Epson Perfection V500 Office Color Scanner (B11B189071)
Epson Perfection V500 Office Color Scanner (B11B189071) see short title
Product Rating:
Epson Perfection V500 Office Color Scanner
Epson Perfection V500 Office Color Scanner « short desciption
User Reviews
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Review Date: 2009-11-14
Overall I found the results of this scanner to be quite good. I had to play with the settings of the included scanning software quite a bit to get good results however.
The film scanning function works reasonably well but lacks the definition of a dedicated film scanner such as Nikon CoolScan (even at higher resolutions than the Nikon is capable of) -- but these cost quite a bit more and don't scan photographs. FYI: If you are interested in scanning your family photos you should scan film whenever possible.
My only gripe was the Epson software for OS X was a bit clunky -- but in the end it got the job done.
User: Trevor Goodchild
Rating:
Summary: Good mid-range scanner
Helpful Votes: 0
Total Votes: 1
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Review Date: 2009-11-13
Where the scientist ended up with his head spliced onto a fly's body and was flying around saying "Help Me, Help Me"? That's the V500 Office scanner. The base of the scanner is the V500 Photo scanner. The top comes from something else. They work together, but aesthetically they don't exactly match...they aren't even made out of the same color of plastic.
When you first open the box, you find a complete V500 Photo scanner and a separate Automatic Document Feeder. All of the setup instructions refer to the base unit. The sheet is labeled V500 Office, but the ADF unit isn't illustrated or mentioned. (Step One: Unpack; Step two: Install Software; Step Three: Connect and turn on; Step Four: Scan a photo...etc...) When you've finished, you end up with a very nice photo scanner and the feeder still in its plastic bag. (The instructions are up on the Epson website...to install the feeder, you turn off and open the top of the scanner, unplug the wire connecting the top to the base, lift the top vertically and it will separate from the bottom. Two pegs on the feeder fit into matching holes in the base. Fold it down, plug the power/control wire into connector on the base and fit the horseshoe shaped wire into the tilted input tray. Turn it back on and you should be in business. The software is intelligent enough to detect the presence of the ADF unit and adjust accordingly.) Installation, though, is something that's only done once...what's really important is how well the scanner works. So, let's go through the various parts...
Scanner Body - As I mentioned, the main body of the scanner is from the V500 Photo Scanner. Because it's designed to scan negatives as well as pictures, it has a fairly high optical resolution and a decent, although not spectacular dynamic range (D=3.4, if you're into the actual spec. The D value is a measure of how well a scanner can capture shadow and highlight detail...the higher the value the better. The V700 measures at D=4.0. Professional grade scanners can be substantially higher, while I've seen inexpensive units spec'ed as low as 1.8.) When using the glass platen, you can scan up to a standard 8.5"x11" letter-size paper. Legal size pages can be scanned using the document feeder.
Automatic Document Feeder - The ADF holds roughly 30 sheets of paper for scanning. It's strictly a single sided scanner. You'll need to run the paper through twice if you need to scan both sides of a document and then merge the two files together. I've had some serious problems with the feeder. It's common for it to pick up the top sheet off the stack, but then not feed it through the scanner. It also appears that the ADF has some other "unusual" features...this question, for example, is on the Epson website FAQ:
Q: The automatic document feeder pulls two sheets of paper when I click Preview. Can I make it pull only one sheet?
A: No.
It seems like the firmware needs a bit of updating. When it was working right, the ADF worked well. The scanning speed is dependent on the resolution and the speed of the computer that it's connected to. The linearity seems pretty good, with my scans of graph paper showing only a few hiccups.
V500 Photo Scanner Lid - The photo scanner lid comes with holders for both slides and various sizes of negatives. The normal white reflective surface can be removed and replaced with one of the negative holders. This allows the built-in light source to shine through the negatives. You can scan two strips of 35mm film, 120 or 220 film and larger negatives. If somebody has an archive of old 4x5 view camera negatives, this will convert them to digital form, but, frankly, for that kind of work, you should use a scanner with a better dynamic range. You NEVER want to send photos through the ADF, they're too likely to get scratched or mangled.
Software - Epson's software package includes the Epson scanner driver and Abby FineReader 6.0 (the current version direct from Abby is 10.0). The scanner driver has three levels of complexity - Home, Office, and Professional. The Office level provides enough flexibility for almost every application and I always leave it there. I suspect that the other two levels are the result of some misguided marketing guy's attempt to address different market segments. Files can be created as .JPG, PDF and a couple of other formats. For document scanning, I always use PDF. For photos, I use the lossless TIFF format to preserve as much of the original detail as possible. The Abby software works well in converting the scanned images into searchable PDF files, but won't take an external PDF and make it searchable or convert it to a Word document...you have to purchase the new version to add those functions.
