Customer Reviews

Epson Perfection 2450 Photo Scanner

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I needed a scanner mainly for scanning my old prints, negatives and slides. Initially I was going to buy a cheaper photo scanner (Epson 1250), but was disappointed by its poor quality.

The 2450 has exceeded my expectations. From prints or negatives, it is producing superb quality scans, and it does it FAST. A few comments from my experience so far:

- The scanner comes with an excellent bundle of software. TWAIN is a great product - very user friendly UI for all types of scans (scan to file, print, email, post to the Web). Not too happy with SilverFast though (bad UI and unstable). Photoshop Elements, although a learning curve is needed, is excellent photo editing tool.
- Unless you have to print a HiRes photo over 8x10's, use 300dpi: you'll get the same results as higher resolutions, and is much faster (scanning a color print at 300dpi is ~30sec, compared to over 5min at 1600dpi.
- If you scan at 1600dpi/48bit, be prepared for huge amount of computer resources for processing the image, both by TWAIN and Photoshop. I have a 2.2GHz P4, 1GB memory, and when I tried to scan a large photo at 1600dpi, about 500MB of memory was used (good thing TWAIN displays how much mem is needed prior to the scan). Photoshop's performance was also degraded.
- After some experimentation, I'm getting best results by making some pre-scan enhancements via TWAIN (mainly Gamma & Color adjustments), and add final touches with Photoshop. Assuming you have the time to spend, this will be a fun thing to do, and will feel great when you see that with a decent photo printer you can produce better photos than your originals!
- The scanner works fine with XP. Its drivers are not certified by Microsoft for XP, (which means you have to manually install the drivers that come with the scanner), but so far I had no problems.

I think this is one of the best buys I made. The only concern I can think of, is its size compared to other scanners (shouldn't be a problem to most of you, unless you live in an apartment in Manhattan as I do...). You can get a scanner at half price or less, but if you need to digitize your photos and slides, this is the way to go.

After searching for the best price for this scanner, I purchased it from Amazon. By using the free shipping option, the Amazon price was right up there with the best. Now for the scanner...

I owned an Epson 1650 photo, which was not suitable for scanning 35mm if you want to print larger than 4x6. After reading countless reviews, I decided to upgrade. I have scanned 35mm color and B&W negatives as well as slides with the 2450. 8x10's stand up to darkroom prints made on my Leica Focomat. In many ways they are better, because I use the included Silverfast software plugin to Photoshop to adjust the image at scanning. Further tweaking in Photoshop renders wonderful prints - better than spending hours in the wet lab dodging, burning and bleaching.

I also have panorama negatives taken nearly 100 years ago that are roughly 2.25 x 6 inches. The 2450 with it's 4x9 scanning area outshines the competition, allowing me to scan the entire negative at once. This scanner really delivers with medium and large format - 6x6 cm and 4x5. The resultant prints are stunning - much better than I'm able to achieve in the wet lab. The results of scanning vintage photos for which I have no negatives are also superior.

I know a dedicated film scanner would give better results, but I can't pay the $3,000 to $5,000 freight for a 4x5 film scanner. Since I don't plan to go bigger than 13x19 prints, I'm happy as a clam with this setup....

I needed a higher resolution than 1200 dpi for scanning 120 film, and I am glad I finally decided to go get this one after reading so many reviews at so many websites on this wonderful scanner. Epson must have thought of us serious but non-professional photographers who want great scans to produce sharp (if need be) and excellent quality prints but can not or will not shell out [the money] for a medium/large format film scanner.

I venture to say this scanner is fine for professional use also. Epson's smart panel software is fine, pre-scan editing features are many and quite useful, especially the color cast tool for negative film. There is a gamma set slider, brightness and shadows sliders, and you can save any settings for film used on a regular basis, or for batch scanning, especially 35mm slides and negatives.

You can make a mask out of flat black matting or mounting board if needed for different templates for batch scanning 2.25 sq film or 6x7, 6x9. The area for film scanning is 4"x9". The scans may seem a bit soft at first, but my scans have responded well to unsharpmasking once I got to Photoshop. My first A3 size print on heavyweight matte with my Epson 1280 came out razor sharp. ...

This scanner comes with Photoshop Elements-the advantage over PS 5 LE is the history palette-very useful for undoing a certain step if necesary. Photoshop 5 LE has a curves graph, something missing from PS Elements. This scanner picks up shadow detail very well; at 100% magnification, the detail is there to see. I have had very little noise with only one scan, and that can be fixed in your editing software (try gaussian blur w/ the magic wand tool).

I am simply amazed and very happy at the image quality from this scanner, and 48 bit scans, at that. I have a 4000dpi scanner for 35mm, but this one does quite well for getting 8x10 inch prints from 35mm scans (at 360 print resolution-larger at a smaller print resolution), and is convenient and fun to use. Silverfast also comes with this, and if you upgrade to Silverfast HDR you can edit in 48 bit mode also-keep all that detail!

