Epson 235D328 Perfection V600 Home Photo Scanne
Epson 235D328 Perfection V600 Home Photo Scanne
Flexibility
Scan all your prints, negatives and slides quickly and efficiently. Complete with film holders it handles just about any size and format, including 35 mm filmstrips, mounted slides and full panoramic medium format film.
Remove dust and scratches
Digital Ice technologies make it easy to remove dust and scratches from film and photos and you can check every detail in your images with the resizable preview window.
High quality scanning
Whatever you scan you can be sure of capturing every detail with high-quality 6400 DPI optical resolution with Epson Matrix CCD technology.
No warm up time
Featuring Epson ReadyScan LED technology, you can start scanning instantly with no warm-up time. You also use less energy when you scan, which is ideal for the environment.
 |  |  |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optical Resolution | 4800 | 4800 | 6400 | 6400 | 6400 | 6400 |
| Maximum Resolution (DPI) | 4800 x 4800 | 4800 x 9600 | 4800 x 9600 | 6400 x 9600 | 6400 x 9600 | 6400 x 9600 |
| Optical Density (Dmax) | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 4.0 | |
| 48-bit Colour Depth (Input) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ReadyScan LED Technology | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Push Buttons | 4 – Start, Send, Copy, Scan to PDF | 4 – Start, Scan to email, Copy, Scan to PDF | 4 – Start, Scan to email, Copy, Scan to PDF | 4 – Start, Scan to email, Copy, Scan to PDF | 1 – Start | 1 – Start |
| Interface | USB 2.0 Hi-Speed | USB 2.0 Hi-Speed | USB 2.0 Hi-Speed | USB 2.0 Hi-Speed | USB 2.0 Hi-Speed | USB 2.0 Hi-Speed |
| Energy Star | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Power supply | USB | AC Adapter | AC Adapter | AC Adapter | AC Adapter | AC Adapter |
| Size/Weight | 249 x 364 x 39 mm – 1.5 kg | 280 x 430 x 67 mm – 2.8 kg | 280 x 485 x 118 mm – 4.1 kg | 280 x 485 x 118 mm – 4 kg | 503 x 308 x 152 mm – 6.6 kg | 503 x 308 x 152 mm – 6.6 kg |
| Weight: | 4 kg |
| Dimensions: | 48.5 x 28 x 11.8 cm; 4 Kilograms |
| Brand: | Epson |
| Model: | 235D328 |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | Epson |
| Dimensions: | 48.5 x 28 x 11.8 cm; 4 Kilograms |
I use the Epson Perfection v600 Home Photo Scanner nearly every day and I find that the machine scans photographs to an extremely high standard. The cover of the machine lifts up so that you can easily scan pages from open books and files which I find very useful.
I have not needed any Tech Support so have not given it a rating.
Unfortunately, I received it with only one power cable in it, missing the cable to connect to my computer. And this power cord is broken and cannot be plugged into an outlet.
I would give the hardware 5 stars but the software 0.
The auto crop is useless, in fact the whole software is just hard work. I did manage to get it working as I wanted after around 15 hours of playing around.
As a creative professional I am very critical of everything I buy and very rarely leave reviews. On this occasion I was extremely impressed with the image quality that this product gave.
I have used a HP flatbed scanner in the past but this surpasses that. it is a great scanner and does all types of scanning input from photos to negatives and positives, brilliant. only issue is that it will often drop out of a scan saying it has lost connectivity, but easily sorted, just a niggle.
OCR: I had boxes of bound newsletters which I wanted to scan into Word. I opened Abbyy Finereader Sprint (which again comes free with the V600 – remember to download all the software off the CDR that comes with the V600). I took each newsletter out and folded the page back and scanned in each page fairly quickly at 300 dpi. Recognition of old typefaces was pretty good with say +98% accuracy. DO NOT scan the OCR page into PDF as, without additional charged for software, you cannot transfer the file into Word. Take the FineReader option of scanning into Word and then away you go. As an OCR scanner it’s probably a bit of a luxury at this price HOWEVER for OCR plus all the other image scanning it is very well worth the money.