Service - Nothing works forever, but, after two weeks, I was not happy when the document feeder stopped properly feeding pages. Today, I called the Epson service center to see if they had any suggestions to get it to work properly. The tech was very polite and after being put on hold twice and asked the usual troubleshooting questions, I was told that this was an "extremely unusual" hardware failure. He put me on hold a third time and after 29minutes and 22 seconds, the call disconnected. I called back and another support technician looked up the notes. He told me that I needed to take the scanner to an authorized service depot for repair. They wouldn't ship me another unit or issue an RMA number. I could ship it there, but at my expense. I was also told that this is the way that Epson handles all scanner repairs. I could understand that if the scanner was a year old or otherwise out of warranty, but for something that's only two weeks old??? Not exactly the most customer-centric way of doing things.
So...my conclusion...
This scanner is a bit of a misfit. There are better scanners more suited for an office environment. Both the Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 and the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 are faster, have duplex scanning and are designed for heavy duty use (I've run 50K+ sheets through my Fujitsu S510 (an earlier model) and 20K+ sheets through my GT-S50. I replaced the rollers on the Fujitsu and it runs like new.) Both are also about $100 more expensive. As a practical matter, most offices don't need the photo scanning features that the V500 Office provides. For home use, you need a printer anyway, so I'd go with a multi-function machine with a built-in scanner and document feeder. I'm currently evaluating the Epson Artisan 810. It's small and works well. The Canon PIXMA MX860 or Canon MX700 are also a good units that I've been using at home. If you want to add negative/photo scanning, the V500 Photo, without the document feeder, is $100+ less than the V500 Office. The V500 Office's features, taken by themselves, warrant a four star rating...but you can't look at it by itself. A computer, scanner and printer need to be evaluated as a system. And when you add it all together and mix in the service problems, it's dropped down to the two star level.
User: W. B. Halper
Rating:
Summary: Anybody remember the 1958 movie "The Fly"?
Helpful Votes: 1
Total Votes: 1
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Review Date: 2009-11-06
Originally I gave this a five star review because it works exactly as advertised, was easy to hook-up, performed perfectly with all software including adaptive software for the visually impared and provided terrific results. Unfortunately, it only took a month before breaking down so long term reliability may be questionable. Contacting Epson customer support has yielded moderate results - they are domestic based which is nice but require user to have repaired at their authorized repair center (the nearest to use is over 100 miles away so we will be packing and shipping at our expense). Wait time is 4-6 weeks once received. Fortunately we have another and use this for personal use but would be a serious inconvenience for small business/home office users.
After reading other review it appears this is not an isolated problem and far from rare - what are the chances of the same problem cropping up? Feeder is indeed the issue for this as well followed by scanning mechanism. Epson would not send replacement but rather wants to have repaired instead.
Bottom line - appears to be of dubious quality and prone to scanner/feeder problems.
----original review follows----
Any scanner that names itself "perfection" is really asking for trouble but fortunately, this Epson actually lives up to the name and the claim! To be frank, I didn't have much of an expectation for this color scanner in part because it is an Epson...years ago I used to purchase only Epson products but was so disappointed and frusted by the last few that I switched to Brother.
About a year ago I purchased a small color scanner from Canon which had received good reviews but it was so totally lacking that I sent it back. Needless to say, I didn't have high expectations for this but since I have literally thousands of old photos, negatives, documents (documents, documents) a scanner is essential. For documents, I've been enjoying the Epson Workforce Pro GT S50 which is blazing fast, has a small footprint and performs like a true workhorse (again, Epson is living up to their name!)and earns every bit of it's reputation...it's amazing but it's built for documents. However, the current Epson Perfection v500 is very similar to the photo scanner with the addition of a feed for documents which makes it especially well suited for a do-everything scanner. I was especially interested in how it would perform with photographs. I'm thrilled to say it was far superior to the canon which was utterly dismal despite the reviews...the was faster and resulted in far more clear results. Hands down there simply waas not a comparision.
Hook-up and installation was extremely simple - no compatibility issues. I've just purchased a new computer and will be installing Windows 7 on it so I'll try to report back to see how it peforms with that. However, it worked equally well with vista and xp without major drama. The energy efficient status is very nice, it's a quite machine and although a bit larger than the other, still compact enough that it doesn't use up a lot of space. Additionally, the Mercury Free LED and other "green" features are great ideas (about time!).
A special consideration of supreme importance in this household is the ability to work with accessibility software including ZoomText for those with low vision and/or other disability. I am very glad to report both Epson scanners have worked flawlessly. Superb product for those running accessibility software and in need of a compatible scanner without a huge price tag.
User: javajunki
Rating:
Summary: UPDATED REVIEW- BROKE FAST...Not perfection - only problems
Helpful Votes: 0
Total Votes: 1
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Review Date: 2009-10-24
About ten years ago I saw an ad for an HP scanner that said it could scan slides and I excitedly ordered it thinking I could unlock the viewing of my family's 60+ yrs slide collection,most of which were shot,viewed & stored away before I was ever born,but once that scanner with the large triangle "slide viewer" (that didn't work) got here I gave up on that hope and forgot about the whole slide thing...
Then I heard about the Epson Perfection V500 and because I personally know how great their scanners are (I own several different models) I got it.
I have spent the past several days making TIFFs & JPGs out of hundreds of slides and (this blew my mind) film strip negatives and they look GREAT!
The included software allows cleaning up what the many years of storage has created and the damage & loss of vibrant colors is easily restored with this fantastic scanner.
