Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner

Other products by Epson

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 18 x 11 x 5 inches ; 9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 12 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000ALCJT4
• Item model number: B11B176011
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (137 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Electronics > Camera & Photo > Printers & Scanners > Slide & Photo
  #1 in	Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Scanners > Sheet-Fed
  #1 in	Electronics > Camera & Photo > Printers & Scanners > Flatbed

• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 2, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com
Quality. Performance. Precision.
A premium value for professional quality scans, the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo delivers extraordinary results with 4800 x 9600 dpi resolution and an impressive 3.4 Dmax. This full-featured performer makes it easy for anyone to quickly restore, repair and renew classic photos, film and transparencies for stunning color reprints and enlargements. Powerful Digital ICE technology offers built-in dust and scratch removal capabilities for film, while Epson Easy Photo Fix provides one-touch color restoration. Together, these two features bring new life to faded or damaged originals.

The Epson Perfection 4490 Photo offers fully automatic scanning for increased productivity, plus two advanced scanning modes for greater control. Convenient film holders accommodate multiple 35mm slides and negatives, plus medium format film. And, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ensures fast data transfer. There's even a fully featured software package that includes Adobe Photoshop Elements, ABBYY FineReader Sprint, and more.

Compatible with both Microsoft Windows and Macintosh opperating systems, this scanner provides an unbeatable solution for any task or project. Rich in quality and versatility, the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo will highlight and optimize every detail. When partnered with an Epson Stylus ink jet printer, it's a perfect choice for creating brilliant images made to last.

Features include:

• Professional level 4800 x 9600 dpi resolution
• 3.4 Dmax for wide dynamic range and greater image quality
• Powerful Epson Easy Photo Fix™ to restore faded color photos
• Built-in transparency unit with dedicated light source for better scan uniformity
• Versatile scanning with film holders for 35mm negatives, slides and 2-1/4" transparencies
• Powerful software package for photo and document scanning; includes Adobe Photoshop Elements

What's in the box
Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner, 2.7" x 9.3" Transparency unit (built into lid), Two Film Holders: 35mm slides and film strips and medium format, CD-ROM with Epson Scan software, productivity software and Electronic Reference Guide, CD-ROM with Adobe Photoshop Elements, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 cable, Epson Setup Sheet, AC adapter and power cable

Product Description
Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

305 of 309 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally - a slide scanner that just works!, October 4, 2005

By	gk - See all my reviews

I purchased this excellent scanner after much frustration with two previous purchases which failed to perform: Canon CanoScan 4200F and the HP Scanjet 4890.

The biggest problem with scanners is not the hardware, but the software.

In the case of the CanoScan 4200F (and similar 8400 and 9950 models, which use the same software), the driver utterly fails to crop slides correctly: in the default 'auto-crop' mode, it cuts off parts of the frame but when 'auto-crop' is disabled, it fails to scan slides separately, forcing you to crop each one manually. What is worse, is that the driver does not remember your settings so you have to reconfigure every detail again, every time you scan. There are many other bugs in this driver too.

The Epson 4490, in contrast, is very sensible about cropping - it allows you to manually adjust cropping, if you like, or to disable it and simply scan each slide as a separate file, capturing the entire frame. This would seem simple enough since both the Canon and Epson scanners employ plastic slide holders to fix the position of the slides in relation to the scanner so the Epson software always knows how to reliably split multiple slides without cropping, whereas the Canon software simply gives up.

Another area where scanner software often fails is in the installation. The Epson installation procedure worked perfectly and did not even require a reboot to begin scanning. The HP 4890 installation was a complete disaster: the giant 'easy install' poster included with the scanner contradicted the installer on when to plug in the scanner: instructions explicitly said to connect the scanner prior to installing the driver, but when I actually ran the installer, it failed to connect and Windows failed to ever recognize the new hardware, even though the installer reported that I could connect the scanner later - which was not true. Even after uninstalling and re-installing and rebooting the HP driver (which took about 40 minutes), although the the scanner appeared to be recognized by Windows and was 'connected', the driver would simply hang forever when attempting to scan.

I recount this detail about the HP scanner because it is positioned very close to the Epson 4490 in terms of price and features, yet is completely unusable. In this regard, another important consideration is technical support: in the case of HP, phone support is strongly discouraged and hard to find - even if you do manage to find the phone numbers, the quality of HP support staff is abysmal, in my experience. Epson, in contrast, publishes the tech support phone numbers prominently on the instructions included with the scanner. Perhaps, Epson can more easily afford to divulge these phone numbers since products that work well require very little tech support. This made me feel quite confident with the Epson product.

Now the big payoff - scanning!
The quality of images you get is directly related to the ease of use in configuring the scanning software. Although the Epson software is not perfect, it is quite usable and powerful. It does a reasonable job of retaining configuration settings and the advanced features of 'dust removal' and 'digital ICE' image correction is very impressive.

The flaws in the software include the following.
1. The ability to 'save' settings is spotty: you cannot assign a name to saved settings; saved settings only configure half of the parameters, prior to preview - you cannot configure use of 'dust removal', 'digital ICE' etc but must manually assign these options on each scan.
2. The prefix used in assigning filenames to scanned images does not allow the valid windows filename character, '.'
3. 'Target size' parameter cannot be saved. Workaround is to use the image 'Resolution' parameter instead (resolution=2400 can be saved and is equivalent to resolution=300, target size=800%, for example).

I have only tested this scanner in scanning color slides so far.

134 of 138 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful scans, but weak flimsy plastic breaks too easily, March 27, 2006

By	FlyingPolarBear (Fullerton, CA USA) - See all my reviews

After using my previous Epson Perfection 1640SU for about 5 years, I finally upgraded to the 4490 Photo. The scans are beautiful, and I expected the same quality workmanship that kept the 1640SU working for many years.

However, as soon as I placed a larger book in the scanner and closed the lid, two plastic tabs broke inside. The scanner made a noisy ratcheting sound and the red light started flashing.

How can the plastic break so easily? When I took the scanner apart with the screwdriver I was amazed at how cheap and thin the plastic is in this model! Epson must be really cost-cutting in their manufacturing process these days.

I searched the web to find out how to fix the scanner. I came across a post by another customer who had the exact same problem. He also broke the plastic tabs, and replaced them with a custom piece of metal.

When I removed the plastic fragments from inside the scanner, it started working again. However I am not sure how long it will last. The glass is held on to the inside with self-adhesive tape, and the glass already started to separate when I placed a heavier object on top.

This is a great scanner for high-quality photos. But it's constructed like a disposable camera. It will do fine if your scan jobs consist of single photos or single sheets of paper. But if you scan a document/book with multiple sheets consider getting a different scanner made with sturdy materials.

I hope Epson will learn that they went a bit too far with the cost-cutting on materials. I am surprised because my experience has always been that Epson creates some of the best printers/scanners.

128 of 132 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Software Downgrade of fine hardware, August 29, 2005

By	William W. Smith "-wick smith" (Basking Ridge, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Excellent scanner -- fast and accurate.

Software has been damaged compared to earlier releases. Email function oddly does not work with Outlook and Epson Scan is strangely crippled. Your settings can no longer be descriptively named. They come up "Setting 1" "Setting 2" etc., which is not useful.

The hardware is without fault. While not quite the dynamic range of the pricey 4990, this scanner will be useful for people looking to scan 35mm or medium format film unless they demand very high quality. For most people digitizing the shoebox collection of slides, this scanner will be fine.

I have had excellent results on reflective originals in both color and black and white. Noticeably sharper than my previous Epson scanner.