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Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
See it at Amazon.com for $139.00Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
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great home scanner
(5 out of 5) by fatmav on Nov 25, 2008Over the years I have been through several scanners both at work and at home. This Epson V300 is the latest home scanner for me.
Speed: Back then a high resolution scanner was like 600dpi and required a SCSI connection in order to transfer that amount of information in reasonable amount of time. Thankfully, these days USB2 is ubiquitous and relatively high speed, so the bottleneck is really no longer at the connection nor the scanner. Instead, I found that I am usually CPU bounded because of all the image processing that happens *after* the data has been transfered to my computer. After all, 4800x9600dpi is a lot of information to go through. So yes, it can give you a slow scanning experience, but it's not the scanner's problem at all. I also note this scanner use an LED lighting source, the warmup time is about three seconds. This is much shorter than the older CFL scanners that can take a minute or two to warm up.
Scanning quality: This is top-notch, especially given the price. I've seen results from much more expensive scanners including an high-end scanner from HP. At 1200dpi, which is a common setting for my workflow, I don't detect any material differences in the images, which is a good sign. If anything, the tiny difference is in the optical performance, most likely due to the coating on the glass that separates the document and the sensor. In particular, I do see a bit more chromatic aberration. However, this is something that can be corrected in software and I believe it is present in all scanners.
Software: Having been an HP user for so long, I find the Epson Scan utility to be adequate and I actually like it better than HP's offering. It has all the features that I expect. Note that I did not install the other two included softwares---"Arcsoft MediaImpression" and "ABBYY Fine Reader Spring Plus OCR". The former I have no interest, the second one is a lite version of ABBYY's commercial OCR product. I happen to have another OCR solution at my disposal and so I skipped this up-sell offering as well. Note that I am a Windows user and so I can't speak for the Mac side of the story.
Overall, I am positively impressed with this scanner. If this is your first scanner, I don't see anything that can go wrong.
Speed: Back then a high resolution scanner was like 600dpi and required a SCSI connection in order to transfer that amount of information in reasonable amount of time. Thankfully, these days USB2 is ubiquitous and relatively high speed, so the bottleneck is really no longer at the connection nor the scanner. Instead, I found that I am usually CPU bounded because of all the image processing that happens *after* the data has been transfered to my computer. After all, 4800x9600dpi is a lot of information to go through. So yes, it can give you a slow scanning experience, but it's not the scanner's problem at all. I also note this scanner use an LED lighting source, the warmup time is about three seconds. This is much shorter than the older CFL scanners that can take a minute or two to warm up.
Scanning quality: This is top-notch, especially given the price. I've seen results from much more expensive scanners including an high-end scanner from HP. At 1200dpi, which is a common setting for my workflow, I don't detect any material differences in the images, which is a good sign. If anything, the tiny difference is in the optical performance, most likely due to the coating on the glass that separates the document and the sensor. In particular, I do see a bit more chromatic aberration. However, this is something that can be corrected in software and I believe it is present in all scanners.
Software: Having been an HP user for so long, I find the Epson Scan utility to be adequate and I actually like it better than HP's offering. It has all the features that I expect. Note that I did not install the other two included softwares---"Arcsoft MediaImpression" and "ABBYY Fine Reader Spring Plus OCR". The former I have no interest, the second one is a lite version of ABBYY's commercial OCR product. I happen to have another OCR solution at my disposal and so I skipped this up-sell offering as well. Note that I am a Windows user and so I can't speak for the Mac side of the story.
Overall, I am positively impressed with this scanner. If this is your first scanner, I don't see anything that can go wrong.
63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
Great product for our needs
(5 out of 5) by Harold Siegler on Nov 23, 2008 (Coon Rapids, Iowa)Re:
Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
My wife and I decided to create a set of family photo albums as Christmas gifts this year. We acquired numerous old photos from my relatives in Germany while on vacation there. The albums were to be produced electronically. This led to a search for a scanner. Although there are many of these on the market, we limited our search to a basic unit suitable to our needs.
