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(More customer reviews)I've used scanners for ten years and I am here to tell you that the Epson 2400 Photo laps the competition and leaves them in the dust.
The setup of this solidly constructed scanner onto my Windows 2000 went without a hitch. Most problems associated with scanner setups trace back to a failure to read and follow instructions, so I used care to read through everything before beginning!
With that completed, I followed instructions in the automated Epson TWAIN 5 and quickly got a perfect photo scan 300 DPI. The buttons on the front worked well, sending respective scans to printer, e-mail and web. I kept grabbing for the mouse, expecting to be called to do something, but everything was automated. I placed 6 photos on the glass, leaving room between them, and the TWAIN identified and segregated each into its own file perfectly.
I got this scanner to handle my collection of slides, so that was a very important feature for me. Removal of the laminated lid-liner exposes the TPU light. The liner pops in and out nicely. The beautifully designed slide/negative holder lies on the glass, indexing precisely. This combination of engineering elegance illustrates a sufficiency few engineers seem to grasp. "Keep it simple, stupid". It holds 4 slides or a strip of up to 6 negatives. I was absolutely impressed with the design and efficiency thus far! The slides simply drop within their frame onto the glass and are retrieved effortlessly. With another very slick demonstration of engineering wizardry, negative filmstrips slide smoothly and effortlessly into the other side of the frame, and are positioned precisely and uniformly above the glass with no bends.
It seemed too easy, but in only 42 seconds, the scanner automatically recognized the color positives, lit the TPU lamp, pre-scanned all four slides, and left thumbnails before me to select from. What an encouraging start!
NOTE: One reviewer is ENTIRELY mistaken when he incorrectly stated that all four slides must be scanned. Quite to the contrary, a check box adjacent to each thumbnail permits any of them to be unselected. What he thought those check marks meant can only be imagined and testifies that some people are best left in a locked room with no sharp objects for their own safety.
Operating with only USB-1 on my machine, the 2400 Photo scanned each slide in 54 seconds, which I considered to be quite acceptable. Not only were the results stunning, they appeared perfect, with no hotspots, off colors, or degradation of sharpness. It delivered absolutely perfect reproduction, with precise cropping, too.
However, I wanted greater resolution than the default 300 DPI. While 300 DPI is fine for printing slides, I desire to archive slides for viewing on the giant-size screens of the future and wanted to take advantage of the 2400 DPI capability of the unit.
Access is easily gained to the inner sanctum of Epson TWAIN 5 by clicking a button during the 15-second warm-up phase. Within is an almost unlimited array of options. 2400 DPI from a slide generated a large 17.1 meg file to deal with, which can either be saved in it's bulky Windows Bitmap version, or as a more manageable 1.1 meg JPEG file, no loss of image data.
Expecting a more time-consuming project, I instead found that speed was mysteriously unaffected. In fact, because pre-scanning of subsequent items can be bypassed in manual mode, four slides were completed at 2400 magnificent DPI from a cold start in exactly 3:50 minutes; a full 70 seconds faster than the same number in auto mode. Adopting a rhythm, I scanned 63 slides in one hour, which I thought to be a fabulous rate. Any number of slides can be scanned before you close the TWAIN and "finish" them, at which time you can rename if you desire, de-select unwanted photos, select the final format and determine the target directory of choice. Having said that, I would recommend investing your time wisely and save them periodically, should a crash or other Windows frustration occur, causing all your dedicated effort to vanish. About 40 slides is my emotional limit.
Filmstrip negative performance was absolutely beautiful, "exposing" the film with absolute perfection most processing labs can never achieve. The backlighting of the TPU device provides a depth and realism normally associated with transparencies, while the 2400 DPI resolution puts almost any digital camera to shame.
The supplied Adobe Photo Essentials does provide the very good essential features of its big brother Adobe Photo Shop for correcting and retouching photos. Having said that and having all three on my machine, I prefer to use JASC Paint Shop Pro. At one-sixth the cost of Photo Shop, I find PSP is slicker, with all the features of the former, with some features that Photo Shop doesn't have, like a magnification tool that zooms in and out with left and right clicks, without having to change modes.
I put the Essentials to work on a set of 140 slides of professional Ektachrome from a 1987 Norway tour, to see if I could get the same results with equal efficiency. This slide film tends to require about one f-stop longer exposure I didn't know about at the time, which left me with an entire collection of darkened photos that all needed some digital magic.
Essentials performed fine, and pulled up more light from scenes while balancing the contrast, to reveal detail and richness I had never seen before. None of my slides suffered from scratches of dust, so I had no occasion to check out this provision. After going through half the slides, I grabbed for the Paint Shop Pro again. With a less-cluttered desktop and the highly usable combined brightness/contrast tool, my wife and I took turns speeding through the remainder. PSP isn't better, it just goes easier and quicker.
I have never written a review of any product before, but felt Epson's huge success deserved credit. The Epson Perfection 2400 Photo and TWAIN software are a combination that gives remarkable and satisfying results.
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Epson Perfection 2400 Photo ScannerThe Perfection 2400 from Epson is a flatbed color photo scanner that delivers high-quality scans and comes with a number of useful features. With a high 2,400 x 4,800 dpi maximum optical resolution, 3.3 DMax optical density, and 48-bit color depth (16-bit grayscale), the 2400 delivers professional quality images perfect for a wide variety of home and business applications.
Scanning speeds are as fast as 11 msec/line, while one-touch scan, copy, scan to e-mail, and scan to web buttons help you automate these frequently utilized features. The built-in 35mm film strip adapter accommodates both negatives and slides (up to six negatives or four slides), while the 8.5-by-11.7-inch scanning bed supports originals up to letter size. A number of software applications help you get the most out of your scans, including Adobe Photoshop Elements, Epson Smart Panel with NewSoft OCR (optical character recognition software), and Epson TWAIN Scanning software.
Weighing just 6.8 pounds, the 2400 has a small 10.9-by-17.7-inch footprint and connects to your computer via its USB port. The 2400 utilizes a white cold cathode fluorescent lamp and Epson's MatrixCCD line sensor, and consumes 17 W of power. PC and Mac compatible, the 2400 also comes backed with a one-year limited warranty on both parts and labor.
What's in the Box Epson Perfection 2400 Photo Scanner with built-in 35mm film strip adapter, CD-ROM with Epson TWAIN scanning software and creativity software, USB cable, setup sheet, warranty information
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