Epson Scan Xp 342 Download ##BEST##
Marissa Albero
- If the Open image folder after scanning checkbox is selected in the File Save Settings window, Windows Explorer or the Macintosh Finder automatically opens to the folder where the scanned image was saved.
Film continues to be a popular medium among photographers today, and whether you're an active or former analog user, the easiest way to share your treasured moments is by digitizing your film through scanning.
Many photo labs offer scanning as part of their services, often using large scanners able to process a full roll of 35mm film in a few minutes. But, just like developing at a lab, having a lab scan your film costs money, which is why many people like the idea of scanning negatives themselves. There are a lot of options when it comes to digitizing film yourself (including simply using a digital camera), but some of these methods require complex setups, some have huge equipment costs, and some just aren't very good. Others, meanwhile, are actually pretty good and affordable. Meet the Epson Perfection V600.
The Epson V600 retails for $229.99, although there were several deals around the web for under $200 at the time of writing this article. In the box you get the scanner, two plastic film holder inserts, a power cable, a data cable and an Epson software CD.
Before I get too deep into breaking down what using this scanner is like I want to give some context. First, while the Epson V600 can be used for a variety of scanning applications, I'll only be talking about using it to scan film. Second, I've been scanning my own film for several years using all sorts of various film scanners, and let me tell you there is a steep learning curve. Everything can be done right, but it just takes time to piece together each element and make sure you're processing things in a way that works for you.
There are, of course, many different approaches to getting a desirable image from scanning film; the opinions in this article are just based off of my experiences. Film negatives are a lot like Raw files; how you process them can make a big difference to how they end up looking (particularly in the case of color negative and black and white films).
Once unboxed and set up, using this scanner is pretty straightforward: you lay your film in one of the supplied plastic holders, snap it shut and place it in the scanner so that your negatives are centered on the scanner bed. You'll be able to scan up to twelve 35mm photos or four medium format photos at once. The scanner also comes with an additional film holder for mounted slide film.
Once your negatives are in place, it's time to get scanning via the included software, 'Epson Scan'. Depending on which scan mode you choose (more on that below), you simply set your desired scan quality, make a preview scan and select your scan area with a marquee tool (except in Full Auto mode). Then you commit to the final scan, which can take a long while or a short while depending on your quality settings. Sound simple? Not necessarily...
When I initially set up the V600, I had it connected to my Windows 10 desktop and quickly found the software to be unstable, crashing frequently during the preview scan. Eventually I couldn't even get my computer to recognize that the scanner was on and connected. This is apparently not an uncommon problem either (I tried all the fixes in the link to no avail). I ended up following a bunch of tutorials online to fix the problem and still wasn't able to get it to work reliably.
Home Mode offers just enough control to get a good scan so that you can then make the rest of the adjustments to image quality in whatever photo editing software you prefer. You've got DPI, Brightness scale, and a handful of intelligent options like Color Restoration. The V600 also includes Epson's 'Digital ICE technology' - available in all scanning modes - which automatically removes dust and small scratches (though I still advise dusting with canned air or a rocket blower before each scan).
Professional Mode, on the other hand, offers a full slew of adjustments and filters including Grain Reduction and additional dust removal alongside exposure and color adjusting tools like histograms, curves, white balance sliders, and so on. One other really nice feature is that you can change the bit-depth of your scans, with the option of 8- or 16-bit Grayscale and 24- or 48-bit Color. The DPI setting goes all the way up to 12800, so if you're planning on making big prints this will set you up right for that.
Above you can see a comparison of the same shot scanned in Home Mode (left) and Professional Mode (right). The Home Mode scan has noticeably less dust and hairs while the Professional Mode (with dust removal turned off) has more dust but is a bit closer to how I think the photo should look after some slight white balance, tint, and contrast corrections. Photo was shot on Portra 400VC with a Hasselblad 80mm F2.8 and a Proxar macro filter.
More important than how this scanner stacks up against itself is how it stacks up against scans done by professionals in a photo lab. Below is a gallery comparing photos scanned on the Epson V600 to ones scanned by the professionals at Panda Lab here in Seattle, WA.