This is an expensive piece of kit, but it does exactly what it says on the tin. Easy to use and so fast with excellent results. If you are serious about archiving all your old prints, this is THE ONLY machine for you. Front and rear simultaneously is invaluable. Don’t bother with the image editing software which gives unsatisfactory results. Software is excellent, difficult to install as the bizarre provision of a QR code link is useless to computer operators
I’m very pleased with the scanner – I’ve only really used it for print photos. Quality very good. Software is easy to use and fairly clear.
The only quibble is when I wanted to scan a paper document. I couldn’t find a setting for this in the software. Maybe I’m missing something.
Document feeding is a dream and the Duplex system scans double sided documents with ease and at speed. Watch videos on Youtube to confirm this. Files can then be saved to a number of functions including Word documents which automatically reads them as an OCR document.
Overall this is a dream machine if you want to archive documents , alter them or just save an archive of photographs in high quality at great speed. Not cheap but worth every penny.
Recommended +++ Well done Epson !!
Difficult / v. difficult to find one’s way round the software but eventually managed to obtain quality level required. Epson have changed their software approach, and ditto an Epson printer which I also bought recently, since previous Epson purchases approx. 5yrs ago to a lengthy and non-specific set of parameters constantly requiring contact via an Epson website which was utterly useless. While this scanner has performed the tasks required to the expected level it has been hard work with the software, ditto the printer (XP-4205), and I do not intend to buy Epson products in future. Mac Mojave 10.14.
I was sceptical and it was not cheap but decided to go for it.
Well, more than 15000 prints later I am still amazed by this machine.
It was easy to set up, is easy to use and gives good results. Even scanning at maximum optical resolution (600 dpi) it is SO quick. A 36 print pack goes through in not much longer than it takes to get the next ones ready and pack the previous ones away so you really can digitise a lifetime of prints in a reasonable time.
Feed jams are rare and only caused by prints with album glue residue or being lazy and trying to get different print sizes through in the same run (and to be fair the instructions say not to do this).
The option to scan the back at the same time is a real bonus where information has been written on a photo. As the process of scanning is so quick I moved on to prints inherited from my Grandmother, the oldest being early 1900’s with a lot of family history recorded on the back which has been automatically captured.
The auto correct works well for most prints, and of course further editing can be done in Photoshop or Lightroom. It is very impressive on old, slightly faded prints (see examples). Black and white works as well as colour, and the option to create 2 copies of the scan – the original and a corrected one – automatically means that if you are not happy with the auto corrected version you have the original to work on as you wish.
With the volume of scans I have done, and the age and poor storage of some of the originals I have had a few issues with lines on the scans that have been easily resolved by a quick clean of the scan area which is easy to do and good instructions are supplied.
Really recommend this scanner if you have a lot of prints to digitise – the old photos have been looked at more on the computer by the family then they ever were in the boxes in the loft ! I have disposed of all the prints, saving quite a bit of space, but kept the negatives just in case.
Also I suspect that scanning resolution varies as you move down the bed, as I found that the image come out slightly different sizes depending on where on the bed they were placed. Perhaps it would help if some kind of calibration tool was provided, assuming that’s possible.
Overall I think this is a great price for a high quality photo scanner. Once I discovered that the bed was large enough to let me scan four photos at once I soon made short work of that photo album!
My previous flatbed scanner was the Epson Perfection 2400 photo. I’ve had it for years and although still working with my old PC running Windows Vista, 7 and 10, I could not get it to function in all modes with my new Dell PC running Windows 11. It was time for a change! I ordered the Epson Perfection V600 Photo scanner as it had received good reviews. Once it had arrived I uploaded the software on the DVD that accompanied the scanner. All seemed to load well but I was unable to see a ‘Preview’ or ‘Scan’ button once the scanner was switched on. I remember reading in a review that someone had had a problem getting the V600 to work as advertised. I went online to the Epson website where it was suggested that my PC was running Windows 10. There was an option to change the operating system so I selected Windows 11. There was an updated software download for Windows 11 which I actioned and ‘hey presto’, my new Epson Perfection V600 Scanner is now operating as advertised. So my advice is to go to the Epson website if you’re having difficulties getting the V600 to work.
