As perfect as you get for 107 dollars
Written: Jan 04 '02
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Pros: Hard to beat price, high resolution, film scanning capability
Cons: No power button
The Bottom Line: I doubt if you can get anything else with 1200 dpi optical, 48-bit color, with film adapter thrown in, all for $107.
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| yoshimato's Full Review: Epson Perfection 1250U Photo Flatbed Scanner |
The full spec according to Epson
* Photoelectric Device Color CCD line sensor
With CCD technology, you should be able to scan some small 3D object but I haven't tested it.
* Maximum Read Area 8.5" x 11.7" (216mm x 297mm)
Just big enough for a Letter or A4 paper.
* Optical Resolution 1200 dpi
* Hardware Resolution 1200 x 2400 dpi maximum with Micro Step Drive technology
* Maximum Resolution 9600 x 9600 dpi with interpolation
Use the 1200 dpi optical resolution to compare with other scanners. Rather good for the price.
* Effective Pixels 10,200 x 14,040 (1200 dpi)
* Transparency Unit 35mm slide adapter included
* Color Hardware Bit Depth 48-bit internal, 24-bit external
That is, not really true 48 bit, nor 24 bit. 24 bit is arguably adequate, except for professional grade monitor, printing equipment, and software. On the other hand, a 48 bit initial capture should be more accurate, followed by some translation down to 24 bit for the computer.
* Grayscale Hardware Bit Depth 16-bit internal, 8-bit external
* Optical Density 3.0 Dmax
* Interface USB
Cable included
* Scanning Speed 1200 dpi, draft mode: Color: 36 msec/line (approx.), 256 gray level: 12 msec/line (approx.)
* Reliability MCBF - 10,000 cycles
* Power Consumption: 25W/10W
* Windows Requirements IBM compatible PC with Pentium equivalent or higher processor, Windows 98 (factory installed), Windows 2000, Windows Me operating system, or Windows XP. USB Windows XP Requirements: Windows XP Home Edition/XP Professional (factory installed or upgraded from factory installed Windows 98/2000/Me) operating system. 64MB RAM (128MB recommended). Additional Windows Requirements: 50MB of available hard disk space (minimum)
That means that the many software problems I saw in reviews were probably true. You do not meet the requirements if you upgrade from windows 95 to 98/2000/Me then to XP. 256 MB is more like it. I deleted the part that you need a mouse and CD rom.
* Macintosh Requirements - OS X drivers available soon
* Physical Dimensions Width: 10.94" (27.8 cm), Depth: 17.24" (43.8 cm), Height: 2.64" (6.7 cm), Weight: 5.5 lb (2.5 kg approx.)
* Software: ArcSoft PhotoImpression, EPSON Smart Panel Software with NewSoft OCR, EPSON TWAIN Scanning Software
About negative reviews that I saw
I read a lot of horror stories in the net. But I still go for it because the price is hard to beat. I have the confidence that not all 1250's are created equal. As with other "high-tec" consumer products, Epson should have time to fix a lot of hardware and software problems for the later lots. Even if I am wrong, I can return it. Luckily, I did not find sand and other dirt anywhere in the package. The scanning speed is not bad for 35 mm films at 600 dpi resolution - I just sipped a few mouthful of coffee. I can imagine that you have to wait a bit for a 4x6 inch photo at the full 1200 dpi optical resolution. If the 35mm film image is 1 mm short, I didn't notice it. There's nothing wrong with the scanned images, photo or film. I didn't encounter any software problems - my XP is OEM, as good as factory installed. I also followed the instructions on the poster exactly.
Image quality
First of all, I do not have a super high resolution monitor nor a high resolution printer nor a photo printer that can match the resolution of the scanner. But I did saw the results of a few scanners on various monitors. The image of a photo using the default parameters looked a bit off; but probably the resolution is low. However, the film image looked as good as the original photo on screen. You have to blow up the whole images on screen to a size larger than the screen in order to see the pixels. The film image looked sharper but you see the pixels at a smaller size. I am satisfied that the scanner will give me a reasonably accurate representation of the originals.
Hardware
The scanner looked fairly cheap (cheap plastic and color coordination) and thick (2"), very appropriate for the price. The plastic case has a solid look and feel though. What impressed me is the lack of a power button and the lack of a proper hinge for the top cover. But I am very happy with the design. Who could have thought of that? I regard these features as some sort of engineering perfection (for a hundred dollars that is).
Software
Just make sure that your OS is compatible. I don't expect too much from the photo editor and album manager. Those that comes with your decent digital camera or camcorder should be better bets since these equipments are more expensive. And you have MS photo editor to fall back on. For those that have used scanners before, the most important function of the bundled software is the TWAIN driver. If this works, the scanner and its software can be pretty transparent. All you have to do is to open your favorite application and ask it to scan.
Is it for you?
Obviously, this is not for professionals. The speed is a bit slow and higher than 24-bit output is desirable. You also can't use it as a cheap photo lab to scan all your photo and films using the highest resolution. It takes patience to scan 36 films or photos. So is it worth the money? I would say yes. Its like having a car with a top speed of 125 that you would never have tried in theory. But you may want to try or need it one day. The speed limit is 70 mph. But you occasionally goes up to X mph.
Personally, I use the scanner to deal with those faded glories. Those shoe boxes of old photos and films. I was never a real photographer so not every photo is a work of art. I had some decent SLR cameras though so the photo qualities are not bad. I may gradually scan all the photos and put them into CD's, and let the originals fade some more. If I saw some memorable ones, I may scan them with the best resolution I can get and fix it up from there. For others, the quality is not that important because the photo are not in the best of conditions. For my work I normally scan thick documents by faxing them to my fax modem. But sometimes I do need a better image, say for OCR.
A scanner is really for the past. For the future, there's no replacement for a decent digital camera. The alternative is to give your film to Snapfish etc, to get them in digital form for free. However, you don't have direct access to the high resolution image. You can only order reprints of the image. The better solution is to use the Kodak service, which process the films for you and give you an additional CD with a bit more money. This service was available in Europe since 10 years ago, in every town center/high street. The digital images on CD are huge (i.e. very high resolution), uncompressed. At the time, the competition is analog technology, not cheap digital cameras.
If you want to go for higher resolution, faster scan speed, and true 48 bit color output, make sure that your computer system is good enough. You will only notice the difference on screen if you have a very expensive monitor. Fast high resolution scans means huge files. If you compress using jpeg for example, there are losses. If you don't, you will fill up your 40 GB disk very soon. For the internet the 1250 is more than sufficient. If you have extra high quality images, you have to pay more to your host for larger storage and higher bandwidth, provided that your audience are patient enough to download your images. For hard copies, you have to pay a lot more for printer with resolutions higher than 1200 dpi.
The total amount I paid included tax and ground shipping. You should consider the 1650 if you are willing to pay a bit more. The resolution is a bit higher at 1600 dpi, somewhat faster, with true 48 bit color output.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 133.81
Interface: USB
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Epinions.com ID:
yoshimato
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Location: Beach Cities, CA, USA
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Among other things I reviewed, I also like writing, or more appropriately, being read.
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