If you are looking for a great medium format scanner, you do not have to pay a small fortune-it is all right here. With a fine pre-scan software package, 48bit scans, Silverfast AI and Photoshop Elements, warm up Epson's 1280 printer for some nice 13x19" prints and VOILA! You ARE there! ...

I have owned a Nikon Coolscan II 35mm-scanner for a few years now, and was quite happy with it. But I wanted an affordable multi-purpose scanner that could produce good QUALITY scans of transparencies LARGER than 35mm. And I have been waiting for a long time for a suitable product to come onto the market.

Then the Epson 2450 arrived. Once your firewire or USB2 adapter is working, set-up is a breeze. But what really surprised me was the quality of the scans.

Compared to my Nikon Coolscan II, scans of 35mm slides and negatives produced by the Epson 2450:
- Were sharper
- Had better contrast
- Had better colour saturation
And the Epson 2450 can do large format transparencies as well! Plus it can do the normal A4 flatbed stuff, and you can use it faxing and photocopying.

Cons:
- It can do with a focus control.
- I don't see the point of the very hi-res modes. When you increase resolution above 2,400dpi, scans become LESS sharp. The 12,800 dpi is just a marketing ploy.

I'm sure next year's model will be better and cheaper. But right now, the Epson 2450 is the best choice for the price. Does anyone want to buy a slightly used older model Nikon slidescanner? :-)

I purchased this scanner looking for a budget oriented method to preserve all my old 35mm prints and negatives. I have tried using cheaper scanners for this in the past with no luck. There seems to be a plateau in scanner cost in which scanned images just don't look good. I would say the Epson 2450 is definitely above this plateau. And despite the fact that there are better scanners out there dedicated for film, it's difficult to find one under [$$].

The Epson 2450 handles prints as expected. The bundled software can do some correction, such as exposure and color balance, but lacks some of the jazzy scratch removal and color saturation effects that are bundled with more expensive scanners. Even so, it has excellent color and sharpness. It scanned images that are true to print.

The negative film scanner impressed me - it works much better than I expected. The trays hold various format negatives. The large format trays hold a single negative. The 35 mm tray holds two strips with up to 6 frames on each strip. The Epson Twain software can automatically recognize the tray and crop each negative frame automatically. Then, before final scanning, it allows each frame to be corrected individually. It's impressive and gives the feel of having a photo lab at home. I was able to pull some details out of an underexposed negative that I thought was lost.

The Epson 2450 is not without its flaws. The included manual will probably confuse more than help, especially for beginners. The online manual has much more detailed instructions. I don't like the industry's direction with online manuals. But if it has to be an electronic manual why include a confusing incomplete printed manual with it?

Also, there are no included cables. Any product that sells at this price should also include cables. None of my firewire cables fit. For the record, if you are going for the firewire connection, you need a 6 pin to 6 pin cable. Cost should be under [$] if you shop around. Or, you can go USB, but make sure your computer has the newer 2.0 ports to get the speed advantage (mine does not).

I am extremely happy with this scanner.

This review can be quite short and make all the relevant points.

* This scanner is FAST (using IEEE 1394)
* This scanner does an incredible job on transparencies.
* The included software (Epson Twain 5) is really nice.
* Did I say it was fast?

Don't even think of using this scanner with USB. Get yourself a IEEE 1394 card and put it in your machine. This scanner makes USB look like the dark ages. IEEE 1394 is THE reason to buy this scanner to me. I did a quick test and it made the final scan with IEEE 1394 seem like the pre-scan on USB.

The included transparency adapters are kind of flimsy, but I keep them in a safe place. You can scan 4 slides without adjusting anything...it scans them in sequence at the quality level you want.

I'm scanning 120 negatives as proofs and it's done away with my need for any kind of contact sheet/4x6 proof of my shots. I can make darkroom enlargement decisions right on the PC. My clients can get a very good idea of the tonal quality and composition without me going through the expense of printing ANYTHING in the darkroom.

For reflective media, this Scanner is incredible. I've never seen scans like this with such speed. The copy function is great - hooked to a Lexmark Z52 on draft mode, and it makes really, really fast copies.

I found myself feeling like I was working an enlarger in a darkroom rather than a PC and Scanner. I was digging up old negatives that were never printed just for the fun of it. Turn the scanner to its maximum resolution and it slows down some but the results are suprisingly good for flatbed! I made a 11x14 print from a 120 negative and it looked really good. Dare I say ready to exhibit?

Now I'd like to have a $3000 film scanner for my 120 work (donations accepted) but until then, this is doing great for me.

Well maybe not rain, but drizzle slightly. Although I agree with the other reviewers regarding the quality of the scans, there are a few shortcomings. The Epson Twain, while easy to learn, has a terrible time with anything other than bright slides, and arbitrarily cuts off parts of the slides IT feels are too dark. I can find no way around this, other than to use Silverfast. This means scanning slides one at a time. Also, on negatives of photos I took of fireworks, the scanner refused to scan the slides, only the parts it considered bright enough. Again, Silverfast was the only getaround.Maybe my scanner is the Friday afternoon model, but...
Another thing, the Twain seems intent on extrapolating the image to over 4 times the optical scan. Why?? If you scan 4 slides at a time, all 4 need to be manually reduced to 100% individually, adding greatly to scan times.
Other than that, a good reliable scanner with very good scans.