The various attachments for scanning transparencies like slides and film are fiddly to use but do work and allow for good results. I would have preferred to see an attachment which would allow you to scan more than just three slides at a time but that’s not a great problem. I’ve also scanned three dimensional objects which can produce interesting results. Its reasonably quiet in operation and quick unless you are scanning at very high resolutions. The preview image is ok but the magnification button to check work in detail before scanning is rather poor, giving only a small view of a limited area which means moving the mouse about to check different bits of the image but again, you get used to it and its not really a big problem. I find that producing several scans at different settings is the best way to decide on which settings work best for any particular photo. On the whole, a very good purchase.
I am no great photos expert but bought this for the huge project of digitising my late father’s slide collection. Chose this so as to have a more versatile scanner – and have already been glad of that for other purposes (documents, black and white photos etc).
The scanner works pretty well and I am happy with the results. I have had to proceed somewhat by trial and error though – the documentation is very basic, and does not seem to cover the many software options available. After a few hundred scans (using the basic “Home” setting) I twigged how to use some of the extra features, but I am still fiddling around attempting to get it to scan the exact images (it seems to guess the size of what it has scanned, usually fairly accurately but almost never precisely).
I am left a bit frustrated – it seems to be a great bit of kit for the price but I am sure I am not using it properly yet. Not sure why Epson could not provide some proper documentation – a shame.
We never look at the prints but I thought it would be nice to scan a few in and share on social media with friends and family.
Looking around this seemed to be the nest around in my price range.
The first scanner I received was easy to set up and appeared to work like a dream until I scanned the first black and white negative. When I looked at it closely at full magnification there were a couple of yellow and pink lines vertically across every image. I went back and looked closely at the colour films I had scanned and they too had the vertical lines. I contacted the manufacturer and after a few exchanges of emails I received a new scanner which worked perfectly.
The image I’ve attached was scanned from a negative which is over 40 years old, the colours are as good now as they were then.
You have to be a little careful regarding the setting you use as I found that the digital ice technology doesn’t work perfectly for some images. If there’s a lot of fine contasting detail in the image the digital ice seems to interpret these as scratches or dust and sometimes removes them.
This machine took a while to get up and running due to misleading supplied software. It came with a CD containing a number of apps which I duly installed but which wouldn’t operate the scanner. I called technical support and discovered that some of the apps were no longer valid and that the only app required wasn’t actually included. In the end I uninstalled the lot and downloaded the necessary apps from Epsons website, which I found difficult to navigate but still some of the features wouldn’t work. The link to an online manual didn’t work and the only one I can find is way out of date. Cue more frustrating emails to technical support and some problems still haven’t been resolved three weeks later. Not impressed with Epsons technical support and website at all. Having said all that I’ve managed to teach myself how to use the machine and to
scan photo slides and negatives, which was why I bought it in the first place and I’m quite impressed with the results. I’ve scanned 35mm and medium format film and the results are fine especially when exported into photo software and sharpened. Recommended.
The provided drivers CD installed easily on my old Win XP “scanning” netbook and also on my Win 10 laptop. I didn’t install the full software because I use Vuescan but there were no complaints or warnings so I assume they’d also work.
Once installed, it just worked.
The attached coastal pics are a 3600DPI scan of a shot taken on Lomography 400asa 120 film with a Lubitel 2 TLR early on New Year morning and a 100% crop of the same to show the resolution achieved. Colour and contrast are “out of the box” using Vuescan’s auto levels setting, with no post processing at all.
On 35mm it’s not quite as sharp as my dedicated Minolta Scan Dual but still gives perfectly acceptable and pleasing results, as shown by the macro of my old Contessa (Kodak Gold 200 in Zeiss Contaflex Super)
Warm-up time is essentially zero. If you power it on at the same time as the host, it’s ready by the time your OS is booted, and scanning is also surprisingly quick. A a 400DPI preview of 3x 120 negs appears within a minute and each frame takes just under 2 minutes to scan at 3600DPI, 48 bit colour. That may well be a little quicker if I wasn’t using an old EEEPC to run it! In comparison, the Microtek used to take 2 minutes just to calibrate before each frame.
Build quality feels good (as you’d expect from Epson) although the negative holders feel a little flexible. That’s probably no bad thing as, being necessarily thin, if they were stiffer they’d be far more likely to get broken.
On the downsides (because I have to find some):
* The negative holders are VERY prone to static and attracting stray hairs. We have 2 cats and 2 dogs and the holders seemed to find every hair the hoover hadn’t.
