Epson Perfection V600 Photo Color Scanner (B11B198011)

by Epson

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 19 x 11 x 4.6 inches ; 9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 13 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002OEBMRU
• Item model number: B11B198011
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (184 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #17 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Scanners
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 18, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Epson Perfection^® V600 Color Scanner

Photos | Film | Documents

Exceptional quality and versatility for home, office and studio. — The Epson Perfection V600 Photo delivers outstanding quality scans from photos, film, slides and everyday documents. With 6400 x 9600 dpi resolution, this high performance scanner ensures precision film scanning for sharp, vivid reproductions up to 17" x 22". Use the built-in Transparency Unit to scan slides, negatives and medium-format panoramic film up to 6 x 22 cm. The V600 Photo scans everything from invoices and receipts to photos and 3D objects. Featuring DIGITAL ICE® for both film and prints, one-touch color restoration and Adobe® Photoshop® Elements, this scanner provides a complete photo restoration solution. And, with the included Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, you can easily convert scanned documents into editable text. Use the scanner’s four customizable buttons to instantly scan, copy, scan-to-email and create PDFs. The V600 Photo also features Epson's exclusive ReadyScan LED technology for increased productivity and energy efficiency. The Epson Perfection V600 Photo — quality and versatility at an affordable price.

Enlarge

---

What the press is saying:

Perfection V600 Receives 4 of 5 Stars on MacNN “If you need to do a mix of photos and documents, this scanner should perform well for you and last a long time.” — Ilene Hoffman, Editor, MacNN, October 26, 2010

---

Versatility

6400 x 9600 dpi for film Enlargements up to 17” x 22”

Built-in Transparency Unit (TPU) For slides, negatives and medium-format film up to 6 x 22 cm

Scan everything you need Film, photos, documents, invoices, receipts, books, magazines and 3D objects

---

Complete photo restoration solution

Before	After	Before	After	Before	After
DIGITAL ICE for Prints Remove the appearance of tears and creases from damaged photos		DIGITAL ICE for Film Remove the appearance of dust and scratches from film		Easy Photo Fix For one-touch color restoration

---

Increased productivity

ReadyScan LED technology Fast scanning and no warm-up time

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) For converting scanned documents into editable text

Four customizable buttons Instantly copy, scan-to-email and create PDF’s

---

Features/Benefits Create extraordinary enlargements from film — 6400 x 9600 dpi for enlargements up to 17" x 22" Scan slides, negatives and medium–format panoramic film — built-in Transparency Unit Remove the appearance of tears and creases from damaged photos — DIGITAL ICE® for Prints Remove the appearance of dust and scratches from film — DIGITAL ICE for Film Restore faded color photos with one touch — Epson Easy Photo Fix included Achieve greater productivity — convert scanned documents into editable text with ABBYY® FineReader® Sprint Plus OCR Quickly complete any task — instantly scan, copy, scan-to-email and create PDFs with four customizable buttons Energy-efficient LED for fast scans — exclusive ReadyScan LED light source means no warmup time, faster scans and lower power consumption Take your photos further — Adobe Photoshop Elements included, to help edit and enhance your digital images Weight and Dimensions (W x D x H) — Weight: 9.0 lb, Dimensions: 11" x 19" x 4.6"

Enlarge

What's in the Box

• Perfection V600 Photo color scanner
• Transparency unit (built into lid)
• Film holders for: 35mm film and mounted slides & 6 x 22 cm medium-format film
• Scanner software CD-Rom
• Adobe Photoshop Elements DVD
• Start Here poster
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0 cable
• AC adapter and power cable

Epson Perfection series

This powerful line of products offers the versatility you need for extraordinary scans at home or in the office. With innovative Epson technology, it's easy for anyone to achieve remarkable results. Whether you want to scan photos, film, documents or 3D objects, there's a model made for you. Scan reports and receipts, restore faded color photos, or make incredible enlargements from film. It's all possible with an Epson Perfection scanner.