This is a great flatbed scanner for professionals and consumers alike. In flatbed mode, it is very fast and provides great results. I'm using it connected to my Mac via firewire under OSX. There is an Epson Twain driver that works under OSX with this scanner, which you can download from [another website].

This scanner is good for anyone who wants to scan prints and documents, with the occaisional negative/slide scan. It's photo/documents scanning is quite fast, however when scanning transparencies it is quite slow. And although it does a fine job at transparencies, of course the results are not as good as with a dedicated film scanner. But, good dedicated film scanners cost thousands of dollars, so the Epson 2450 is a good compromise. I'm a photographer and I use this scanner to scan black and white and color medium format 120 negatives and prints with great results.

Epson is proving itself the leader in digital darkroom desktop imaging. They are the leaders in inkjet photo printers as well. The only reason I'm not giving this scanner 5 stars is because of the price, which I find slightly high.

I know you photo junkies out there automatically switch to your default frown mode when someone suggests a flatbed scanner for slides and negatives. Well, I'm not going to suggest by any stretch of the imagination that the 2450 is the best scanner on the market. There are obviously much better units to be had, but are they cost effective for most users?
The 2450 in my mind, can perform quite well for any serious amateur and probably some pros without breaking the bank. The sky is the limit as to what can be spent on hardware, so a serious evaluation of ones needs is crucial before any purchase.

Speaking for myself, this scanner performs quite well. I've had no problems with its operation. Once the software was installed it performed beautifully right out of the box. The Epson Twain software is very user friendly and using it in the manual mode versus the auto mode allows the user greater flexibility. I read a host of positive reviews on the SilverFast SE software that is also included with this unit, and most of the die-hard photo junkies out there were adamant in using this software over anything else. The fact that SilverFast and Adobe Photoshop Elements was included with this unit tied the knot in my decision to purchase the 2450. My condolences to those who influenced me with their reviews.
With a moderate learning curve, Adobe Elements is great, and I use the Epson Twain to scan everything. The SilverFast software is not user friendly in my book, obviously takes much more time to get aquainted with, while the Epson Twain has you up and running in minutes. It performs admirably.

If I have a gripe about the performance of this unit it would be that it has a habit of scanning negs and slides to the dark side. Although this can be corrected quite easily, it still annoys me. However, I still gave it 5 stars because I enjoy using it overall. Scans are sharp and colors very good. It's speed is more than adequate with the exception of the highest resolutions, and I can't say a whole lot against this unit for the money. Will I upgrade in the future? Probably! But for now, the 2450 suits my needs just fine. For a flat-bed, it's top-shelf!

The Epson 2450 is a great scanner for the money. It can handle photo scans, OCR, and transparencies with fine speed and quality. Many of the reviews here (as well as the technical information) should satisfy your curiosity about how well it performs, so I thought I might point out a few shortcomings I have experienced, as these might be more informative than general praise.

The scanner itself:

I wish there were a dust guard built in on the sides. Unlike higher-end flatbeds (or even some cheaper scanners) there is a significant gap between the top and the glass, and this has allowed extra dust to get in there during many a transparency scan. Other than that, I have no real complaints,

The included software:

Silverfast is a bit of a pain to use unless you are willing to commit a significant amount of time to getting things right. TWAIN works well enough for most applications.

Also, as of two weeks ago, there was STILL no Max OSX software bundle included with these as standard equipment. That means that you have to run Elements and Silverfast in Classic (OS 9) mode or download TWAIN for OSX and use it with Photoshop, if you are lucky enough to own that.

Finally, at least with TWAIN, the transparency scans were often REALLY off. If you use full-auto mode, black-and-white negatives are almost always read (on my computer, at least) as color positive film. Not a huge problem to correct with a decent photo editing program, but still a pain. Also, in both the auto and manual modes, TWAIN often fuses adjacent negatives together for no apparent reason (though it's sometimes because the gap between them is a tiny bit 'dirty'). Underexposed negatives are sometimes cut altogether and do not get scanned in either Auto or Manual mode. Finally, with MANY negatives I have scanned in, including 35mm's and 4x5's placed into the PROVIDED holders, the program just decides that the vertical or horizontal sides of the pictures are superfluous information and should be cut, resulting in a lot of clipping. This is just plain stupid and really inexcusable, unlike, say, the fusing problem, which makes sense but which should have some sort of manual override option (like 'cleave'). Actually, that omission makes both of these mistakes rather inexcusable.

I would be a lot more annoyed with the shortcomings of the provided software if I did not have Photoshop, as many of its bungles would then be insurmountable.

Other than that...

This really IS a good scanner for a good price. If you're poking around for one in this price range, look no further. You really can't improve on this unless you are willing to drop significantly more money and/or buy a separate transparency scanner. I recommend it with few reservations.