* The transparency light isn’t full width so it can only accept 2 strips of 35mm (12 frames total), 4 mounted 35mm slides, or a single strip of medium format (up to 220mm long) at a time.
* Sheet film isn’t supported (although could probably be scanned in parts and stitched)
But those are really pretty minor points given the overall excellent experience and results, and the fact that it’s obviously not intended for a production environment.
Thoroughly recommended for negative scanning at an excellent quality / cost point, particularly with medium format.
UPDATE NOV 2020 Silverfast tech support advised me that all scanners suffer this distortion problem because of the particular way the step motors on a scanner work. Bit annoying but if that’s the case then I will add some stars for the image quality, speed and ease of use. It does great scans.
p.s the cable picture is answering a question from a purchaser who wanted to know how they plug in.
The supplied masks for medium format and 35mm film are easy enough to use. A supplied extra guide is very useful in supporting single image film such as the 620 format. I was able to load a strip of up to 3 photos for 120 format film in the medium mask. The one gripe (hence only 4 stars) is that there is no mask provided for 126 format film strips. Although the film dimensions are the same as for 35mm, the images are a square format 28x28mm and the 35mm mask chops the top off of each image. In the end, I had to adapt the medium format mask (with a specially cut celluloid strip) in order to scan in the 126 film strips. The adaptation was a shortened version of the supplied extra guide as this was too long for supporting a full length strip. Scanning 126 is thus fiddly to set up – but the result was OK.
I have not evaluated any of the supplied Epson software. I am a Linux user and only a basic driver and scanner utility is supplied by Epson for Linux (downloadable from the Epson website). Instead I purchased a licence for “vuescan”. I found this 3rd party utility to work very well with the V600 and would recommend it. The Epson driver also has to be installed for use with the Linux version of vuescan, but this is not a problem under Linux Mint as it comes in a .deb package. Vuescan requires some experimentation with the colour balance controls in order to scan in older colour negatives, but it is not too difficult to get the hang of this. The one limitation is that the utility does not seem to want to batch scan a multiframe film strip loaded into the V600 (if there is an option I haven’t found it yet!).
It also comes with document scanning software and that does an incredible job scanning receipts. It normally recognises them as receipts and manages to read the date off them somehow so I could, if I wanted or needed to, keep all my receipts in a brown paper bag and scan them whenever I got round to it.
When plugged into the USB, the scanner works quickly enough at 600dpi and very quickly at 300dpi. On wifi it’s noticeably slower and can easily lose the connection so I’ve ended up keeping it plugged in.
Despite the very minor points mentioned, it’s an excellent device and has already saved me hours of hassle.
I have now scanned hundreds of photos, film negatives and Kodak disk negatives (using a third party holder) and I have to say the results are very good indeed, compared with my previous multifunction printer/scanner (which was no slouch). My only complaint is the clunkiness of the Epson Scan software, which feels as old as I think it probably is. I will look at alternatives, including VueScan and Silverfast (a licence for which was included with the printer).
I have been scanning at high resolutions as I am doing a lot of photo restoration. This can be rather time consuming, and the resulting files ar huge, but the quality is great. I have used basic settings so far, having not enjoyed much success (yet) with the ICE and other enhancement options.
My other niggle with the scanner so far has been that there is nowhere to conveniently store the bits and pieces (neg holders etc) when using the scanner in different modes. A pouch on the lid of the scanner would have been appreciated. Not dropping a star for that, though, as it’s a personal thing.
All in all, this is an above-consumer level scanner that does a great job for freelance professionals wanting superb scans from a mid-priced device. Highly recommended.
This is easy to see up but the problem is the software. I loaded up the Epson software but I could not find the actual software to scan. However, that was not a problem as I was always going to use Silverfast. I had the cd disk and a code. Loaded it none times an it would not run. Checking on the internet I see this is a common problem, so I contacted Silverfast and they sent me a link and code for software to run. That did spoil the whole experience.
On the plus side, the scanner comes with two sets of frames so you can load up mrenegatives or slides whilst waiting for others to scan. Downside is that the newer versions of this scanner did not have the wet scan frames. I can but a new kit from a third party but that’s over 170. Shame. However, this is the best flat bed out there, just wish the problems were sorted before it is sold!!