Eco features

• Designed to be Recycled^*
• ENERGY STAR^® qualified
• Mercury-free LED
• LED light source — lower energy consumption than a fluorescent lamp

---

* See our website for convenient and reasonable recycling options at www.epson.com/recycle

Epson is a registered trademark, Epson Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark and Better Products for a Better Future and ReadyScan are trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation. Easy Photo Fix and Perfection are registered trademarks of Epson America, Inc. All other product and brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. Copyright 2009 Epson America, Inc. 8/09

Product Description

EPSON PERFECTIONV600 PHOTO COLOR SCANNER

---

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

  Page of (Start over)

Back

• 

  PEC-PAD Lint Free Wipes 4"x4" 100per / Pkg

  4.2 out of 5 stars (45)

  $8.95
• 

  Carson Optical Lumiloupe 10X Power Magnifier by Carson

  4.2 out of 5 stars (20)

  $5.73
• 

  Photographic Emulsion Cleaner 4 oz spray

  3.5 out of 5 stars (19)

  $15.73
• 

  Kinetronics Clean Scan Cleaning Maintenance System for Scanners...

  4.5 out of 5 stars (2)

  $9.95
• 

  Archival Methods White Cotton Gloves Large, Package of 12

  4.5 out of 5 stars (4)

  $8.90
• 

  Printfile 357B100 35MM Negatives 7 Strips 5 Frames Sheets 100-pack

  4.6 out of 5 stars (27)

  $20.19

Next

---

Available Warranties for This Item

• 
  SquareTrade 3-Year Electronics Warranty ($175-200 Items)

  4.6 out of 5 stars (36)

  $29.99

  SquareTrade 3-Year Electronics Warranty ($175-200 Items)
• 
  SquareTrade 2-Year Electronics Warranty ($175-200 Items)

  4.3 out of 5 stars (3)

  $18.99

  SquareTrade 2-Year Electronics Warranty ($175-200 Items)
• 
  SquareTrade 2-Year Accident Protection + Warranty...

  4.4 out of 5 stars (20)

  $33.99

  SquareTrade 2-Year Accident Protection + Warranty (Electronics $175-200)

---

 

