well, I've decided it's really time for a new scanner, all I've got right now is a Lexmark X73 Printer / Scanner (which has some kind of problem, since I get colored stripes along some part of each of my scans about 90% of the time no matter what I do - plus the scan quality is not sharp and not great quality. Ugh! not gonna be getting another all in one.. ) and it is really not much use to me for doing real work because of the lack of quality. needing something new worked out well for timing, since my dad is getting a new computer system and wanted to get a good scanner along with it. we checked out pricing and specs, and found that we could get the Epson Perfection PHOTO 1250 for about $120 (cdn) which had the features we were looking for (especially the ability to do tranparency scans for slides) and a low enough price tag. just wondering if anybody has used the 1250 or knows much about it? is it at least a fairly good scanner? have you had any problems with it? also, with the transparency adapter am I going to be able to scan negatives and film strips? If all goes as planned, I'll be getting the scanner tomorrow.

- David :)

David, I have no personal experience with this scanner. But, you might want to check http://www.epinions.com. It looks like there are a few user reviews there. (I typed "Epson 1250 scanner" into the search engine.)

Hope someone else here can give you personal experience!

Jeanie

Thanks Jeanie,

I've seen that site before but I'd forgotten about it, so thanks for the link. there was some good reviews there.

- David :)

Sounds like a perfect candidate for our own new review database :)

David...I don't know much about the Epson 1250, but I do have the Epson 1650. This is my first scanner and it came w/slide scan option, which is a light in the lid.

To get the light on, you have to unplug the scanner,( it does not have an on/off switch) and plug in the light. I wanted it for transfering years of astro-photo 35mm slides to digital. I found it completely inadequate for this function. It might work better on large format transparencys. Anyway, the light quit working after about a week, and I found that to get it repaired under warranty, I would be without a scanner for up to 60 days. Thus, I never got it fixed..

The scanner does a great job otherwise, and I highly reccomend Epson hardware. I also use an Epson 820 Photo printer which gives ME good results.

Hope some of this info helps you and your dad...Good luck!! Gregory

David,
I purchased the scanner several months ago, and I love it. The only issue I had was with the "smart Panel" which kept popping up randomly. Turns out it was a software issue and a download is available at the website.


I hope to be able to upgrade to another scanner within the next couple of months, though.

Originally posted by Doug Nelson
Sounds like a perfect candidate for our own new review database :)
:D will do, as soon as I can actually get the thing. thanks for the tips, gregory and rick. well, my dad went to the store today to pick up the scanner, but it turned out that they only had the 1250, not the 1250 PHOTO (so no transparency adapter :( ) ARG!! I guess I'm gonna have to wait for a couple days now at least. we did look around at some more sites today and now we're thinking about maybe the 1260 Photo, even though it is a fair bit more expensive. another possibility I saw was the
Microtek SM 4800 (http://www.compusmart.com/product.asp?CatalogID=0&SupplierPartID=337203&CurrentSegment=Peripherals%7CScanners). does anyobody know much about Microtek's reputation and quality? I'd be interested to hear whether you think the Epson or the Microtek would be a better choice. thanks!

- David :)

I finally got the "Epson Perfection 1260 Photo" this evening!! I got it installed and did a couple quick test scans and I'm *really* impressed. the colors are excellent, and the scans are coming out very sharp, and even at 300dpi, I can zoom way in on it and it still looks good. haven't had a chance to try out the transparency adapter yet, but I'll write a review over in the new reviews section when I've played with it for a while.

- David :)