Epson Perfection 3490 Photo Scanner

Epson Perfection 3490 Photo Scanner
by Epson

List Price: ~~$99.99~~
Our Price: $64.00
You Save: $35.99 (36%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: CE
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Customers in the UK, Buy this product at amazon.co.uk for British Pounds

Digital Photo Product Details

Manufacturer: Epson
Platform: Mac, Windows
Model: B11B177011
Color: Silver
Product features:

3200 x6400 DPI Resolution - Great for reprints and enlargements
3.2 Dmax for amazing clarity and color
One-touch color restoration with Epson Easy Photo Fix
Four convenient buttons-scan,copy,e-mail and PDF
Included film holders to scan slides and negatives

Accessories:

Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Epson Perfection 3490 Photo Scanner

Customer Review: A okay piece of junk!
Summary: 2 Stars

A ok piece of junk!

It does an excellent job of scanning images, Photos, magazines, etc. However you could buy a cheaper scanner to achieve the same results, any scanner with a 4800 X 4800 DPI will yield very good quality scans.

This scanner is more expensive because it also offers the ability to scan slides and film. A conventional image scanner uses a light that travels under a glass surface where the image is placed, much like a copier.

This scanner also has a light on the lid, which it uses to scan film and slides, in the box you will find plastic frames to hold the film or slides in place. The filmstrip holder is a bit cumbersome and flimsy, using it involves taking two pieces apart and putting the strip in it.

Upon starting a scan the scanner will inform you that it is 'warming up' (???) is this a '57 Chevy or a radio with vacuum tubes??? I've had many scanners before, no other one ever needed to 'warm up', there is no real reason why a scanner would need to warm up. Also, if you are doing multiple scans and since the scanner shuts off after a while to conserve the life of the scanning light, if you scan again it will once again need to warm up.

The plastic film holder where the slides/film is placed places the images all in a line, it can scan 4 slides at a time, however the light keeps going back and forth, i.e. it'll scan image 1 then go to the front of the scanner, then scan image 2, then back to the front, etc. there is no real reason this cannot be done sequentially. Presumably it does this to align itself, every once in a while however the alignment fails, therefore the scan will fail, the result is either a white grainy image or a totally black image, which you will need to re-scan.

Epson touts its Digital ICE feature, which is supposed to correct defects in slides and film, however using the feature dramatically increases the time to perform a scan, e.g. 6 to 8 minutes to scan 4 slides will turn into a 24-28 minute scan, and quite frankly I was able to get better and faster results retouching images with Photoshop CS. However Photoshop CS is professional software that costs around $600 and not everyone will have access to it.

If it takes about 9 to 10 hours to scan a 140 slide carousel, so if this is your goal make sure you have plenty of free time.

The scanner comes scanning software that can be used in full auto, home or professional modes, you are supposed to be able to save settings in professional mode, but it doesn't. Epson's technical support was of little help because I asked one question and they answered another. Epson's web site does not have forums either where users can help each other. I'd have expected more from company like Epson.

The product also includes Photoshop Elements 2.0, which will help you retouch images, Abby Fine Rader (OCR software-Optical Character Recognition that allows scanning of text) and Presto Biz Card which will scan business cards put the information in a database and share it with PDA's.

Overall a good value when one keeps in mind that professional slide and file scanners cost Hundreds of dollars more. However the product is not really suited for large jobs and could have been better given minimal tweaking.

Yet another example of 'good enough'.

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