Customer Reviews

184 Reviews 5 star:  (113) 4 star:  (47) 3 star:  (12) 2 star:  (3) 1 star:  (9)           Average Customer Review 4.4 out of 5 stars (184 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 443 of 448 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Epson V600 works for me!, January 8, 2010 By  DR McKenzie (Sacramento area, CA, United States) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase This review is from: Epson Perfection V600 Photo Color Scanner (B11B198011) (Office Product) I did quite a bit of research before buying this unit, so I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into. Of course, there were some concerns about software, etc., but I went in with an open mind. First, this unit does a superb job of scanning both slides and film, so that part worked out very well. At first, I scanned at 4800 dpi, but after a bit, realized that 3600 dpi was more than enough resolution for most pictures. People have said that the carrier is flimsy, but it wasn't a problem. Tip -- when scanning a lot of slides, tape the left and bottom sides of the carrier to the scanner chassis (not the glass). You can quickly drop slides into the slots and later remove them, without the carrier shifting. A lot of people were put off by the Epson software, and suggested Vuescan. I demo'd Vuescan, and wasn't impressed. Why spend a bunch of time modifying the image before the scan, when it is so much easier to make adjustments later in Photoshop 7 (supplied with the scanner)? All I really want to do when scanning is to get a decent version of the image, minimizing clipping, etc., without investing a lot of time. I also like the way Epson auto-cropped the pictures for me. After some frustration, I hit on method for using the Epson software effectively: 1) Don't use "Unsharp mask" when scanning. Use Photoshop's version later. 2) Select all the pictures and apply "Auto Exposure". This fixes the colors, but does a lot of high and low clipping. 3) The images will now look much more like real pictures, but need a bit of work. 4) Select a pic and zoom it. Select "Histogram Adjustment". See the top graph? Note that the left and right sliders are too far in toward the middle, so information is being clipped. 5) Before making any changes to the sliders, look at the middle graph. It will usually have a bit of a dip (tending toward the bottom right). Remember what it looks like. 6) Now, go to the top graph, and move the top and bottom sliders out, until they are just outside the black area. You have now eliminated the clipping, but your now picture looks terrible. Note that the curve in the middle graph has dipped way to the bottom-right. 7) Move the center slider to the left, while looking at the curve in the middle graph. Remember how it used to look? Try to make the curve look like it used to, with the same little dip toward the bottom-right. That's it! Go to the next image and do the same thing. Once you get the hang of it, each picture takes about 5 seconds. The nice thing about this technique is that you don't even have to look at the picture while you're doing it. Guard against a tendency to make a dark picture too bright by overdoing the correction. Remember, you're better off fixing the image in Photoshop. Meanwhile, you've got an picture that's viewable now, and that still has all the information you'll need to make it a great picture later. Once I figured this out, and unleashed the V600 to do its thing, the rest is history.... 189 of 190 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Great scanners, great software, March 12, 2010 By  Magazine Guy (Southern New Hampshire) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase This review is from: Epson Perfection V600 Photo Color Scanner (B11B198011) (Office Product) Don't get too worked up by the negative reviews calling the Epson Scan software "junk." It isn't. I read enough of the other reviews to convince me to download a copy of Vuescan and try it out right away. True, Vuescan has a lot of film profiles that should be more accurate than the limited number Epson uses, but the trouble with Vuescan and this V600 scanner--in my experience--is that the frames for batch scanning a group of negatives were not accurate, and it was more than a little confusing, if not impossible, to change the frames around. This feature of Vuescan is very confusing your first couple of times around, and I lost patience and shut the program down. Then, thinking I'd better try the Epson software before considering returning the scanner, I opened Epson Scan. I went straight to "Professional" mode, checked out all the parameters they allow adjustment to, selected what I wanted, and clicked "Preview." This is scanning two strips of negatives, mind you. When the preview came up, it had all twelve frames boxed in their own boxes, all basically color-corrected and ready for action. You select a check-box to pick which frames you want to scan, and click on each separate frame to diddle with it--like rotate it to the proper orientation, or change the exposure, whatever. Then just hit "Scan" and walk away. When it finishes you have all your selected scans in your "My Pictures" folder or wherever you want them, named whatever you want with "001", "002" and so-on appended to the name. It is easy as pie, and the quality is on par with any scanner I've used so far. Speed? For a 2400 dpi neg scan much less than a minute per scan. Now some caveats. I'm not running Digital ICE, not doing any kind of sharpening, nothing. All I want is a raw scan; all the fiddling you want to do is better done afterwards in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, it does a much better job. If your negatives need all kinds of cleaning, or if they're all scratched up and require a lot of correcting in the scan, you screwed up. Take care of your negs and slides, keep them clean, and you won't have problems scanning them. You can clean them with a quick wipe with a lint-free cloth with a little rubber cement thinner on it--just don't