We decided on the Epson scanner simply because we still have an Epson laser printer that dates back to the days of Windows 3.1 and it still works perfectly.
We have not been disappointed with the Epson Perfection V300 that we purchased through Amazon.com. It performs well and flawlessly enacts every facet of its capabilities such as scanning slides or large documents in addition to photos of course.
We recommend this scanner to anyone who merely wants to scan home photos. Obviously, the far more expensive scanners targeted toward the professional market would outclass the V300 but then we would be comparing apples to oranges.
Epson Perfection V300 Photo Color Scanner (Black)
My wife and I decided to create a set of family photo albums as Christmas gifts this year. We acquired numerous old photos from my relatives in Germany while on vacation there. The albums were to be produced electronically. This led to a search for a scanner. Although there are many of these on the market, we limited our search to a basic unit suitable to our needs.
We decided on the Epson scanner simply because we still have an Epson laser printer that dates back to the days of Windows 3.1 and it still works perfectly.
We have not been disappointed with the Epson Perfection V300 that we purchased through Amazon.com. It performs well and flawlessly enacts every facet of its capabilities such as scanning slides or large documents in addition to photos of course.
We recommend this scanner to anyone who merely wants to scan home photos. Obviously, the far more expensive scanners targeted toward the professional market would outclass the V300 but then we would be comparing apples to oranges.
52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
Say goodbye to "Scanner Warming Up"!
(4 out of 5) by Kevin Nicholls on Dec 17, 2008 (Milford, MI)Coming from an (admittedly older) Canon LIDE scanner and the scanner in my Canon Pixma MX850 Office All-In-One Printer, LED scanning isn't whiz-bang new technology to me. And frankly, I wasn't expecting to put either scanner out to pasture.
But Epson has proven me wrong with the V300.
One of the biggest pains in scanning images for me, has been waiting for the scanner to warm up, and for the driver to accept that the scanner is warmed up and actually let me scan something. With the V300, you tell it to scan, and it just does. I can't stress how surprised I was to find how such a relatively minor thing made scanning seem like less of a chore.
The quality is excellent, too. Admittedly, my previous scanners were designed with basic home use in mind, however, there really is a noticeable difference in quality, even when I did side-by-side comparisons at the same resolutions.
Getting the scanner to work with my Mac wasn't a problem, either. Pop in the disc, run the installer, and connect the scanner. Next thing I knew, Photoshop CS3 was ready to use it. One thing I really have to say here, is that Epson's scanner drivers blow Canon's out of the water, if you ever pay attention to your Mac's log files. The Epson driver isn't constantly spawning messages to the syslog (or just plain breaking) if you use the scanner on a single computer with multiple users logged in.
The only downside with this (or really any other consumer-grade scanner) is that high-res scans take quite a while. Not quite "go to another room and make yourself breakfast" slow, but you certainly have time to go get yourself a cup of coffee while you wait for an 8x10" photo to scan at high-res. However, the quality of the scan makes the wait worthwhile.
At this price, and with this kind of speed and quality, you really can't go wrong.
But Epson has proven me wrong with the V300.
One of the biggest pains in scanning images for me, has been waiting for the scanner to warm up, and for the driver to accept that the scanner is warmed up and actually let me scan something. With the V300, you tell it to scan, and it just does. I can't stress how surprised I was to find how such a relatively minor thing made scanning seem like less of a chore.
The quality is excellent, too. Admittedly, my previous scanners were designed with basic home use in mind, however, there really is a noticeable difference in quality, even when I did side-by-side comparisons at the same resolutions.
Getting the scanner to work with my Mac wasn't a problem, either. Pop in the disc, run the installer, and connect the scanner. Next thing I knew, Photoshop CS3 was ready to use it. One thing I really have to say here, is that Epson's scanner drivers blow Canon's out of the water, if you ever pay attention to your Mac's log files. The Epson driver isn't constantly spawning messages to the syslog (or just plain breaking) if you use the scanner on a single computer with multiple users logged in.
