I just got my new scanner in the mail. Our other one finally bit the dust. I chose the Epson Perfection 1650 Photo because it has the built in transparancy unit and Epsons rated very high on the reviews. I don't know what I expected having had only one other scanner to compare with but all I can say is WOW. I am so amazed at how well it scans and the color negative scan came up like a photo. I am truly impressed. You can go for the simple settings or tweek your pre-scan to your hearts content. The twain software is fantastic with every setting adjustment you can imagine. I am very pleased with the quality of this scanner and the ease of use. As I get better aquainted with the bells and whistles I will let you know more. So far for $250 it's a remarkable machine.
DJ

Cool!!! What is the max. size negative the unit will handle? Sounds like a pretty impressive piece of hardware. Tom

Dj,

Do you know about 'comp.periphs.scanners' on usenet or am I preaching to the converted ?

Cool! I can't wait to try it out! :D What's the optical resolution, and like Tom, I'd be interested in the negative formats it handles. Sounds like you won't have too much free time for a while. Glad you like it so far.

Ed

Chris
I don't know what it is I'm converted from. 'comp.periphs.scanners' on usenet?? What is that?

Tom and Ed
Negative size is 35mm but there is an optional one I can get that scans transparancies of 4x5 inches if I should need one in the future.

The optical resolution is 1600 dpi.
Color depth is 48 bits per pixel
Optical Density is 3.2 Dmax
Flatbed size is 8.5x11.7

Hope I covered the most interesting features. Haven't played too much with it yet but I plan to explore more when I get some free time.
DJ

How does it do with color slides? What type of settings do you have to play with? Oh, I love new toys!!! SOooo many of 'em out there and SOooo little money!!! Darn!!! TOM

That sounds pretty decent to me! Wanna trade? :) I hope that 4 X 5 transparency adapter doesn't cost more than the scanner. :) I'm jealous.

Ed

I believe that added transparancy thing is about $85. Not something I plan to buy soon. As a matter of fact, for that price I think I will try rigging something and just double scan and peice them together as I would an over size photo. Where there's a will there's a way to save money.

I haven't done any slides yet Tom but I will let you know. If it is anything like the negatives, I will be thouroughly pleased.

Yeah, I love them new toys too. I hadn't planned on this one especially with all the other modifications we've done lately but what are you going to do when you need to scan and the old one breaks down. God, please no more break downs!! Now the thing that's broke is my bank account. OUCH
DJ

Oh DJ I'm soooo excited for you...

I have the epson 1640 and I absolutely love it.

I also have the transparency attachment and I highly recommend it well worth the extra bucks.

Have lots of fun with your new toy!

Thanks Chris. I am loving this new toy but I discovered last night that I don't know how it turns off. My old one went off when the computer did. Couldn't find a switch. Am I missing something here?
DJ

You're probably not missing a thing, except for an off switch. Its a disturbing trend that started a couple of years ago. My own scanner has no off switch, which bothers me a great deal.

My next scanner will have one, even if I have to pass on current favorites. I don't trust a machine without an off switch.

Mine (an HP) has locked up so often, and you wouldn't believe the contortions I've gone through to try to reset it.

What is the logic in that? Why would they not put an off switch on it? Do they expect you to leave it on constantly or keep pulling out the plug? If that's the case I think I will have to put it on a power train with a switch easily accessible. That's crazy. I guess if I have a con on this machine that would be it. I plan to question Epson about that. Maybe they will put switches back on their machines. The printer has an off on switch. Thanks for letting me know I'm not going blind Doug.
DJ

Wow DJ,

May not be a turn off switch..I know mine has one right on the lower front but like I say mine is the 1640 so not sure on yours.

Doug,

The problems you are having with the HP is the exact reason I decided not to go with HP again...got sick and tired of all the problems with 3 different HP's I had tried.

Problem solved, I added an external switch. Works fine now. I do notice that when not in use the light goes out so that is good but I still think not having an off switch is stupid. However, I say it's a workable problem that doesn't take away from the great results I've gotten from it so far.

Doug, the switch is an easy fix where as the features they come with can't be added so you might want to rethink putting a switch on your priority list of features.
DJ

Except that (in my case) no off/on switch also means no reset. So if it freezes in mid-scan (which happens too frequently) all the powering on and off in the world won't unstick it. No on/off switch basically means its meant to be 'on' all the time, so no provision for poweron diagnostics, etc.