use anything water-based on negs and slides. Secondly, just for grins I loaded a magazine page into the scanner and tried out the OCR software, ABBYY. They claim that it can scan and convert printed text into type. If you've had any experience with OCR software, you probably take that claim with a large grain of salt, like I did. But one quick scan--greyscale, 400 dpi--and the page was up on the screen. Pull it into Microsoft Word and it was 100 percent accurate, every word spelled correctly, even the closest font was selected for the text. An incredible job, in my opinion. What's my qualifications? I've been working with images my whole professional life. 40 years of photography or more, working with digital images since they first came out. I've owned a dozen different flatbed scanners and a couple of film scanners. You might be able to get better results from a more expensive scanner, but for the money this Epson V600 is tough to beat. Highly recommended. And give the included software a chance, you'll probably like it just fine. 157 of 161 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Film Scanner on a Budget, December 2, 2009 By  E. J Tastad "ejt" (Marion, IA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)    This review is from: Epson Perfection V600 Photo Color Scanner (B11B198011) (Office Product) (What's this?) Pros: Easy to use Great results with film, 6x7, 645, and 135 (35mm) Cons: Software is a bit clunky Digital ICE can do bizarre things Largest Improvements Over V500: Can now scan four 645 or three 6x7 negatives at a time (spec is 6x22cm). Bottom Line: Great deal for a flatbed scanner that is designed primarily for film and graphic arts use. I don't think I would upgrade from the V500 unless you scan a lot of medium format film, and even then it might be worth checking to see if the new medium format insert would work in the V500 (I don't know if it would or not). The software is the same as the V500. One of the large bottlenecks of the V500 is that it will only scan two 645 negatives at a time. Since I usually cut in strips of 3, this is a problem. It means I had to scan each strip twice, once to get two of the images, and a second time to get the third. This means I had to 10 scans to get through a roll of 15 images. The V600 allows me to do this in 5 scans instead of 10. This is a nice time savings. Sometimes the Digital ICE produces some bizarre artifacts, like halos around sharp edges and in shadows. It also at least doubles or triples the scan time. The somewhat random nature of the results and slow scan times makes me avoid Digital ICE entirely. The dust reduction does help, but do plan on spending 5 or 10 minutes in Lightroom removing dust spots from critical images. Dusting your negatives and keeping them clean will help a lot. Keep an antistatic brush and cotton gloves handy when scanning negatives. This is a great scanner for film shooters, and will quickly pay for itself over just 10 or 20 rolls of film. Expect to get results comparable to a decent DSLR camera, if I had to wager a guess a 135 (35mm) negative might be comparable to a 6 MP SLR where the medium format might be more like a 12 MP equivalent, but these comparisons are dangerous and don't really mean a whole lot and I haven't done resolution testing. This scanner is ideal for a hobbyist medium format film shooter that doesn't want to pay a fortune for scans, or someone looking to restore a few dozen rolls of film or slides. Expect to spend 1 or 2 hours per roll processing though.		Most Recent Customer Reviews 2.0 out of 5 stars Very poor software and Little or no improvement when using Digital ICE I've bought Epson v600 to scan old films, slides and prints mainly. I have noticed litte or no improvement when using Digital ICE for prints and old films (although when using... Read more Published 6 hours ago by alexthunder 2.0 out of 5 stars Trouble Scanning Negatives When it works, it's fine. But it very frequently gets a brain cramp and will not allow me to scan film negatives. The menu won't even show the option. Read more Published 5 days ago by Rick Weber 5.0 out of 5 stars Great for slides I have a lot of old slides that I wanted to scan in. This scanner does a great job with slides and you can do them 5 at a time. Published 6 days ago by Susan 5.0 out of 5 stars Probably better for advanced users, beginners beware. I can only speak to film scanning, I have not tried scanning prints or documents yet. I'm using the V600 with VueScan (basic) on a 2006 Thinkpad running Ubuntu 11. Read more Published 9 days ago by Christopher J. Hayden 5.0 out of 5 stars I think I'm in love! :-) I purchased the Epson scanner for the purpose of scanning and converting to digital a collection of 3000+ 35 mm slides. Read more Published 10 days ago by max74 5.0 out of 5 stars Make your old camera smile :) Most of the film cameras, includes medium formats(120, 220), can be transfer to the digital version, and you're gonna find out a new magical film world....... Published 11 days ago by Benjamin H.G 4.0 out of 5 stars A slightly qualified kudo I've only had it for several days now, but I am confident that my current experience will endure. This is a beautifully finished machine, and the scanned results are near... Read more Published 14 days ago by Richard G. Morrison 4.0 out of 5 stars Fast and scans negatives I bought two of the Epson V600 Photo Scanners, one for a gift and one for use with a family history project. Read more Published 15 days ago by Kathy Kindle Lover 5.0 out of 5 stars excellent scanner Got this scanner for Christmas from my son. I have used it to scan photos, 35mm slides and 35mm negatives and it has not disappointed. Read more Published 16 days ago by Bette Jo Kauffman 5.0 out of 5 stars Much nicer scanner than I was expecting for this price. Sure, you've read the other critical reviews about folks saying "spend $700 on this other scanner because it's 'better'". Read more Published 17 days ago by Jeff Melton Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