The only downside with this (or really any other consumer-grade scanner) is that high-res scans take quite a while. Not quite "go to another room and make yourself breakfast" slow, but you certainly have time to go get yourself a cup of coffee while you wait for an 8x10" photo to scan at high-res. However, the quality of the scan makes the wait worthwhile.
At this price, and with this kind of speed and quality, you really can't go wrong.
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
Epson V300 Scanner
(4 out of 5) by W. Crews Giles on Jul 16, 2009 (Texas)Epson V300 Photo
RATING
I can only give five stars when I have a comparison with my use of another scanner--but I strongly suspect such a comparison would not change my opinion of this one. I am delighted, and it exceeds all my expectations. Therefore, four stars and probably five.
USES
I had two purposes for a scanner: My primary function is to preserve long out of print and often rare history and theological texts, making them available to other scholars and researchers-- thus, it had to be a flatbed. The second was to preserve and share old photos.
Twenty four hours ago I purchased this unit, led to this choice by reviews, and finally deciding based upon the LED scanning technology, the portability, the price and the bundled software. It cost me twenty dollars more (one hundred total) for the V300 which I believe is the same as the V30 except the V300 has the inclusion of the 35mm film and slide holding frame which I think could be of use to me.
MODES
I don't know why they use the terms they do for the modes of use. They ought to be: Photo mode, Text mode, Auto mode and Professional mode. Instead, Photo is called "Home", Text is called, "Office", Auto and Professional are what you would think. The menus are otherwise intuitive, but you can (as I did) read the manual if you want.
PHOTOS
I started with photos. 300 dpi resolution is sufficient for all of my needs, but I tried 1200 to see what it would do. Using 1200 is 400% of original, and using that setting, and zooming in using common photo software, the detail was far beyond my expectations--almost like a crime movie zooming in on the subject's glasses to see the reflection of the photographer. Almost. This is well beyond my needs, as I am preserving photos as they are-- not photoshopping for improvements. Yet...
RESTORATION
I could not resist trying the automatic restoration. I began with the default setting of 300 dpi, which I will use across the board from now on--simply because it is more than adequate for my uses. I have a black and white family photo from the 1890's, and I had to view the original under bright light to make out any detail, so faded was it. Seconds later, the preview image in "Home" mode" (see above) and leaving the default for "color photo," showed a perfectly balanced contrast, popping out detail my eye could not detect in the original. Excellent.
I then took a 1941 color portrait, and left the settings in "Home Mode" 300 dpi, and "color restoration" checked. The original's color was skewed, almost no red remaining. A push of the button and the image burst out in what I believe must have been the original colors. Excellent.
The last photo test was of a snapshot of me in which the flash had made my skin appear pasty white, while I was actually quite tan. I used the Professional Mode and played with the controls removing a bit of red, removing green on the intuitive graph display for that purpose, and playing with the other controls for few seconds resulting in a very good final product.
TEXT
Scanning whole books into pdf files is my main use. But I tested more than that.
OLD NEWSPAPWER CLIPPING
My first test was actually a ninety year old newspaper clipping. Using "Office" mode, I did nothing but preview and then scan. The software did its thing and perhaps a minute later I had opened the pdf document using acrobat (the free version) and the image was an exact replica. I used the text select tool in Acrobat to select the entire article and then pasted it into MS Word. The supplied OCR software (ABBYY FineReader Sprint Plus) had done a fair job for a free bundled product and a terrible ink speckled original (like all newspaper print in hose days). The pdf file was perfectly readable as it was. The ability to search ad find specific words and phrases would be easily seen in the version of what I copied from the pdf file and then pasted into Word. The result was good enough to make sense to my eye and brain to read it, but the ink speckle from the original showed up as various characters, and quite a few "are enn" showed as "emm" as well many other common OCR scanning errors. It was along way from being usable for citing directly--perhaps ten minutes of clean-up for that one full column of news print.