So far I have used it to scan slides, 35mm negatives and prints. I’ve never owned a medium format camera so can’t make specific comment but I doubt there’s much difference from its behaviour with 35mm negatives. When you do a preview scan of negatives or slides, the software recognises each frame as a separate item and will scan it as a separate file. This is incredibly useful, especially as you can un-check any that you don’t want to scan. You can also rotate each frame in Preview if it is upside down or in portrait format, and flip the image to give a mirror image if you’ve put the negative strip in the holder the wrong way up – although I do recommend getting them the right way up (showing as a mirror image from above) as the scan quality seems to be sharper. Using it as a flatbed scanner, it seemingly can’t recognise two prints as separate items (though of course you could still separate them subsequently) but if you only scan one, it will automatically restrict the scan to the area of the print or whatever else you may be scanning, as long as it is rectangular and aligned with the sides of the platen.
It’s important to understand the resolution settings. For most purposes, you will want to set the Mode to Home Mode and the Destination to Other – this enables higher resolution scanning at a range of resolutions. It is crucial to realise – especially with small items such as negatives – that the resolution (in dpi) refers to dots per inch in the OUTPUT file (which depends on the target size) not in the INPUT from the negative. In other words, if you use a larger target size from the drop down list (set per individual frame after the Preview scan) you will get higher resolution for the same dpi. I have been using the US B (11×17 in.) setting because it most closely resembles the aspect ratio of a 35 mm negative (4×6 crops more off the ends); it also happens to be the largest preset target size – on this setting, a modest sounding 400dpi produces a 92MB TIFF file with, obviously, very high resolution. This is because the file is 4400 x 6800 pixels; you may well be happy with a lower resolution and certainly I can see no obvious loss of resolution from the 600dpi that I tried initially, nor when I process the TIFF files and save them as much smaller JPEGs with a length of 4000 pixels. On the other hand, if you were using a smaller target size (e.g. 4 x 6) you would need to use a higher dpi setting to get the same resolution. Smaller is of course faster but scanning negatives at a decent resolution is not a quick business and scanning them at any resolution is not that fast due to the fiddly process of loading them correctly without getting fingerprints on them or the scanner glass. Loading slides (up to four at a time) is much easier because they just sit in slots in the holder. I’ve not used the various automatic processing options that come with the software apart from the “DIGITAL ICE Technology”, which is meant to remove scratches and dust from the image. It does this pretty effectively, greatly reducing the amount of time and effort you’re likely to have to put into cleaning up the files, but at the cost of roughly doubling the amount of time it takes to scan at any given resolution.
I’ve been impressed by the results from slides, negatives and prints, however the software from the supplied disc that controls the scanner is out of date and has a tendency to crash at the drop of a hat if your PC is using Windows 10, and especially if you are using other applications at the same time – you will see the blue circle of death and, if you try to do anything with it, you will be told that it is “not responding”. In these circumstances, you have to close the software and turn off the scanner. Then turn the scanner back on and restart the software when it is ready. This is annoying and (moderately) time consuming but most crucially you can’t work on the previous batch in Photoshop or whatever while you’re scanning. Almost any program seems to potentially cause crashes. Even basic office software can spook it and you will have to turn everything else off, set up a batch and go off and do something else while it scans. I should add that I’m using a standard 64-bit version of Windows 10 with all the up-to-date patches, just as most other PC users will be, and a perfectly adequate 8GB of RAM. I wonder if the software on the disc supplied with the scanner has been updated since it was first released in 2009.
But don’t let this put you off because the good news is that if you search online for “Epson Perfection V600 Photo Windows 10 Driver”, as I did after a few days of frustration, you will get a link to Epson’s website where you can download an up-to-date (20 March 2019) version of the software. I can’t speak for whether they have similarly updated it for current Mac OS (other reviewers have said it doesn’t work at all with the latest version and they had to buy 3rd party software to be able to use it) but so far the Windows 10 64 bit version is definitely more stable than the version supplied on the disc. I don’t know whether you can simply download the new version and bypass installing the one on the disc but if you do install the old version, installing the new version is very simple and seems to overwrite it so there shouldn’t be any issues – I would do this straight away instead of faffing around for days walking on digital eggshells to avoid upsetting it. Having said which, while it is definitely more stable with the updated driver it still has a tendency to crash if you do other stuff on the PC while scanning. You can get away with surfing the net, however. If you want to make notes or process the files between batches I recommend closing the software until you’re ready to scan the next batch.