---

Related Items

• Most Popular
• Service & Replacement Plans
• Hunting Optics
• Darkroom Chemicals
• Computer Printers
• Photographic Storage Materials
• Camera & Photo Cleaners

Page of

• 
  SquareTrade 4-Year Electronics Warranty ($175-200 Items)

  39.99

  $39.99

  In Stock from SquareTrade.

  Add to cart
• 
  SquareTrade 3-Year Accident Protection + Warranty (Electronics $175-200)

  4.7 out of 5 stars (235)

  44.99

  $44.99

  In Stock from SquareTrade.

  Add to cart
• 
  Canopy 3-Year Electronics Drops & Spills Protection Plan ($175-$200)

  Currently unavailable
• 
  Carson Optical Lumiloupe 10X Power Magnifier

  4.2 out of 5 stars (20)

  5.73

  $5.73

  In Stock and eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping

  Add to cart
• 
  Carson Optical Lumiloupe 15X Power Magnifier

  3.0 out of 5 stars (3)

  5.95

  $8.99 $5.95

  In stock. Processing takes an additional 4 to 5 days from Colonial Medical Assisted Devices.

  Add to cart
• 
  Photographic Emulsion Cleaner 4 oz spray

  3.5 out of 5 stars (19)

  15.73

  $15.73

  In Stock from Mel Pierce Camera.

  Add to cart
• 
  Epson Artisan 837 Color Inkjet Wireless All-In-One with Fax (C11CB20201)

  4.4 out of 5 stars (102)

  244.79

  $329.99 $244.79

  In Stock from LowPriceFastShipping.

  Add to cart
• 
  Canon PIXMA iP4920 Premium Inkjet Photo Printer (5287B002)

  3.9 out of 5 stars (20)

  84.98

  $99.99 $84.98

  In Stock and eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping

  Add to cart

---

Tags Customers Associate with This Product  (What's this?) Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people. Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below.  epson v600 scanner(41) photo scanner(32) slide scanner(30) film scanner(23) negative scanner(21) scanner(18) mac(13) epson scanner(8) photography(6) canon(2) Agree with these tags? See all 32 tags... Your tags: Add your first tag

Search Products Tagged with   See most popular tags

Like 1327868468 false 0 48 48 47 (48)

---

Customer Discussions

This product's forum Discussion Replies Latest Post Ease of Use for Film 0 13 days ago Old negatives 1 14 days ago Need comparison v600 with V330 0 20 days ago Epson V600 or Canoscan 9000f 10 Dec 22, 2011 Adobe Photoshop Elements 0 Oct 15, 2011 photoshop cs5 0 Sep 26, 2010 Macs 7 Apr 5, 2010 › See all 7 discussions...   Start a new discussion Topic: First post: Receive e-mail when new posts are made Prompts for sign-in   Guidelines Search Customer Discussions Only search this product's forum

---

Look for Similar Items by Category

• Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Scanners

PCNation Privacy Statement PCNation Shipping Information PCNation Returns & Exchanges

Get to Know Us Careers Investor Relations Press Releases Amazon and Our Planet Amazon in the Community Make Money with Us Sell on Amazon Become an Affiliate Advertise Your Products Independently Publish with Us › See all Let Us Help You Shipping Rates & Policies Amazon Prime Returns Are Easy Manage Your Kindle Help

