Customer Reviews

Epson Perfection V33 Photo Scanner (B11B200201)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this two weeks ago, great price, free and fast delivery from Beach Camera through Amazon. I got this to replace my old Epson 636U, which I loved but which was not compatible with my new Windows 7 computer.

Well, this one could not have been easier to setup. In less than 10 minutes I was scanning. And the only reason it took that long was because I had to decide which photograph was going to be the first one I scanned. I tried the auto mode and the Professional (Photographer) mode and they both came out great: fast, great colors, and sharp. I can see that using the auto mode will probably be more than sufficient for most scans and most people. But, if you like to tweak with histograms and gamma and all that other PhotoShop-type stuff, you have plenty of flexibility. I haven't had a chance yet to try out the rest of the software and features but they look promising.

Now, for the asterisk: it's not enough of a complaint to ding it one star down from five, but it is slightly annoying. I don't care for the placement of the power cable and USB connectors on the unit; I think they'd be better in the "back" of the unit, but maybe they are right next to the power/control buttons to save money and space. And maybe it's just a problem for me because I have the unit on the right side of my desk and the computer tower is on the floor on the left side. (I can't reconfigure it any better). So, since the unit is so compact, I turned it "sideways" and it worked out just fine. The cover flips open perfectly, the power/USB cable are out of my way, and the little extra reach to the buttons is no big deal. So: still five stars.

Highly recommended, not only for the price, but for the features, and results. Now, on to the thousands of photos I want to scan in. Maybe I'll update this review after a few hundred....

I have been using scanners dating back to the days of SCSI ports. In fact, my first scanner was a motorized hand scanner that also included the ability to travel on a board with a track. I've used all sorts of brands of flatbeds ever since, so I'm in a good position to give a non-professional assessment of the scanner. However, as a reader of many, many reviews myself, I'll keep it brief.

To begin with, the installation was not that complicated (Windows 7) and the scanner fired up perfectly and did several scan jobs for me without a hitch.

WHY DID I BUY IT? We already had scanning capability in our All-In-One Canon MP series printer/scanner/copier. Truthfully, scanning pictures is not all that great with the Canon, which is more focused on document scanning. Last week my wife mentioned that we should digitally scan the several decades of pictures we have. In addition to that project, it came up that she would like to scan pictures at her sisters. Of course, I would would like to scan my 87 year old Dad's pictures as well. Both of them live in excess of 100 miles away, pretty much negating the use of the rather large and very slow Canon. Thus began my search for a decent quality flatbed scanner that I could travel with and use with my notebook computer.

I spent considerable time researching on the internet and came very close to buying an Epson V-600 (about as close as you can get to the venerable V-700, without the excessive cost). However, the more I check it out the more I realized that I would not be requiring any of the more advanced, high resolution scanning it offered. That is what led me to the Epson Perfection V-33. The price was really good and I was positive that it would fill the bill for scanning and restoring old photos and news clippings.

If you're looking for a smaller profile, flatbed scanner that can scan and restore your home photos, this is the machine. Epson's included software is not overly sophisticated, but very good at handling the job. Would I recommend the V-33? Most certainly!!!

This scanner is simply outstanding. The resolution is perfection. The best feature of the Epson V33 photo scanner is the ability to scan documents into a "pdf" file. I recently scanned a 23 page document, saved it as a pdf, and e-mailed it as an attachment; and you don't have to buy Adobe Acrobat to do it. Not having to wait for a "warm-up" is a real bonus too. This scanner is a Winner! The only negative feature is the fact that Epson located the power and interface connectors at the front-right side of the scanner (by the buttons) instead of the rear of the unit.

I've always liked Epson products, so getting this scanner was a fairly easy choice. It is easy to use and it interfaces with my Mac OSX system flawlessly.

Now the negative... I hate the position of the USB and power inputs. We're all familiar with what the "front" of a device like this is. The control buttons are located at the "front" along a short edge and closest to the user while the power and data inputs are at the "back" on the other short edge closest to the wall or back edge of the desk. Not so with this scanner. For some reason I or any other sane, logical person can fathom, it was decided to position the inputs right at the front, adjacent to the control buttons. So, the conventional ideas regarding locating the scanner within your home office cannot apply. You can position the scanner so the inputs are at the "back," but then so will be the control buttons and a long edge will be facing out. Or you can position the control buttons out and closest to the user, but then the unsightly power and USB plugs are on prominent display right at the front corner where they also prevent flush placement against a wall or desk hutch.

In the balance of Form and Function, Epson completely ignored Form. As for Function, the V33 is great.

I've owned an Epson Prefection 1240U Photo for years and years. Then the power adapter to my old Epson burns up. So i research Epson and found the V33. Seems to have the same CCD scanning eye as the V330 photo model. So I bought the V33 for $70 and start scanning photos to see how close it scans to the original print. Without any adjustments this V33 scanner over-exposes the original. Anything BLACK on the original or any deep color is washed-out and dull looking. What makes a nice looking photo, in my opinion, is stunning black contrasts that make all the other colors "pop". So to even come close to the original I had to adjust the Brightness to -15 in the scan wizard expert-mode to even try to get deep sharp contrast. Second thing I didnt like is the scanner seem to be a magnet for dust particles. I have a small horsehair brush I use to sweep dust away on photos. I swept both the orginal and the glass and it still shows dust particles speckled on the scanned photo. Only thing I can think of is the inside of the glass has dust on it and I'm not about to take the thing apart to clean the inside glass. Sorry to say this thing is getting boxed back up and returned. Sorry V33 you are a real disappointment :(

I recently purchased one of these for my Father, who had upgraded to Win 7, and his old Canon scanner apparently will never have drivers for 64-bit OS.
Even more critical, is that my Dad is 80 years old, so he isn't a real technology adopter. He also has an HP all-in-wonder printer/fax/scanner, but the scanner portion was always too complicated for him to use.
This scanner does the trick! It installs w/ the 64-bit OS w/o problems, it took a little digging through the software to find the 'one button solution' to get the image from the scanner into his family tree program. He is happy.
Also, the scanner does an outstanding job of scanning! I also purchased one for myself, so I was very pleased with the quality.

Excellent resolution, easy to use, great included software for cleaning up scanned photos. I'd recommend this device to anyone interested in scanning in all their old photos that are stuffed into shoe boxes or dusty albums.

I used to have an older Epson Perfection 1260 scanner and this latest version of the scanner turned out to be far superior. It's faster and LED light is powerful enough to scan documents that don't make full contact to the glass surface.

Good software bundle as well.

I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great scanner at a good price.

Love this scanner as it allows you to scan multiple photos at once. Just highlight the photos on the page you'd like to scan and the scanner will scan them all and save them individually. Saves SO much time!

All your old photo's will not last forever, they just keep on getting lighter and lighter and more frail and fragile. However,,, Now with the Epson Perfection V33, all you do is hook it up to you computer.,, you put an old photo in the scanner touch the button,,, and magic - that old photo shows up under your pictures on your computer and it even looks better than it did. Now that your old photo is on the computer, it can be burned onto a CD or just kept in storage in a memory stick,, so now your old photos can last forever - FANTASTIC.

This Epson Perfection V33 Photo Scanner is super easy to use, very easy to set up, and it scans 8x10's and everything else. When you scan a little tiny picture - it still comes out very clear and a lot larger. Of course this scanner does not use any ink at all, if you want to print, just turn on your own printer.

Thank you very much Epson for a great product and especially at a great price, and now my great-grand-kids,,,great-grand-kids can continue to enjoy all these old photos for now own.