My second test was also old newspaper but well preserved in a scrap book. There were four items on the page I tested, and in "Office" mode, I simply selected the four parts of the page that included the actual clippings in the preview pane (the selection is easy, fast and called a "marquee." I would call it a "cropping selection tool." Then I clicked all, and all four boxes surrounding the four clippings were selected. Next, I selected pdf as the output file type from the file-folder icon on the main window, and then selected scan. Again, the software did its thing. I received a four page pdf file, a page for each selected item. The results of the image and the OCR test were the same as before.
BOOKS
Finally, I scanned a single page from a very old textbook with a rather awkward to read font. Using the same settings as before, the pdf file was perfect, and the OCR work was far better. A proofread and a few mistakes on that one page. Still, that is more editing than I will want to do, but that is a software upgrade--not related to the hardware. The software allows you to scan each and all page into a single pdf document if you prefer, and which I will make use of.
OCR SOFTWARE
I am pleased with the product, and very glad the low-end OCR software worked better than I feared--as I will have no problem upgrading that software to a professional level for a hundred dollars or so--within my budget. For now, from the text, even requiring more editing than I will want to do, it was, none-the-less, very readable. Our eyes and minds will see thnouglre the eniors and quickly correct as we read! The actual density of errors was reasonable for a starter version which is what is included. Og course the OCR software has nothing to do with the perfect image of the pdf file--it only impacts searching that pdf file for specific words and phrases. I will add that the ability to search a text using Acrobat that I already have is the same as the scanned images on many of the research sites I use. I want the search ability for indexing and hyperlinking within the final pdf file. I am told that Adobe's product will supply that ability and the high OCR accuracy that I need.
OVERALL
There are more features, other software included, but for my purposes... my expectations were far exceeded by what was delivered--a delight to have such easy and quick success. My two unknowns are 1) results of my upgrade to more powerful OCR software, and 2) the longevity of the scanner unit.
I do wish the software would allow me to name the current scan more easily. The default is to use serial ordinals, so that my scanning project folder is merely img001.jpg, img002.jpg, and so on. This leads me to...
SPEED
Speed is an afterthought to me. I have only used this product on my laptop (I needed a portable scanner, and this and my laptop will easily fit together in my backpacking trips to the library). It is a four year old lap top as of this writing (summer 2009) which is just a bit slow by this year's standards. I found myself, feeding the scanner with a new original, pressing scan, and then going to the Window Explorer window to change the default name of the last scan to something descriptive, and finishing just as it was time to feed the scanner again. In other words, if the process of scanning and saving was any faster then the machine would be waiting on me; I rarely waited on it (except when using OCR--that takes a few more seconds per page.
POSITIVES
Out of the box, excellent and rewarding results far exceeding expectations.
The inclusion of a starter OCR product was very helpful, although ultimately insufficient for my needs--just as both vendors (Epson and ABBYY) knew they would be--the low-end software just to give the buyer a taste.
Intuitive hardware and software controls
Resolution capability beyond anything I could ever find use for
Speed easily meeting my needs.
Size and weight make trips to archives with it and the laptop in my backpack possible and easy.
Primary (Epson) software functions well and quickly--providing almost everything I would expect
NEGATIVES
The menu "mode" names are odd and inappropriate.
Some of the terms on the menus are also unusual compared to what I am used to in photo-editing software.
Not "plug and play," you must install the software from the supplied CD.
No hard copy user manual (but I was the only one who ever read them anyway)
No ability to custom name each scan file on the fly (no "save file as" pop-up window).
Buy it, you'll love it. If it lasts a long time, I may even name it.
RATING
I can only give five stars when I have a comparison with my use of another scanner--but I strongly suspect such a comparison would not change my opinion of this one. I am delighted, and it exceeds all my expectations. Therefore, four stars and probably five.
USES
I had two purposes for a scanner: My primary function is to preserve long out of print and often rare history and theological texts, making them available to other scholars and researchers-- thus, it had to be a flatbed. The second was to preserve and share old photos.