Canada China France Germany Italy Japan Spain United Kingdom AbeBooks Rare Books & Textbooks AmazonLocal Great Local Deals in Your City AmazonWireless Cellphones & Wireless Plans Askville Community Answers Audible Download Audio Books Diapers.com Everything But The Baby DPReview Digital Photography Endless Shoes & More Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting   IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities MYHABIT Private Fashion Designer Sales Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands Small Parts Industrial Supplies Soap.com Health, Beauty & Home Essentials Warehouse Deals Open-Box Discounts Woot Never Gonna Give You Up Zappos Shoes & Clothing   Conditions of Use Privacy Notice © 1996-2012, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

443 of 448 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epson V600 works for me!, January 8, 2010

By 

DR McKenzie (Sacramento area, CA, United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Epson Perfection V600 Photo Color Scanner (B11B198011) (Office Product)

I did quite a bit of research before buying this unit, so I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into. Of course, there were some concerns about software, etc., but I went in with an open mind.

First, this unit does a superb job of scanning both slides and film, so that part worked out very well. At first, I scanned at 4800 dpi, but after a bit, realized that 3600 dpi was more than enough resolution for most pictures. People have said that the carrier is flimsy, but it wasn't a problem. Tip -- when scanning a lot of slides, tape the left and bottom sides of the carrier to the scanner chassis (not the glass). You can quickly drop slides into the slots and later remove them, without the carrier shifting.

A lot of people were put off by the Epson software, and suggested Vuescan. I demo'd Vuescan, and wasn't impressed. Why spend a bunch of time modifying the image before the scan, when it is so much easier to make adjustments later in Photoshop 7 (supplied with the scanner)? All I really want to do when scanning is to get a decent version of the image, minimizing clipping, etc., without investing a lot of time. I also like the way Epson auto-cropped the pictures for me.

After some frustration, I hit on method for using the Epson software effectively:

1) Don't use "Unsharp mask" when scanning. Use Photoshop's version later.
2) Select all the pictures and apply "Auto Exposure". This fixes the colors, but does a lot of high and low clipping.
3) The images will now look much more like real pictures, but need a bit of work.
4) Select a pic and zoom it. Select "Histogram Adjustment". See the top graph? Note that the left and right sliders are too far in toward the middle, so information is being clipped.
5) Before making any changes to the sliders, look at the middle graph. It will usually have a bit of a dip (tending toward the bottom right). Remember what it looks like.
6) Now, go to the top graph, and move the top and bottom sliders out, until they are just outside the black area. You have now eliminated the clipping, but your now picture looks terrible. Note that the curve in the middle graph has dipped way to the bottom-right.
7) Move the center slider to the left, while looking at the curve in the middle graph. Remember how it used to look? Try to make the curve look like it used to, with the same little dip toward the bottom-right.

That's it! Go to the next image and do the same thing. Once you get the hang of it, each picture takes about 5 seconds.

The nice thing about this technique is that you don't even have to look at the picture while you're doing it. Guard against a tendency to make a dark picture too bright by overdoing the correction. Remember, you're better off fixing the image in Photoshop. Meanwhile, you've got an picture that's viewable now, and that still has all the information you'll need to make it a great picture later.

Once I figured this out, and unleashed the V600 to do its thing, the rest is history....

189 of 190 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great scanners, great software, March 12, 2010

By 

Magazine Guy (Southern New Hampshire) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Epson Perfection V600 Photo Color Scanner (B11B198011) (Office Product)