Besides the great film restoration I'm now allowed,it's a great office scanner that comes with a lid that has a 30 Page Automatic Document Feeder as well as the lid designed for film & slides.
Geez! I forgot to mention High Resolution you get with this,the detail unlocked on the film strips & slides keeps blowing my mind.
This Epson is another winner and it's so easy to use.
User: Kent J. Smythe
Rating:
Summary: This Scanner Delivers!
Helpful Votes: 1
Total Votes: 3
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Review Date: 2009-10-22
As far as I can tell this is the same scanner as the Epson Perfection V500, which is marketed as a photo scanner, but with the addition of an automatic document feeder. The ADF (as they call it) sits on top of the scanner. One removes the regular lid (which also comes with it) and replaces it with the ADF. I took some photos so you can see how tall it is. There are no instructions in the "easy set up" section on how to put together the ADF or use it. The instructions are, however, in the manual on the cd.
Taken from the manual, these are the restrictions on what you can feed through below:
"Make sure your documents meet the following conditions before loading them into the ADF:
The ink is dry.
The document has no holes and is not ripped or wrinkled.
The document has no staples, paper clips, or other objects attached to it; these may damage the feeder mechanism.
The document has no folds within 0.2 inch (5 mm) from the edges.
The document has no cut-out areas.
The document is not a multipart form or bound.
The document has no rear carbon coating."
I can confirm that it does NOT like wrinkled paper. I tried to send some wrinkled sheets through and it jammed up the ADF. The ADF does fine with regular paper. It pulls the documents one by one around and through (sort of like a printer). It is fairly quick, scanning four sheets in just under 2 minutes (at 300dpi in color). It does not need to be "told" how many sheets to scan, just keeps pulling them in one by one until there are none left.
This is a definite time saver if you have stacks of paper you need scanned as the scanner does more of the work.
You CAN also lift up the ADF and scan items one by one (like wrinkled up receipts). A mask is provided to use in this situation.
The power button is on the right side (not the front) so you will need access to turn it on and off. The front buttons worked well (after I read the help section) and you can send the documents to PDF, email or straight to the printer.
I do love the "no warm up" time of LED scanners.
The Epson software is ok, fine for most work. It has "professional, home and office" modes, which basically just give you different choices (the professional mode controls the ADF for example). You can use the scanner with other software if you prefer. The scanner also came with Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.
This scanner would be great for light office work, it saves a ton of time from lifting up the lid, placing the document on the scanner, scanning....etc. I will replace my Canon with this since I now scan more paper than film, but if you are going to scan film read on..
READ THE SECTION BELOW if you want to use it to scan negatives.
The photo masks are also included, and are the same as the ones from the V500 photo scanner.
I took the section below from my review of this scanner from the point of view of scanning in negatives. If you are planning to use this for film, you should read the section below.
Several years ago we bought a Canonscan 9950F to convert all our film into digital. At that time I converted 12,000 negatives into digital format. Since then I have used my Canonscan mainly as a flatbed scanner, although occasionally I need to convert a few negatives, for other people or when we use a disposable camera. I set it up on a Dell Dimension 8100 on an external powered usb port. No problems with installation, I was up and running in under 10 minutes. To compare I took a new set of negatives and scanned 6 shots in both the Canonscan and the Epson both at the same resolution and using the dust and scratch removal programs for both. Here are my comparisons The Canonscan is faster, it took about 7 minutes to scan the 6 shots. The Epson took a little longer, 9 minutes for 6 shots. The quality of the Epson was better, dust removal was more precise and the Epson software was better able to pick up where the edges of a very light photo were than the Canon. I wonder if the LED, (being one wavelength) helps with this clarity. However, the Epson only has 2 slots for putting your negatives into on the plastic mask. Theoretically it can hold 12 images, but that is only if that is how your negatives are cut. If your negatives have, say, 5 images each, you are only going to be able to do 10 a time unless you are willing to cut up the negatives. The Canonscan mask has 5 slots, each for 6 negatives. In theory you could do 30, but I found that because of how the negatives were cut I could usually do 24 to 28. Not an issue if you are just doing a few, but if you have a backlog of thousands it can make a real difference in how long the project would take. The scan time is not hugely different but the time involved in physically placing the negatives into the slots and setting up the scan would take longer with the Epson. The mask with the Epson is more difficult to work with than the Canon mask. The Canon has a hinge on one side, the Epson the whole front snaps out. It seems a bit flimsy, but so did the Canon and it lasted through the 12,000 scans. I really like the LED instant on being the impatient person that I am. You do not have to wait for the scanner to warm up, great for a quicker scanning of a couple documents. The Epson is much more intuitive. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to scan a negative (I, too, made the error of not putting the mask in the correct place). With the Canon I remember it taking me an hour to get the general idea and a couple hours to figure out exactly how to get it
User: Two kids mom
Rating:
Summary: Five stars for documents, four stars for film negatives.
Helpful Votes: 4
Total Votes: 5
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Product Details
- Quickly scan multiple documents
- Create extraordinary enlargements from film
- Remove the appearance of dust and scratches from film
- Scan slides, negatives and medium-format film
- Restore faded color photos with one touch
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