Customer Reviews

Epson Perfection V100 Photo Scanner (B11B184051)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I guess I was lucky - I have scanned over 600 slides without any particular problem in terms of quality or undue cropping. It does 4 at a time which is handy as long as you can use a common setting for all 4. Very slow once beyond 600 dpi.

I highly recommend this photo scanner--a great scanner for the money. I purchased the scanner after my old one died and was so amazed with the outstanding quality of the scans, I've started re-scanning all my old 35 mm photos previous scanned. It also comes with a good easy to use scanning/photo editing software package.

Arguably, Canon and Epson make the best scanners on the market, and flatbed scanners have far greater scanning specs/capabilities over the all-in-one printers. I was in the market because my old Canon 1290F finally died. Last year whin I upgraded the CPU/motherboard, I thought it died but it turns out that it, and the newer Canon, would not work as I learned from their tech support, Canons twain drivers have a problem with AMD/VIA motherboard combos, and contued not to work even after I flashed the bios. I returned the newer Canon, and used the older Canon as it worked on my Intel based laptop. Current day packages on Canons only list Intel CPU's on their minimum requirements, and I wasn't going to take a chance that they corrected their problem.

The Epson V100 is an update to the highly positive reviewed 3490, and the published specs are virtually identical. Some of the internals may have been modernized and newer versions of software, but the most obvious change is in it's physical size from the 'soapbar' box design of the 3490.

Scans have been excellent, and I am not going to concentrate on them for this review. After all, excellent scans is a minimal expectation. Additionally, set-up was a breeze.

What I am going to concentrate on is the lousy design. The designer should be fired, and the entire team should never be allowed near another Epson product. A little harsh, but you will understand. Set up in "portrait" position on the desk wg=hich yould seem to be the most natural as the "EPSON" and other labels are in normal reading position, I can live with the lid opening into me, so I have to reach around to load documents. The worst part is the power and USB cord connections are on the front corner and drape the length back to the back side of the desk. Epson actually puts a warning in the packing/set-up documents NOT to tuck the cords into the groove on the hinge (for a neat appearance) due to electromagnet field interference, but to dangle them out on the desk! The mere fact that they had to make out a special one page document explaining that, should have been a hint to Epson corporate leadership. The first scan I ran, I discovered another odd design quirk. Wondering why the tops of my rebate copies was cut off, discovered the start point was not the upper left corner at the rear, but the lower left corner at the front. This means that the documents are laid out upside down, with the top closest to you.

The way I will probably set it up is in "landscape" on the desk, where wires are to the rear, but labels are sideway, and operational buttons will be to the rear right rather than the front right.

First off I've been in the graphic design industry for about 7 years now. I'm also a painter and have slides that I want to digitize for various projects. I've used various brand name scanners over the years and haven't any problems with too many except for an old UMAX back in '98 (but that's another story) Also, I use a G4 powerbook. For the past 4 years I've been using a Canon Lide 30 with no problems - it is an awesome simple scanner. However, as stated I've been wanting to scan some older work (and new work) that is captured on 35mm slide. After some research, I had originally settled on the Canon 4400F. I was so anxious to get my work digitized for some upcoming projects, I went to Circuit City and Best Buy but to no avail, they don't carry the Canon 4400F. Best Buy had the Epson Perfection V100 in stock. I hadn't read a review, but the price was the same as the Canon and I looked over the specs and all seemed right, so I thought I'd give Epson a chance.
I got it home and unpacked the contents. Set-up was simple, albeit very slow. Setup even installed the plug-in to Photoshop which was nice. I was immediately impressed by the overall design of the unit. I enjoyed the cover opening from the side as I had seen another Epson model we had at the print shop. Also the cover is able to stay in the upright position. I did a test scan of photo of my dogs. The color and quality looked comparable to my old Canon Lide 30.
The problems arose when scanning slides. Scanning slides requires removing the inner reflective cover and placing the black slide/negative holder onto the bed. (the slide holder stores nicely behind the removable reflective cover when not in use - a handy feature) This procedure was not a big deal, however, the scan automatically cropped the slides a good 15% cutting off a great deal of my paintings and you cannot adjust this even in "professinal mode" I tried physically turning the slides 90 degrees and still it would cut off the image. Also, I was scanning at 300 dpi for 11" x 14" and the i know this sounds weird, but the scanning time was suspiciously QUICK. I opened up one of my images in Photoshop and checked the specs and it was indeed 11"x14" at 300 dpi. However the quality of the scan was blurry as a pair of coke bottle glasses. the unsharp mask filter (which i'm not a big fan of anyways) didn't help. it would just boost the contrast, but still a blurry image. Quality was definitely subpar. I closed the Epson Utility and went to the Epson website to see if I could find some help on the subject. Nothing really too helpful beyond the preverbial "make sure scanner is connected to computer" and "make sure no dust or hair is on scanner bed" etc. Then I go back to scan from photoshop and I get an error message saying something about "original scanner settings cannot be found, default settings will be used" then the scanner would make a sound and i'd get another error message saying something like "scanner cannot be found" I reinstalled the driver, which i haven't had to do on any peripheral since OS 9.2.2. Still didn't work. I then removed all traces of epson. restarted my computer and then re-installed the driver and it worked, but still cut off the slides. I have taken it back to Best Buy, who by the way were very polite and hassle-free when refunding my money. I will be getting, as originally planned, the Canon 4400F.

