With the included software from Canon and Nuance can also be difficult templates scan well. If in doubt, you have to load a sheet again, the software specifications (brightness etc.) and customize scan. This is particularly useful if, for example, shows through the back. Practice and study of the subject is necessary in any case. Otherwise, the automatic is pretty to reliably, it recognizes color, grayscale or black and white.
Addendum (05/2013): A Note on the bundled software. It is professional software that has come a bit old (Kofax you should not only install, is only a trial version and only for professionals), but is very powerful. In particular, the product of Nuance (eCopy) is very good. The standard copying software from Canon OnTouch is quite useful, even if one in each menu item expects a better implementation.
This is a document scanner, which has been optimized to scan single sheets at high speed, where the scanned format may fluctuate. If you want to scan books or articles, in addition need a flatbed scanner (to personalize it's also Canon).
The machine will scan and color photos in the stack, but can cause a software abort at a higher image number. It is advisable in any case, to make a test before scanning and adjust the options manually, otherwise the photos are of poor quality.