I am a color and black and white photographer and do-it-yourself developer. I recently purchased this scanner as my old CanoScan could not handle my film and has limited software.
Pros:
- Probably as much DPI as you would need: 4800 dpi hardware, 12000+ with interpolation (3200 dpi on 35mm produces ~4000X3000 pixel images, around 12 megapixels, with medium format you can get the same with lower dpi)
- Digital ICE, which can help eliminate dust, but not water spots (makes scanning take 5-6 times as long though)
- Good image quality
- Very inexpensive
- 12 35mm frames per scan
- Decent software compared to other scanners, auto separates photos, auto normalizes, etc
- 16-bits per channel option, can save as .tif
Cons:
- It came with one tiny speck of dust underneath scanner glass. This same shape of dust shows up over and over again on negative images as bright white, but it can be clone brushed out - this is the biggest issue I've had with this scanner, they should be more careful at the factory, but it is a small speck so nothing major
- Scanning is a bit slow (1 minute per 35mm frame at 3200 dpi, 5 or 6 minutes per same frame if ICE is on)
- If the film has a bend to it and touches scanner glass, you have to turn it over or it will get aberrations called Newton's rings - they recommend scanning with emulsion side up but this is not always possible due to this
- Can only scan 2 medium format images per scan, and the software sometimes messes up the thumbnailing of these which requires turning thumbnailing off and manually making cropping rectangles - not a huge deal but could be improved
- Software auto-checkmarks unsharp mask when you scan things, you're required to un-check it each time if you want unaltered images, but this is easy
- Software doesn't have an option to save as .png
I would recommend this scanner.
The Epson Perfection 4490 Photo offers fully automatic scanning for increased productivity, plus two advanced scanning modes for greater control. Convenient film holders accommodate multiple 35mm slides and negatives, plus medium format film. And, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ensures fast data transfer. There's even a fully featured software package that includes Adobe Photoshop Elements, ABBYY FineReader Sprint, and more.
Compatible with both Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems, this scanner provides an unbeatable solution for any task or project. Rich in quality and versatility, the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo will highlight and optimize every detail. When partnered with an Epson Stylus ink jet printer, it's a perfect choice for creating brilliant images made to last.
Features include:
I have owned numerous hand held, flatbed, and multifunction scanners over the last 20+ years and the S1300 is the best one yet. In the two weeks I have owned it I have scanned in a stack of paperwork and documents 28" high and a 4" stack of business cards. Of those thousands of pages I've experienced about 10 paper jams and 2 double-feeds. All of them were because of the documents and not the scanner. Clearing jams and double-feeds is easy and the scanner automatically rejects the scan so you can feed the docs right back in. The specifications indicate the sheet feeder holds 10 pages, but 12 pages of normal weights will feed through easily. The sheet feeder doesn't wrap or bend the documents like most sheet-fed scanners so cardboard stock and business cards pass through easily and aren't bent in any way.
The bundled software is what really makes the scanner shine. ScanSnap Organizer and ScanSnap Viewer make it extremely easy to edit the PDF documents and convert them to email or Word, Excel or PowerPoint. The Viewer allows you to rotate individual pages, change the page order, delete pages, and even crop out anything on a page you don't want. When scanning in duplex mode the software does a great job of detecting and discarding blank pages.
The only negatives I can think of are the included documentation is very sparse, even the documentation on the CD. The software is so easy to use there's really no need for extensive documentation though. The business card software is not quite as good as the ScanSnap software, but does a fair job of OCR and picking out name and address information. I found about 40% of scanned cards need to be manually edited. The only complaint with the hardware is visible white streaks when scanning images at the higher resolution settings to .JPG format. Cleaning the scan heads helps but it appears the streaks are caused by the sheet feeder leaving slight impressions which are picked up by the sensitive scan heads.
For Linux users out there looking for a compatible scanner, this one works perfectly in Ubuntu 9.10 with XSane.
I give high ratings to this scanner.
The office scanner does come with the transparency materials that the Photo version offers and it comes with the automatic feeder. Previously I had a seven year old Epson 1640 Office.
I use the scanner for two different purposes:
Office: Where I use Paperport and Omnipage (OCR).
Art: Where I use Photoshop and In Design to scan in photos and illustrations, but black and white and color, sometimes from older, yellowed material.
This worked so well and so much better than the previous Epson I was surprised. After I played with the setting for 30 minutes I was able to scan in pictures and illustrations that were just great. The settings often eliminated the yellow backgrounds of old paper and made the flesh colors far more realistic. What took a bit of time in Photoshop now took no time at all. The colors we accurate.
It worked very quickly and well for my office use in Paperport and Omnipage. The feeder worked well and fast when scanning in black and documents at 150-200 dpi.
Unlike the old scanner, this scanner puts setting into three modes. Home, Office and Professional, but believe it or not, I just use the home mode for most of what I do. Each mode gives you several options and that is what I played with for 30 minutes. In the preview mode, you can "play" with the various settings and adjust the picture to your preference, before you do the actual scan. After a few time, I learned what settings for what kind of picture and so it does not take long. The picture quality is far superior than the Epson 1640. I was really surprised.
Epson software also comes with a "Scan Direct" button, where you can scan directly into any program or your printer.
Legal size documents do have to use the Automatic Document Feeder. The flatbed scanning area is about 12 inches so most of my Legal documents would still fit there, but an extra inch would have been nice. It is a bit louder than I would like and scanner is never instant, especially when you are scanning in at high dpi, but those would not be serious considerations for me in buying the unit.
My only serious disappointment is that NO instruction manual is included, nor is a PDF one put on the disc. Instead, you most have internet access to web style pages, that you cannot even print out as a book. I think I was at an advantage having the similar previous one, but this was a disappointment.
Main Features
