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This was bought as a replacement for an ancient Microtek which was never quite as focussed as it could have been. I was a little hesitant in case I was just expecting too much from a flatbed but really glad I went for it!
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.
| Brand | Epson |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 48.5 x 28 x 11.8 cm; 4 kg |
| Item model number | 235D328 |
| Manufacturer | Epson |
| Series | Perfection V 600 Photo |
| Power Source | AC |
| Battery description | 100-240V, 50-60Hz |
| Are Batteries Included | No |
| Lithium Battery Weight | 12 Kilograms |
| Item Weight | 4 kg |
| Guaranteed software updates until | unknown |
