Fantastic. Same as V300 except for negative holder., February 24, 2009

I just got this and have been trying it out. As I surmised, it is identical to the V300 except there is no negative holder in the box. The driver CDROM and all documentation lists both models. I’m using this with Photoshop and Indesign to make personal studies for portrait drawing practice, using art book and magazine images for source material. I was holding my breath to make sure the TIFF file type is included with this version, and it is (in the professional scan mode.) Fabulously smooth images made from ordinary newspaper color ad inserts using only 800 dpi. You can select various destination image types, including up to 48-bit color and up to 12,800 dpi (in professional mode). TIFF files are rather large, but I plan to dump them as soon as I print the cropped images. (After I draw, I no longer need the images.) Of course, also does jpeg format (default) and has a tremendous range of custom formatting before saving, as well as ultra simple ‘point and shoot’ scanning. Also has customizable presets for home mode (email scanning, etc.) and office mode (RGB value settings, for example). I haven’t tried this yet, but it makes PDF files in all but full auto mode, without purchasing Adobe Acrobat, unbelievable. (I have a Fujitsu document scanner that outputs to PDF, but it cost several times more.)

There is the same user selection option for film as a document type as on the V300 so I don’t see why you can’t scan slides and negatives, using a homemade holder or even just guessing where to position film in the center strip of the scanner bed. I don’t plan to scan many film images or I would have gotten the V300, but it was not available for prime shipping. I do have some favorite Velvia slides I will eventually try to scan and see what happens. Will let you know how it goes when I get a chance. Superb scanner, incredible price, and arguably unbeatable Epson reliability, per my previous experience with color inkjets going back to windows 3.1 that just never stopped working well. I based my purchase on all the high praise for the V300/V200 and the assumption that this one uses the same scan engine and software, which it does, the only difference I can tell being the missing film holder. If anything, the V30 is more recent and probably has higher specs than the V300. If you don’t need a film holder, or if you just need to update your flatbed scanner, this is a total no brainer. Forgot to mention, top is hinged and lifts/flips back out of the way.

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Easy to use and does a nice job scanning photos and documents, April 1, 2009

By 

Book and Dog Lover (Massachusetts) – See all my reviews

  

The Epson V30 does a nice job of combining an easy-to-use scanner for those who don’t want to have to tweak – just scan please! – with a scanner that has the bells and whistles for those who want to do more.

I used the scanner to scan photos and documents (as a jpeg and also as a PDF). I did not use the email feature (as it basically uses Outlook and I don’t use that email package on my home computer).

Photo Scanning

I tried the Epson with a variety of photos. Photos consisted of several photos of Bryce Canyon in winter (contrast of snow and colors), your basic Grand Canyon photos, a couple of typical people photos (a couple of people standing in a dark room and also photos where the light was more evenly distributed). I also had some photos that had spots in them (black marks in the sky) to test the dust removal option and an old yellowing photo (40+ years old) of a couple to test the color restoration features.

Epson’s default mode is Full Auto mode. If you don’t have any issues with the photos, don’t want to preview them, don’t need to change the size and you just want to scan them, use this option. As in all other modes, there’s no warm-up needed – photos scan quickly and the Epson does a nice job. By default, all photos are saved in your My Pictures directory. (Select Customize and then select the File Save Settings option to change that – you can also change the default name). You can also use this mode if your photos do have issues (dust marks or need the color restored). Select the Full Auto mode, select Customize, select the options – Dust Removal and/or Color Restoration and even for those photos with issues, you can have the Epson give its best shot. I used this option with my “problem” photos to see how the Epson would do. I found that the Epson did a decent job – all of my dust “spots” were gone. My yellowing photo was nice and clear – no yellowing, and a crisp clear photo. As far as the color restoration, I’d give it a B+. It did a nice job of removing the yellow tinge that was in the photo, though personally, I would have liked to see more color put in the photo (which I could do myself in the other modes).

If you want to do more than just scan in the photo – you want to do some tweaking yourself – use one of the other modes that are provided. Office Mode is for scanning documents and previewing the documents (more on that below). Home Mode allows you to customize the settings and preview the photo. It’s a nice in-between option between the Full Auto mode where the scanner does it all and the Professional Mode where you need to figure it out – it gives you the ability to tweak, but doesn’t give you so many options that you don’t know what to do. Professional Mode on the other hand, gives you total control – you tell it about the original, the destination, and the adjustments you want to make. As someone with little experience in tweaking photos, I found the Home Mode the mode I would use most often. I think the Professional Mode is something I would use only occasionally or after playing with this tool a lot.

Scanning documents

I also tried the Epson V30 to scan documents – scanned as jpeg images and also as a PDF. The document was a tax form with my signature on it. I used the Full Auto mode and the Office mode and found in both cases, it was easy and quick to use. Office mode gives you more options – I could tell the scanner the resolution, orientation, and make any adjustments to the image. I could also use Full Auto mode to create the PDF. Very easy.

ArcSoft MediaImpression came with the Epson scanner. It’s another tool that (among other things) allows you to tweak your photos after you’ve scanned them. It works with “all media files” though I only used it for my scanned photos. It’s a photo tool which you can also use to email and archive items. It’s a pretty basic tool that’s easy to use. A nice addition to the scanner.

Documentation that comes along with the product consists of a Quick Start page (English, Spanish, and French versions) and an online User Guide. All were well written and helped me to use the product.

All in all, I recommend the Epson scanner if you want to quickly and easily scan your photos and documents. I like how you can have the scanner do it all, or when you’re ready, have the ability to tweak it yourself. Nicely done!

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Fantastic, Fast Scanner at a Very Affordable Price, April 15, 2009

By 

Tom Tracy (Northern GA, United States) – See all my reviews

  

I love my Epson Perfection v30 scanner. It replaced a trusty Epson Perfection 2400 Photo that I have had for about 3 years. The quality of scanned images is better with this new scanner, thanks to the higher DPI rating. And, thanks to the new LED scan technology, there is no longer any warm-up time at all and, on top of that, once the scanning starts, It scans faster than my Perfection 2400 Photo. Finally, it is quieter. It is a winner on all three of these counts compared to my old scanner, no doubt.

Plus, at just under 1

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