Makes sense and luckily I haven't had it freeze up on me. Never had my Plustek scanner freeze up on me either for that matter. That could be a real bummer.

Well I scanned some standard slides as the recommended 3200 dpi. They take a little while to scan (minute or so) but I like the quality. Granted it may not be what the high end film scanners can do but I don't have one to compare results. I am pleased.
DJ

That's double your optical resolution, which is basically the same as upsampling in Photoshop

DJ,

I was just reading the Amazon reviews for the Epson Perfection 1650 Photo scanner and many were unhappy with it. They had serious trouble setting it up, especially if they had XP. Also many said that the scans came out speckled with dust. I was wondering if you had experienced any of this? The reviews for the Epson Perfection 1650 (regular version…doesn’t have the built in transparency adapter) were much better than its “Photo” counterpart. Anyway, the reason behind this is that I am about to finally purchase a new scanner (since XP killed my old one) and was just trying to narrow it down. I must admit that the Amazon reviews of the 1650 Photo have made me a bit nervous as most reviews were on the negative side. If anyone has some inputs on this topic, please let me know! THANKS!

-T

T
I'm running it on XP and it's working fine. Epson site has a download support for XP and Dave installed it when he added the scanner to my new machine. Can't say if there is a difference with the 1650 vs the photo since I've not seen their results side by side. I can't see how they would be any different and the dust may be caused by removing the document cover to use the transparancy feature. But that also means that it isn't cleaned before scanning. I haven't read the reviews at Amazon so I will check it out. But for the money I think any Epson machine is good.
DJ

i'm happy for you dj. somehow missed this thread. am very impressed about your adding a switch, no idea how you would do that. hope you will pay off said toy with increased business. need smilie with crossed fingers. working on getting everybody together to come over and try it out.

Kathleen
To add an external switch you just plug the scanner into a power strip that has a switch on it and make the switch easy to get at. I have since stopped using the switch idea since we reconfigured for the new computer and just let the scanner go into sleep mode instead. Doesn't seem to be a problem.
DJ

I'm needing a good scanner. I'm a photographer.

Glad you're happy with the Perfection.

"d-max" is the density (or detail) you can see reproduced in the shadows of the transparency or print you've scanned.

Do a scan and compare it to the amount of detail you can see in the original. Tell me how well you see the blacks and details in the shadows exactly as the original.

I'd be curious to know. Thank you.

Robert Allen

Robert
My old scanner was a Plustek and I had to scan twice to bring in the details in the shadows. Not with the Epson. I have compared them to the originals and it's amazing the details that are visible. I even went and rescanned all may wedding photos that were scanned on the old machine and the difference was unbelievable. If there is a difference from the original, I can't see it. In the specs it's listed as 3.2. Oh, thanks for clearing up that confusion on the density. Never new for sure if it was the dmax or not and didn't want to make assumptions.
DJ

I also have a new scanner ,a microtek 5600. flatbed .
it has an optical resolution of 2400ppi. the cost ran about $150 and included a portable CD player.

Christmas also resulted in a MTMA a most unlikely transparency adapter [at first sight] which has it's own cold cathode tube calibrating the adapter. with the adapter the whole flatbed of slides can be scanned, the scan speed is reasonably quick.

I am sure a slide scanner would produce better results however the results are to my general satisfaction. It produces scans in the 12 meg range enough to produce a 300 dpi large print .

This together with a new cannon 600 printer and the good fortune of finding this group leaves me frankly in HOG HEAVEN...

Originally posted by DJ Dubovsky
Chris
I don't know what it is I'm converted from. 'comp.periphs.scanners' on usenet?? What is that?

DJ, comp.periphs.scanners is a newsgroup on usenet that is specifically geared toward the use of and discussion of scanners and related software. You can usually pick up all kinds of tips and tricks through there!

By the way, I've had my Epson 1640 for about 6 months now and it outshines my old HP by untold amounts! As for the power switch, mine still has one but I never use it since it is wired into a desktop, switched surge supressor. I simply hit the button on the surge supressor and it's up and running. You had the right idea!

Randy

Thanks Randy. Yes, I am familiar with that news group. It is a good source of info. I used to plug in my scanner that way but since the new computer came and we rearranged everything I just let it go into sleep mode.
DJ