Digital Cameras Reviews

Posts Tagged ‘Family Images’

Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner

The Epson Perfection V500 Photo features a built-in transparency unit for positive or negative film up to medium format. It scans 12 frames of 35mm filmstrip, four frames of mounted 35mm slides or 1 frame of 6×12cm medium format film at once, ideal for preserving old family images. Four easy access buttons are located on the front of the scanner to initiate scan to application, scan to PDF, scan to email and copy. They offer a quick and easy way to scan an image without the need to access settings on the computer. The scan to PDF function allows an image or multiple pages to be scanned and automatically saved to a specified PDF file, while the scan to email button allows documents or images to be copied and sent anywhere in the world at the touch of a button. Software provided with the Perfection V500 Photo includes the new Epson Scan 3.2 and Epson Creativity Suite. Epson Scan is designed to make scanning easy with its automatic mode and home mode. The needs of the advanced user are addressed with the professional mode. Epson Scan 3.2 offers high compression multi-page PDF scanning and allows ICC profiles to be embedded into the scanned files. Colour reproduction for negative scanning delivers superior image quality in critical or mixed lighting conditions. It also offers an advanced backlight correction to improve the overall visibility in the image. Digital ICE Technology ensures dust and scratches are completely removed from colour films, creating high-quality results. Additional software includes Adobe PhotoShop Elements 4 (PC) and 3 (Mac) and ABBYY FineReader Sprint 6 Plus. An optional Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) is available for small offices that wish to use the Perfection V500 Photo for higher volumes of document scanning. Full software package – Epson Scan 3.2, Epson Creativity Suite, Digital ICE, Adobe Elements 4 (PC) and 3(Mac) and ABBYY FineReader Sprint 6 Plus Mac and PC compatible

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars MOST MOST HAPPY!!!
This is my first scanner for home use. Words cannot describe how happy I am with my purchase. I bought this mainly to scan old family photos. Very easy to install, instructions easy to understand. Scanning was a breeze. The ICE technology feature to remove dust and to enhance the color is great as many of my photos have “lost” their color. I strongly recommend this scanner. I am NOT disappointed with my purchase.

4 Stars A great scanner at an affordable price
Despite me owning at least one digital body since 2001 I shoot mainly film and have done so for over 20 years. I recently invested in a rangefinder setup and my love for B&W film is stronger than ever. I had an all-in-one unit for a while. It was an HP PSC 2350 series and within a few weeks of me buying it, it would no longer load paper on its own and as is the case with all-in-one’s, the scanner quality left a LOT to be desired. Needless to say, when I moved this summer, it went out to the curb. Since I was wanting to shoot mostly B&W and I didn’t have the materials needed to develop my own at the time, I resorted to using chromogenic B&W films like Kodak BW400CN (which has a color-neg-like cast) and Ilford XP2 (which has no cast). Apparently Kodak’s cast makes for nice prints on mini-lab color papers whereas XP2’s true B&W neg tends to create a cast to the prints. In the end, I ended up buying more XP2 because I eventually want to make prints again and because I prefer its grain and its look. This is where my next snag presented itself. My local mini-lab. Any mini-labs for that matter. Their scanners also leave much to be desired. Here in Astoria I have been paying $6.99 per roll for mediocre scans. On more than one occasion I have had to take the negs back for re-scanning because several scans were messed up (usually un-centered ie. two halves of two exposures). One of the most annoying things was that the scanning section of his machine was pretty dusty and I would have to spend lots of time cleaning them up. If his scans were decent I might have been inclined to deal with the occasional bungle but they are not and I’m thrilled to move on.

I went to the store and got all I needed to develop my own B&W again. I had my sights set on saving up for a dedicated negative scanner like the Nikon Coolscan 5000 or 9000 but their price was just too high for me to be able to get one quickly so I began considering flatbeds. Coincidentally, I visited the local Staples with a friend and gave the scanner section a once over. The Epson caught my eye first and I compared it closely with the HP G4050. The HP was substantially larger than the Epson. One of the deciding factors was the inclusion of Digital ICE with the Epson. While rendered useless with B&W negatives, I do have a healthy amount of slides and color negs and after having heard so many positive reviews I thought it would be a very useful tool for my color stuff. I got it home and set it up quickly. The software took longer than expected to install but wasn’t too bad. Within 30 mins. I was scanning negatives with the included holder. Some frames would come out only half as tall as they actually were for some reason. It seems you can fool the scanner. I think it may be due to certain compositional elements that lead the scanner to believe the border of the neg is somewhere where it is not. Perhaps that is a place where a dedicated negative scanner would not falter but it’s nothing that a small amount of repositioning didn’t solve. I’m finding the neg holder to be adequate. I’m considering getting some anti-Newton ring glass inserts from [...] ([...]l) but for now, film curvature does not seem to be much of a problem. One thing that is nice about having a flatbed is that it can handle negs and prints up to 8×10. Having just borrowed a friend’s 4×5 Super Graphic, this is just the thing I need. So goodbye to the crappy, dusty mini-lab scans and no thanks to the expensive specialty labs in Manhattan. It feels good to be in control of my pictures again!

4 Stars Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner
I have owned 2 HP scanners in the past, the last being a HP Scanjet G4050 (two years old). When the HP began acting up while scanning negatives I used the opportunity to get newer technology. The HP has a large copy glass and you can copy three 4×6 prints or 16 negatives or five rows of film strip. However, copying more than a few negatives takes a very long time.

The reviews I read said to go to this Epson. The image quality is very, very good and is slightly better than my HP. It uses LED light technology and starts up quite fast. The only reason I didn’t give it all 5’s is because of the removable top plate & the slide & negative trays. They are very flimsy and a little hard to deal with. They should have taken a page out of HP’s book. Their removable top plate & trays are very robust and have no issues.

The Epson copy glass is smaller than the HP’s and you cannot get three 4×6″ photos to fit. Also, you can only place 4 slides or two film strips in the copy tray accessory. The top scanner LED only copies down the middle of the glass (about 2