Don't get too worked up by the negative reviews calling the Epson Scan software "junk." It isn't. I read enough of the other reviews to convince me to download a copy of Vuescan and try it out right away. True, Vuescan has a lot of film profiles that should be more accurate than the limited number Epson uses, but the trouble with Vuescan and this V600 scanner--in my experience--is that the frames for batch scanning a group of negatives were not accurate, and it was more than a little confusing, if not impossible, to change the frames around. This feature of Vuescan is very confusing your first couple of times around, and I lost patience and shut the program down.
Then, thinking I'd better try the Epson software before considering returning the scanner, I opened Epson Scan. I went straight to "Professional" mode, checked out all the parameters they allow adjustment to, selected what I wanted, and clicked "Preview." This is scanning two strips of negatives, mind you. When the preview came up, it had all twelve frames boxed in their own boxes, all basically color-corrected and ready for action. You select a check-box to pick which frames you want to scan, and click on each separate frame to diddle with it--like rotate it to the proper orientation, or change the exposure, whatever. Then just hit "Scan" and walk away. When it finishes you have all your selected scans in your "My Pictures" folder or wherever you want them, named whatever you want with "001", "002" and so-on appended to the name. It is easy as pie, and the quality is on par with any scanner I've used so far. Speed? For a 2400 dpi neg scan much less than a minute per scan.
Now some caveats. I'm not running Digital ICE, not doing any kind of sharpening, nothing. All I want is a raw scan; all the fiddling you want to do is better done afterwards in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, it does a much better job. If your negatives need all kinds of cleaning, or if they're all scratched up and require a lot of correcting in the scan, you screwed up. Take care of your negs and slides, keep them clean, and you won't have problems scanning them. You can clean them with a quick wipe with a lint-free cloth with a little rubber cement thinner on it--just don't use anything water-based on negs and slides.
Secondly, just for grins I loaded a magazine page into the scanner and tried out the OCR software, ABBYY. They claim that it can scan and convert printed text into type. If you've had any experience with OCR software, you probably take that claim with a large grain of salt, like I did. But one quick scan--greyscale, 400 dpi--and the page was up on the screen. Pull it into Microsoft Word and it was 100 percent accurate, every word spelled correctly, even the closest font was selected for the text. An incredible job, in my opinion.
What's my qualifications? I've been working with images my whole professional life. 40 years of photography or more, working with digital images since they first came out. I've owned a dozen different flatbed scanners and a couple of film scanners. You might be able to get better results from a more expensive scanner, but for the money this Epson V600 is tough to beat. Highly recommended. And give the included software a chance, you'll probably like it just fine.

157 of 161 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Film Scanner on a Budget, December 2, 2009

By 

E. J Tastad "ejt" (Marion, IA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Epson Perfection V600 Photo Color Scanner (B11B198011) (Office Product)

(What's this?)

Pros:
Easy to use
Great results with film, 6x7, 645, and 135 (35mm)

Cons:
Software is a bit clunky
Digital ICE can do bizarre things

Largest Improvements Over V500:
Can now scan four 645 or three 6x7 negatives at a time (spec is 6x22cm).

Bottom Line:
Great deal for a flatbed scanner that is designed primarily for film and graphic arts use. I don't think I would upgrade from the V500 unless you scan a lot of medium format film, and even then it might be worth checking to see if the new medium format insert would work in the V500 (I don't know if it would or not). The software is the same as the V500.

One of the large bottlenecks of the V500 is that it will only scan two 645 negatives at a time. Since I usually cut in strips of 3, this is a problem. It means I had to scan each strip twice, once to get two of the images, and a second time to get the third. This means I had to 10 scans to get through a roll of 15 images. The V600 allows me to do this in 5 scans instead of 10. This is a nice time savings.

Sometimes the Digital ICE produces some bizarre artifacts, like halos around sharp edges and in shadows. It also at least doubles or triples the scan time. The somewhat random nature of the results and slow scan times makes me avoid Digital ICE entirely. The dust reduction does help, but do plan on spending 5 or 10 minutes in Lightroom removing dust spots from critical images. Dusting your negatives and keeping them clean will help a lot. Keep an antistatic brush and cotton gloves handy when scanning negatives.

This is a great scanner for film shooters, and will quickly pay for itself over just 10 or 20 rolls of film. Expect to get results comparable to a decent DSLR camera, if I had to wager a guess a 135 (35mm) negative might be comparable to a 6 MP SLR where the medium format might be more like a 12 MP equivalent, but these comparisons are dangerous and don't really mean a whole lot and I haven't done resolution testing. This scanner is ideal for a hobbyist medium format film shooter that doesn't want to pay a fortune for scans, or someone looking to restore a few dozen rolls of film or slides. Expect to spend 1 or 2 hours per roll processing though.