 days to fix.

By doctorjonny - Jul 18, 2008

Very nice ScanJet from HP

Strengths: High quality scans, simple one-touch operation, software is simple to use and get started right away, Scan to PDF option

Weakness: No document feeder, somewhat large footprint, takes a few moments to warm up during initial start up, scan time could be faster

High resolution photo scans or document scans are just a touch away. Simple interface and you can get started very quickly. No frills and gets the job done. A document feeder would have been nice for multiple scans but then again, this is a photoscanner and not a dedicated document scanner (look elsewhere if that is what you are looking for). Fantastic machine to scan old photos and restore or...
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High resolution photo scans or document scans are just a touch away. Simple interface and you can get started very quickly. No frills and gets the job done. A document feeder would have been nice for multiple scans but then again, this is a photoscanner and not a dedicated document scanner (look elsewhere if that is what you are looking for). Fantastic machine to scan old photos and restore or archive them digitally and painlessly. Great HP customer service and support, looks sleek (carbon fiber-look), Over-sized bed for those extra large sheets or legal documents. Overall, great product.

By obnoxsguy - Jun 30, 2008

HP Scanjet Photo G4050

Strengths: The unit has a nice appearance and the price was reasonable. When scanning slides the cover of the TPU unit nicely comes off.

Weakness: The HP Software definitely has issues (GUI interface especially) and the unit would not respond to the commands when told to scan. The dust and scratch removal feature does not work as advertised.

I have purchased several HP products before (have two laptops) and they worked great. Not in the case of the HP scanjet G4050. Two HP G4050 units were purchases one for home and one for my office and both unit had similar issues. 1) The software take a long time to install because it's looking through you whole computer for images or something. 2) The GUI (twain driver) works differently if you...
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I have purchased several HP products before (have two laptops) and they worked great. Not in the case of the HP scanjet G4050.

Two HP G4050 units were purchases one for home and one for my office and both unit had similar issues.
1) The software take a long time to install because it's looking through you whole computer for images or something.
2) The GUI (twain driver) works differently if you are using photoshop or any other software other than HP Photosmart software.
3) After setting the scanner setup adjustments and scanning the secind scan had a different setup.
4) The dust and scratch removal does not work as advertised when scanning negatives and slides. Scanning at a higher resolution than their default resolution (300dpi) one can do a load of laundry or cut the lawn before it has completed the scan. It is so slow.

I ended up returning my two units and purchasing another manufactures.

By mpv_digital - Mar 8, 2007

Great Scanner

Strengths: Picture quality. Ease of use. Clarity of owner's manual.

Weakness: Extremely long scan times at resolutions higher than 300 dpi

This replaced a 10 year old HP Scanjet 5100. The 5100 still works fine, but I needed a scanner that could scan film negatives and slides as well as documents. Installation of the software and hardware took about 20 minutes from the time I unpacked the box until I was ready to make the first scan. The scanner software installed with no problems and took about 7 minutes. I have a 4 year old Dell...
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This replaced a 10 year old HP Scanjet 5100. The 5100 still works fine, but I needed a scanner that could scan film negatives and slides as well as documents.

Installation of the software and hardware took about 20 minutes from the time I unpacked the box until I was ready to make the first scan. The scanner software installed with no problems and took about 7 minutes. I have a 4 year old Dell Dimension 8300 with 4GB of RAM and a 2.6GHz Pentium 4 processor. As usual with HP products, the owner's manual was very clear, concise, and very well written.

The scanner comes with three Transparent Materials Adapter (TMA) brackets for holding 35mm film negatives, large format film negatives, and 35mm slides. I have not used any of the advanced photo editing features like scratch removal, so I can't comment on those yet. I was very pleased with the quality of images scanned from photos, magazines, film negatives and slides.

The G4050's sleek contemporary styling and charcoal and dark gray colors are very attractive.

By VideoHound - Aug 11, 2007

THIS PRODUCT IS THE BEST

THIS PRODUCT IS THE BEST FOR SCANNING SLIDES AND PHOTOS THAT I HAVE FOUND ANYWHERE. I BOUGHT SEVERAL TYPES FROM OTHER STORES AND RETURNED BEFORE I FOUND THIS ONE. THANKS.

By ANDRUS on HPBazaarVoice - May 4, 2013