Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner

User Review #4 Source: TigerDirect.com by  Bob  on May 14th, 2008

This is my first photo scanner and it has worked quite well on prints, slides and negatives after a few hours of experimentation. It has done a fine job of recovering good images even from films that will not lie flat, like my old small 110 negatives that are severely distorted from shrinkage of the sleeves used in processing 35 years ago, (for which no Epson film frame is provided). After preview time, it takes about 40 minutes to scan twelve 110 film images at 6400 ppi. (Probably excessive resolution, but I'm trying to recover anything there.) The first image is available for processing in about 4 minutes, so scanning time can be used productively. Photoshop Elements 4 requires XP, not W2K, so I used the processing software that came with my camera, instead. I recommend a minimum of 1GB of memory to be able to photoprocess multiple images while scanning. The digital ICE feature is fabulous for eliminating dust on negatives and slides!!! It's doing what I needed it to do.

This is my first photo scanner and it has worked quite well on prints, slides and negatives after a few hours of experimentation. It has done a fine job of recovering good images even from films that will not lie flat, like my old small 110 negatives that are severely distorted from shrinkage of the sleeves used in processing 35 years ago, (for which no Epson film frame is provided). After preview time, it takes about 40 minutes to scan twelve 110 film images at 6400 ppi. (Probably excessive resolution, but I'm trying to recover anything there.) The first image is available for processing in about 4 minutes, so scanning time can be used productively. Photoshop Elements 4 requires XP, not W2K, so I used the processing software that came with my camera, instead. I recommend a minimum of 1GB of memory to be able to photoprocess multiple images while scanning. The digital ICE feature is fabulous for eliminating dust on negatives and slides!!! It's doing what I needed it to do.

User Review #3 Source: TigerDirect.com by  Anonymous  on April 19th, 2008

Setup was easy on my XP Pro desktop and the scanner worked great right out of the box. Front panel push buttons send your document directly to a jpeg file, or a printer, or to a pdf document quickly and automatically, but of course you can also fire up the application and initiate scans from your computer. Scan quality has been very good, although I'll admit that changing settings seems a little bit clumsier than other software I have used ... possibly I just need to get more familiar with it. I love the instant scanning provided by the LED light source (no waiting for a bulb to warm up), and previews and scans are both fast. I don't find the whirring noises objectionable, by the way ... they're just a bit higher pitched than any other scanner I've had. I'm guessing Epson uses high-resolution stepper motors for the actuators, which in my opinion is a better mechanism than DC motors and positioning sensors.

Setup was easy on my XP Pro desktop and the scanner worked great right out of the box. Front panel push buttons send your document directly to a jpeg file, or a printer, or to a pdf document quickly and automatically, but of course you can also fire up the application and initiate scans from your computer. Scan quality has been very good, although I'll admit that changing settings seems a little bit clumsier than other software I have used ... possibly I just need to get more familiar with it. I love the instant scanning provided by the LED light source (no waiting for a bulb to warm up), and previews and scans are both fast. I don't find the whirring noises objectionable, by the way ... they're just a bit higher pitched than any other scanner I've had. I'm guessing Epson uses high-resolution stepper motors for the actuators, which in my opinion is a better mechanism than DC motors and positioning sensors.

User Review #2 Source: TigerDirect.com by  Lowell  on January 23rd, 2008

Scanner worked great right out of the box, replacing my HP scanner. Much better quality scans, much quicker, no warm up! Scanner is very quiet compared to my past scanners. I was already running Photoshop 6 so I did not load Photoshop Elements 4. The only issue I found is that my quick touch buttons on the scanner do not work, but this is probably because I did not load all of the factory software from Epson. Would highly reccomend & would buy again. Fast delivery from Tiger Direct.

Scanner worked great right out of the box, replacing my HP scanner. Much better quality scans, much quicker, no warm up! Scanner is very quiet compared to my past scanners. I was already running Photoshop 6 so I did not load Photoshop Elements 4. The only issue I found is that my quick touch buttons on the scanner do not work, but this is probably because I did not load all of the factory software from Epson. Would highly reccomend & would buy again. Fast delivery from Tiger Direct.