You have to be really careful with 35mm negatives to load them properly in the holder. I’ve had a few instances of iridescent “haloes” across a frame – often just one or two in a batch of eight. I suspect this means part of the negative (they’re always a bit curled lengthways) may have been in contact with the glass, which may have been caused by failing to snap shut every single catch on the cover that holds in the negatives, or perhaps one or more had popped open as I was manoeuvring it into position in the scanner. Or the strips may just not have been quite correctly aligned; it’s hard to tell so you may just have to re-scan them in these circumstances – try to ensure that the sprocket holes are completely concealed by the cover. The holder and especially the cover seem quite flimsy, so treat them gently – they could probably break quite quite easily, as could the catches. Another issue with 35mm negatives is getting the files output from the scanner in the correct order. To do this, assuming you’re scanning two strips at once, the strip with the earlier shots should be in the righthand slot in the adapter (furthest away from the slide slots); the negatives should be face down so that they are scanned the right way round; and the lowest numbers on the negatives should be at the end of the adapter that goes nearest to the hinge of the lid. If you do this, they will always be output in the correct order.
Success with this unit is time-consuming and requires care, even after you’ve installed the up-to-date software, however the results speak for themselves and I would expect to get professional-looking results from professional-looking negatives – in quality terms it’s a serious piece of kit. But if you’ve got thousands of old negatives to scan, I’d prioritise the best ones or you’ll be at it for years, literally! As for prints, the scan quality is again excellent but unless you don’t have the negatives or there was something special about the printing process and/or the paper, I wouldn’t bother – the difference in detail and often colour balance between scans of prints and of negatives when they were processed by a consumer-standard lab (Boots etc.) can be considerable. All that said, in flatbed mode it will scan almost anything to a high quality and can be lifted at the hinge to allow something up to about an inch thick (e.g. a book) to be scanned without the lid being at an angle.
Several things you must consider however. First, as other reviewers have said, the software disc does NOT have Photoshop Elements on it. I see that the main description on Amazon does not now say it does include this program, only that the scanner is compatible with it. Next, I run Sierra on a Mac and the Epson Scan program on the disc did load but did not work. I had to download it from the internet to make it work. It is a good program but does have a tendency to freeze so you have to close it and reopen to continue. ABBYY FineReader Sprint will NOT work with Sierra.
If you download VueScan which is reckoned to be better with scanning Negatives be warned that having tried it you will have to buy it to keep it.
One last observation to do with EpsonScan: If like me you had a printer that also scans you will find that EpsonScan will refuse to see the other scanner, only the V600 in future. I have search widely online to find a way that I can flip from one scanner to the other on EpsonScan but it seems impossible to do. Its all a bit frustrating as you can see both scanners in EpsonScan Settings.
The V600 is pretty quick, especially with documents, and produces a good copy. I use the software on ‘professional mode’ and it is fairly straightforward.
I have encountered few problems but these might be useful to know. The V600 hates Agfa slides from the 1970s, often failing to crop the images correctly around the slide frame so, for example, it will try to portrait-crop a landscape image, losing the left and right sides. I am fairly convinced the problem is to do with the snap-shut corner tabs on the slide mounts, which leak light through confusing the scanner as to where the image starts and stops. No such misalignment occurs with Kodak or Fuji cardboard or plastic mounts. The solution is to either take the film out of the slide mount or to manually set the edges using the preview image (switch from thumbnail to normal mode) before proper scanning, whichever you think takes the least time.
Sometimes a pale green vertical line appears down a slide scan image. Cleaning the scanner glass at the hinge end solves this. Finally, Digital Ice, besides tripling the scan time, introduces weird artifacts around contrasty edges in slide images. I’ve stopped using it.
Because of these minor issues, I withheld one star but this scanner is a safe buy nonetheless. I’m now working through 12000 of my own slides, which will take ages, but the effort is worthwhile and while some huge magazine-fed machine would be fantastic, four slides at a time will do on my budget.