Twenty four hours ago I purchased this unit, led to this choice by reviews, and finally deciding based upon the LED scanning technology, the portability, the price and the bundled software. It cost me twenty dollars more (one hundred total) for the V300 which I believe is the same as the V30 except the V300 has the inclusion of the 35mm film and slide holding frame which I think could be of use to me.
MODES
I don't know why they use the terms they do for the modes of use. They ought to be: Photo mode, Text mode, Auto mode and Professional mode. Instead, Photo is called "Home", Text is called, "Office", Auto and Professional are what you would think. The menus are otherwise intuitive, but you can (as I did) read the manual if you want.
PHOTOS
I started with photos. 300 dpi resolution is sufficient for all of my needs, but I tried 1200 to see what it would do. Using 1200 is 400% of original, and using that setting, and zooming in using common photo software, the detail was far beyond my expectations--almost like a crime movie zooming in on the subject's glasses to see the reflection of the photographer. Almost. This is well beyond my needs, as I am preserving photos as they are-- not photoshopping for improvements. Yet...
RESTORATION
I could not resist trying the automatic restoration. I began with the default setting of 300 dpi, which I will use across the board from now on--simply because it is more than adequate for my uses. I have a black and white family photo from the 1890's, and I had to view the original under bright light to make out any detail, so faded was it. Seconds later, the preview image in "Home" mode" (see above) and leaving the default for "color photo," showed a perfectly balanced contrast, popping out detail my eye could not detect in the original. Excellent.
I then took a 1941 color portrait, and left the settings in "Home Mode" 300 dpi, and "color restoration" checked. The original's color was skewed, almost no red remaining. A push of the button and the image burst out in what I believe must have been the original colors. Excellent.
The last photo test was of a snapshot of me in which the flash had made my skin appear pasty white, while I was actually quite tan. I used the Professional Mode and played with the controls removing a bit of red, removing green on the intuitive graph display for that purpose, and playing with the other controls for few seconds resulting in a very good final product.
TEXT
Scanning whole books into pdf files is my main use. But I tested more than that.
OLD NEWSPAPWER CLIPPING
My first test was actually a ninety year old newspaper clipping. Using "Office" mode, I did nothing but preview and then scan. The software did its thing and perhaps a minute later I had opened the pdf document using acrobat (the free version) and the image was an exact replica. I used the text select tool in Acrobat to select the entire article and then pasted it into MS Word. The supplied OCR software (ABBYY FineReader Sprint Plus) had done a fair job for a free bundled product and a terrible ink speckled original (like all newspaper print in hose days). The pdf file was perfectly readable as it was. The ability to search ad find specific words and phrases would be easily seen in the version of what I copied from the pdf file and then pasted into Word. The result was good enough to make sense to my eye and brain to read it, but the ink speckle from the original showed up as various characters, and quite a few "are enn" showed as "emm" as well many other common OCR scanning errors. It was along way from being usable for citing directly--perhaps ten minutes of clean-up for that one full column of news print.
My second test was also old newspaper but well preserved in a scrap book. There were four items on the page I tested, and in "Office" mode, I simply selected the four parts of the page that included the actual clippings in the preview pane (the selection is easy, fast and called a "marquee." I would call it a "cropping selection tool." Then I clicked all, and all four boxes surrounding the four clippings were selected. Next, I selected pdf as the output file type from the file-folder icon on the main window, and then selected scan. Again, the software did its thing. I received a four page pdf file, a page for each selected item. The results of the image and the OCR test were the same as before.
BOOKS
Finally, I scanned a single page from a very old textbook with a rather awkward to read font. Using the same settings as before, the pdf file was perfect, and the OCR work was far better. A proofread and a few mistakes on that one page. Still, that is more editing than I will want to do, but that is a software upgrade--not related to the hardware. The software allows you to scan each and all page into a single pdf document if you prefer, and which I will make use of.