The Epson scans were all done in 'Home' mode at 4800 DPI (for 6400 DPI scanning you'll need to switch to 'Pro' mode) and saved as Tiffs. This resulted in files 6600 x 4400 pixels. For the sake of comparison we've downsized them to match the Panda Lab scans and saved them as JPEGs. Other than that, no additional adjustments were made to either scan.
When viewed at 100% or on a large monitor, the lab scans show more detail and significantly finer grain than the Epson scans. They also do a much better job reflecting the tonality of the Fujifilm Pro 400H film they were shot on. With the Epson scans, the color is OK, but there's a need for color-correction.
The image below and to the right is an Epson scan edited in Lightroom to match the tonality of the Professional scan. With a little fussing, you can get the colors close, but the professional scan still looks sharper, more detailed and less noisy than the Epson. But depending on your intended viewing size, that may not matter; the corrected Epson scans certainly look good enough to me for social media sharing or small printing.
Of course, the lab scans cost money ($10) and the Epson scans cost you time, after initial investment. It took about 3 minutes to scan each 35mm frame, which means if you're shooting rolls of 36 exposures, that's 108 minutes of scanning. So if you purchase the Epson for the retail price of $229.99, you'd theoretically have to scan 23 rolls before saving money versus the cost of lab scans, which would take more than 41 hours.
For those who don't know, banding looks like what it sounds like: a portion of your photo will have a straight band of a slightly different exposure along the line of the scan. This is something that can sort of be corrected using Photoshop but depending on the complexity of your image it can become a huge pain to deal with.
The Epson V600 has some flaws, like flimsy film trays and dated-looking software. But assuming you can get everything set up successfully (sorry Windows 10 users), it's relatively easy and straightforward to get decent-looking scans using Home mode, especially if you're only looking to scan 35mm. However, for the highest quality scans, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting around for the V600 to do its thing.
Second, he states that the scanner didn't produce the image detail that a scan done by a professional photo lab was able to achieve, but he handicapped the Epson scan by using it in "home" mode which, by his own admission, is not able to use the scanner's full resolution! He also failed to mention what resolution or hardware the photo lab was using.
Thanks for your detailed review! I have a V500 Perfection Photo that Epson just quietly dropped supporting the software (two OS's ago!) and now force users to use Apple's "Image Capture," which of course, not well suited for scanning as you can't really control it. Not to get into it here, but I have an official response from Epson that their solution to this problem was for me to "buy a V600!" Now, both of these units have been out for a long time. I see comments on forums on the V600 going back to 2010! So my question/worry is that Epson will do the same thing with the V600 soon and just stop updating software. Their s/w is old and clunky as you pointed out - I mean it looks like it was developed for, and still uses the color and window scheme for, Windows 98! I just don't trust Epson at this point.
In contrast, Microsoft for most of it's history has prioritized backward compatibility; for example most drivers and software designed for Windows 7 or 8 can often be used "as is" with Windows 10 or 11. In consequence, Epson still offers both V500 drivers and scanning software for the latest versions of Windows 10 and 11.
More info on scanner compatibility with MacOS: I just read on Wikipedia (see link below) that Apple removed support for 32-bit software and 32-bit device drivers starting with version 10.15 ("Catalina"). This very likely explains why Canon's software and driver support for their older scanners ended when Catalina arrived. Credit must be given to Epson for at least creating a 64-bit driver that can be used with Catalina and later versions of MacOS with Apple's Image Capture utility.
One thing not mentioned and I feel to be a major draw back it crops the edges of the scanned image. Crops anywhere from 3 mm to 6 mm about.
Owners manual pg 22.
Make sure the upper right corner of the document or
photo is against the corner of the scanner, next to the arrow mark.
pg 133
Scanning in Full Auto Mode, or using thumbnail preview in Home Mode Professional Mode, move the document or photo about 6 mm away from the horizontal and vertical edges of the document table to avoid
cropping.
If you are scanning using normal preview in Office Mode, Home Mode, or Professional Mode, move the document or
photo about 3 mm away from the horizontal and vertical edges of the document table to avoid cropping.
I also find the placement of the doc to be a clumsy as it is about 18 inches from the front of the scanner as well as the on off switch. Both should be at the front which would make it faster to scan multi docs.
The software seem out dated and look likes and acts like from 2000.