[DigiCam] Slide scanner or copier?

[Fred Keene]

Ron:

I bought the Epson Perfection 2450 Photo scanner, awhile back and 
here is what I wrote to a digest at that time.  It was (and still is) 
a great scanner.

BACKGROUND
The 2450  was rather hard to find at anything under $400.  Buy.com 
was offering them for
$342 + free shipping, but I was back ordered for over a month so 
looked elsewhere.  MacWarehouse sold me one for $366 (normally $399) 
to match buy.com's CURRENT PRICE.

My primary interest is for scanning 35mm slides and film strips, but 
also for quality flat bed scanning.  An excellent review on using it 
for slide and strip scanning can be found at 
http://www.virtualtraveller.org/epson2450.htm   He shows many slide 
scans that he has made with both the 2450 and other scanners.  The 
2450 seems to provide scans equivalent to the film scanners costing 
well over $1000, and you get a high quality flat bed scanner to boot.

But there are others who contend that a flat bed scanner can not 
possibly give a quality scan of slides or film strips. Fulton 
http://www.scantips.com  reasons that a scanners stated resolution is 
that of the full flat bed area, and thus scanning a small area (like 
a slide) would use only a fraction of the total scanner pixels and 
thus could not provide good resolution.  Actually his reasoning is 
much more technical than this simple statement, and it is worth 
reading..   Fulton'a site also has some very good information on how 
to obtain quality scans for various purposes.

MY EVALUATION

SUMARY
Based on my preliminary tests, the 2450 gave high quality scans of 
both 35mm slides and film strips, and to boot does a great job in 
normal flat bed scanning, at a good speed.
It seems that Epson has developed new technology that can accomplish 
what never seemed possible

DETAILS
Scanning a 8.5 x 11 "typed" page at 300 dpi took:
Prescan: 5 sec
Scan: 30 sec.
The quality of the scan was excellent.

My primary interest in this scanner was for scanning 35mm slides and 
film strips.  So far I've just tried a few slides.  The slide holder 
takes 4 slides and in auto mode they are scanned one by one without 
attention resulting in 4 documents.  This process takes about 80 
seconds per slide, gave files of 5-6 MB, and the results are 
excellent, and better than my Olympus ES-10 dedicated film scanner. 
I printed a slide scan on my Epson Stylus Photo 750 at 8.5X11 and it 
looks like a photo print.   I scanned the slides in auto mode which 
automatically identifies the type of item to be scanned (document, 
photo, slide, negative film, etc.) and then scans at the appropriate 
mode and dpi but does not show the dpi being used.  (Photoshop show 
the scans to be 300 dpi)

A 35 mm film strip holder is also provided and holds 2- 6 picture 
strips, and these can also be scanned automatically one by one.

I then scanned one of the same slides manually at the maximum dpi of 
12,800. This took 6 min and resulted in a whopping file size of 244 
MB.   I did it again at 9600 dpi which took 3 min and gave a file of 
195 MB.  The value of these high dpi scans is that you can crop a 
small segment of the picture while maintaining enough resolution to 
get a quality print.  For example, a girls face in a slide 
represented 7% of the picture area.
After scanning at 9600 dpi, I cropped out the girls face, and printed 
this at 8.5 x 11.
This gave a sharp picture showing no pixels.

Using the Epson Smart Panel feature you can scan to copy (goes to a 
printer with copy number control),to email, to OCR, to Photo Print, 
to a designated application, to Photohsop, to Web, or to File.

A big question is how it will handle a slide or picture with a dark 
shadow area and I don't have a good handle on that yet. But in one 
trial with a difficult picture it gave a much better scan than the 
ES-10.  This has to do with "dynamic range".

For slide or film scanning, it uses a second light source in the 
scanner lid.  I have to assume that it somehow zeros in on the slide 
or film strip segment and truly scans this small area with the 
designated dpi.  If so the "experts" may be  wrong that a flat bed 
scanner cannot provide high resolution to something as small as a 
slide.  To me the proof is in the results, and my results have been 
excellent.

There is still much to learn, and I have yet to read the extensive 
manual that's on the CD, only the rather small printed one which was 
sufficient to get started.  I do believe I have a high tech quality 
scanner that was worth the wait and the cash.

PRESS RELEASE

Here's a press release which seems valid, based on my preliminary tests.

The EPSON Perfection 2450 offers photographic image quality with 3.4 Dmax,
48-bit color-depth and an impressive 2400 x 4800 dpi resolution using
Epson's Micro Step Drive(TM) technology. This exclusive technology features
an extremely precise stepper motor, onboard memory and intelligent image
processing for the highest sub-scan resolution in its class. By using a
method known as "half stepping," the scanner is able to capture exceptional
image detail by scanning at an amazing 4800 dpi. For increased
productivity, the scanner also is conveniently equipped with a built-in 4"
x 9" transparency adapter for scanning slides, transparencies and
negatives. The Perfection 2450 is ideal for home photography enthusiasts,
digital photographers and graphic artists with its advanced features and
high-speed scanning capabilities. With a price tag under $400, the
Perfection 2450 is an affordable alternative to the more expensive,
higher-end scanners for scanning everything from 35mm film strips to 4" x
5" transparencies.

Additionally, the scanner is loaded with outstanding features and
innovative technology, such as Epson's new Micro-Lens technology. This
technology is built into the CCD and enables the scanner to capture more
light into the center of the CCD, which results in better scans. It also
has an integrated A/D converter on the CCD chip to minimize electrical
noise and improve the overall signal to noise ratio for better image
quality. Another technology that is featured in this scanner is Epson's
ColorTrue (R)II Imaging System, which provides vivid, true-to-life colors
with every scan. This technology, which is featured on all of the
Perfection models, integrates superior hardware, optics and image
processing to achieve accurate color reproduction and reduced noise.

The EPSON Perfection 2450 scanner includes a full-featured software bundle
that includes the following titles: LaserSoft(R) SilverFast(R) SE, Adobe(R)
PhotoShop(R) Elements, EPSON Smart Panel(TM) and EPSON TWAIN Scanning
Software.

Cheers,

...Fred