OCR SOFTWARE
I am pleased with the product, and very glad the low-end OCR software worked better than I feared--as I will have no problem upgrading that software to a professional level for a hundred dollars or so--within my budget. For now, from the text, even requiring more editing than I will want to do, it was, none-the-less, very readable. Our eyes and minds will see thnouglre the eniors and quickly correct as we read! The actual density of errors was reasonable for a starter version which is what is included. Og course the OCR software has nothing to do with the perfect image of the pdf file--it only impacts searching that pdf file for specific words and phrases. I will add that the ability to search a text using Acrobat that I already have is the same as the scanned images on many of the research sites I use. I want the search ability for indexing and hyperlinking within the final pdf file. I am told that Adobe's product will supply that ability and the high OCR accuracy that I need.
OVERALL
There are more features, other software included, but for my purposes... my expectations were far exceeded by what was delivered--a delight to have such easy and quick success. My two unknowns are 1) results of my upgrade to more powerful OCR software, and 2) the longevity of the scanner unit.
I do wish the software would allow me to name the current scan more easily. The default is to use serial ordinals, so that my scanning project folder is merely img001.jpg, img002.jpg, and so on. This leads me to...
SPEED
Speed is an afterthought to me. I have only used this product on my laptop (I needed a portable scanner, and this and my laptop will easily fit together in my backpacking trips to the library). It is a four year old lap top as of this writing (summer 2009) which is just a bit slow by this year's standards. I found myself, feeding the scanner with a new original, pressing scan, and then going to the Window Explorer window to change the default name of the last scan to something descriptive, and finishing just as it was time to feed the scanner again. In other words, if the process of scanning and saving was any faster then the machine would be waiting on me; I rarely waited on it (except when using OCR--that takes a few more seconds per page.
POSITIVES
Out of the box, excellent and rewarding results far exceeding expectations.
The inclusion of a starter OCR product was very helpful, although ultimately insufficient for my needs--just as both vendors (Epson and ABBYY) knew they would be--the low-end software just to give the buyer a taste.
Intuitive hardware and software controls
Resolution capability beyond anything I could ever find use for
Speed easily meeting my needs.
Size and weight make trips to archives with it and the laptop in my backpack possible and easy.
Primary (Epson) software functions well and quickly--providing almost everything I would expect
NEGATIVES
The menu "mode" names are odd and inappropriate.
Some of the terms on the menus are also unusual compared to what I am used to in photo-editing software.
Not "plug and play," you must install the software from the supplied CD.
No hard copy user manual (but I was the only one who ever read them anyway)
No ability to custom name each scan file on the fly (no "save file as" pop-up window).
Buy it, you'll love it. If it lasts a long time, I may even name it.
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Scanner
(5 out of 5) by Michael on Dec 12, 2008 (Wellford, SC)For years, my Epson 1250 color scanner has served me well. I decided to "up-grade" to the V300 for it's higher image quality, straightforward scanning and consistent Epson product quality. I handed down the older model to my early teen Grandchildren.
I searched for a color scanner on Amazon.com, Bizrate.com, eBay and others. I also needed the ability to compare manufacturers and models. I finally settling on Amazon, as usual!
I wanted a scanner that would allow (1) professional adjustments to any scanned source, (2) easily scan slides and negatives, (3) offer image correction capabilities, (4) ability to restore old B&W photos-documents and (5) meet my budget of less than $200.
I'm normally not an endorser of products, but I will say that the V300 is excellent and meets, or possibly exceeds my expectations.
I searched for a color scanner on Amazon.com, Bizrate.com, eBay and others. I also needed the ability to compare manufacturers and models. I finally settling on Amazon, as usual!
I wanted a scanner that would allow (1) professional adjustments to any scanned source, (2) easily scan slides and negatives, (3) offer image correction capabilities, (4) ability to restore old B&W photos-documents and (5) meet my budget of less than $200.
I'm normally not an endorser of products, but I will say that the V300 is excellent and meets, or possibly exceeds my expectations.