So which model ?. I set budet of around 200 so a Epson v700 was out. The Epson V600 met my soec and budget plus it had good reviews.Finally what software would be provided. Silverfast seemed to be the benchmark but Epson manager seemed user-friendly and the inclusion of Adobe photoshop elements 9 clinched the deal for me.( worth about 80 to buy seperately.
In practice. I have concluded my requirements were sound, The scanner is delivering a 4 transparancy set scan at 3000 dpi with ICE dust and scratch removal in about 11 mins. Time to get a coffee once started. The jpegs print well at 10 x8 and obvioulsy look fine on my 46 inch tv where most viewing is done with the family. My only dislike is the transparancy holder that encougages finger marks on the plate. I also invested in a rocket air pump to blow away hairs etc. Overall I am very pleased with the V600 and now just need time to tackle the 8000 slide library.. and oh yes i do need a light box to help with sorting of keeper slides from the rest.
[[ASIN:B002TAA3MY Epson Perfection V600 High Resolution 6400 x 9600 dpi Scanner]
Having unpacked the scanner and removed the protective tape and films, all I had to do was connect the 2 metre A-B USB lead and turn it on. I ran the Apple Software Update Tool and was immediately told that there was new software available for “Epson Printers and Scanners”. Once the software had downloaded, I restarted the Mac even though I did not need to – a fresh start is always a good idea when using new hardware for the first time. “About This Mac” correctly identified the scanner.
I had deliberately decided not to install and use the included Epson Scan software and instead went to the VueScan homepage and grabbed the demo version of VueScan. Without fuss, VueScan reported the presence of the V600 and took me through my first scan. Even out of the box, the sharpness and colour quality of print scanning is amazing, due in part to the white LED backlight.
I have ordered an IT8 (Q60) Reflective Target from Kodak to calibrate the V600 which I should have within a few days. I appreciate that these are not included with the V600 scanners due to the extra cost and for home users it is perhaps an unnecessary luxury but since I was going to be scanning ink samples I figured it would be of benefit to calibrate the scanner.
To paraphrase the mantra we Mac users enjoy… “It just works!”
Hardware used : Mac Pro 2010 hex core 6×3.33GHz, 12Gb RAM, ATI 5870 1Gb, 27″ Apple Cinema Display, Vertex2 120Gb SSD, Caviar Green 512Gb HDD with Epson Perfection V600 scanner.
The 3200 had given me excellent service so I wanted a scanner that gave at least as good a performance. Trawling through reviews I zoomed in on the V600 and the many positive comments settled it and I decided to buy one. I am absolutely delighted with my purchase. I thought the 3200 would be hard to beat but this scanner is light years ahead. I scan lots of photographs and negatives of classic cars and had up until now been happy with the results but wow, every little gleam, every piece of chrome and shiney bodywork simply leaps off the screen in a way that I didn’t think possible from a scanner in this price range. I am so impressed that I am actually re-archiving many photographs, negatives and slides that I had previously thought to be of a very good standard.
Scanning slides and negatives was always a bit of a trial. It was really difficult to eradicate dust and spots. Epson’s own dust removal tool was pretty lame and often removed fine details in addition to dust. So, I would spend literally hours cleaning images up with Photoshop and this would take the pleasure out of the whole exercise. I had read many articles on Digital Ice and despite general praise for it, I was quite cynical. Boy did I get a suprise. It actually works and the amount of time spent cloning on Photoshop has drastically reduced. I keep it set to the default, ‘medium’ setting and this produces excellent results. It should be mentioned at this stage that Digital Ice will not work with Kodachrome slides. This is something, as I understand it, to do with the yellow dyes in this type of film. This is a pity as I have many Kodachrome slides.
Now you will note that I have only given four stars rather than five. This is due to the fact that the scanner is made of some very, VERY cheap looking and feeling plastic and I really do wonder how robust over time it will be. The 3200 was built like a bus and weighed a ton but you got a feeling of solidity and reliablity with it that simply is lacking in the V600. The flims carriers too are of poor construction in comparison to the 3200. I seriously doubt that they will endure long, daily scanning sessions. Shame on Epson for this and in my view they have tarnished an otherwise great product. Clearly there have been some major cost reductions. They should realise that scanners at this end of the market get much more use than the cheaper ones and quality of build does count. If you buy one, and I hope you do, exercise real caution when using it or you could find yourself with a big, expensive broken toy.