To clarify after the previous reviews:
The wires for the USB and power attach on the LONG side, right by the four buttons. Yes, there is a slot that looks like it was intended to hold them, they probably found that there was interference, so YES there is a warning not to use those slots, to let the wires hang.

The Hinge is also on the same long side, so, if you are putting this on a shelf, with the long side on the back wall and the wires hanging down, then you're fine. The buttons will be at the back, perhaps hard to see, but probably not.
If, on the other hand, you're going to put it on the side of your desk, with the SHORT side against the wall, then the wires either will sit on your desk (buttons at the front), or over the side (buttons will be at the back)
So there you go, I just bought this and it works really well, but my old scanner was pathetic and anything that doesn't light on fire at this point is an improvement for me, read the other reviews for functionality.....
Cheers.

After my old scanner died I read some reviews on scanners, and read that the previous Epson model was good. I went to CompUSA to pick it up, but was told that model was discontinued and here were the new models. Hoping that the current model would be just as good I bought the V100 scanner. My first V100 worked up until I did a few negative strips, and then I got this jack hammer sound and the scans were leaving some parts of the photo off, or stretching the photos. Disappointed I exchanged the scanner for a new V100. I used it for a few days with no problems, and thought all was good. About 3 months later I started to do some more scans and then the jack hammer started again with the same poor scan results. Now the store won't let me return the item for a new one so I'm stuck with a terrible scanner. I will give it 2 stars since the scans were good when it was working. My recommendation is to look at other scanners.

After reading some of the negative comments regarding this scanner I was quite hesitant to buy one, but the price was right, so I did. I was pleasantly surprised. It worked as advertised and the setup was without complications (for my PC at least, it may be different for a Mac). One word of advice; I believe that some people may have had trouble because they did not install the software before they installed the hardware. If you install the hardware first the computer may assign the wrong driver to it and then you are in deep trouble. It is sometimes difficult to then get the right driver assigned and if this is not done the scanner will never work right (if at all).

I scanned prints and slides without any trouble and I liked the way the film adapter stored in the cover. As far as the lack of an on/off switch goes; this is the third scanner that I have owned and neither of the previous two had one. I connect the scanner and my camera attachment to a separate terminal strip, which I can turn off, so the lack of an on/off switch is not a problem. Even if you do not do this, the lamp (which is the major power consumer) turns off automatically, so the lack of an internal switch is not a serious problem. (For those who do not know it, many of the things that you own, such as your TV and computer monitor do not completely turn off when you switch them off. There is generally some minimum power consumption to keep things warm. This minimizes the thermal shock when things are turned on and lengthens the component lives. If you want to actual turn things off you have to unplug them, or attach them through a terminal strip that has an on/off switch.)

I mentioned that this is the third scanner that I have owned. The other two failed to operate after a while and I could never figure out why. The lamps worked, but the Twain failed to be recognized. This occurred when a new operating system was installed, so I am reasonably sure that it was a software problem. If anyone knows why this was the case, please let me know through the comments section. Thank you.

Out of the box, onto the shelf and scanned my first picture in less than 5 minutes! No muss, no fuss, no problems.

The included software is VERY comprehensive and works great. (And it is not entirely without schadenfreude to read that the Maccies are not happy -- but it is Steve Jobs they should address, not Epson.)

It stands to reason that a scanner (not just this one) needs to be on a flat surface. You cannot expect a scanner -- at this price point -- to scan at less than a horizontal position and not get a percentage point or two of vertical stretch.

Face it, this is an EXCELLENT scanner for more than just basic uses -- it is not studio quality. If that's what you want or need, stop being so cheap and shell out for that sort of thing.

To start with Amazon blew me away with delivery. Ordered one afternoon and it was delivered next AM at 9:30.
The scanner itself, was so easy to use, copies of perfect quality.
It developed a small glitch with the software, but, there was a PHONE #
to call and a LIVE PERSON answered with the expertise to get me going again real fast.
A quality experience all around.

I'm assuming that you're buying this scanner because of the [...]rebate. If so, it's not a bad scanner. The build quality is on the cheap side.

I actually had a Microtek 4800 which I had been using for the last 4 years. It did well over 20,000 scans and was still going strong, but my Dad needed a scanner.

I had been avoiding Epson like the plague since the first scanner I even got made by them included NOTHING, not even a USB cable. So, I have to say that I was presently surprised by the inclusion of this cable and a slide-adaptor (quite rich trappings coming from Epson).

The scan quality is about on par with my Microtek, so that tell's you what the quality is like. The whites come out a wee bit brighter and I like the 48-bit function.

If you're not getting it under rebate, I wouldn't recommend this scanner. You'd do better with a Canon or Microtek at the same pricepoint. If at all possible, I always go with the Taiwanese vendors because they offer so many extras, their build quality is second to none, and because the prices are usually cheaper than all of the competition.

That's my[...].