Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

My two main uses of this "scanner" are:
1. As a copier
2. To attach documents to emails

While my old Epson Perfection did this easily, this one makes life difficult due to the software. I can only attach one page rather than multiple pages. The copier settings insist on returning to the default settings each time. I question what Epson was thinking by changing to this software. If this was my 1st experience with the Epson software; there would not be a 2nd!

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

The scans out of the epson compared fine with scans from the lab after a little bit of photoshop work to remove dirt and scratches. I did not expect the blemishes to appear, but the negatives I scanned were not kept in ideal conditions. Overall I am very satisfied with the printer. The software works very well, the pictures have come out as good they could have, and the price is great.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

I have used this to scan slides and pictures and other paper work. The pictures are very clear. It may take a little longer with slides and only 4 at a time can be scanned, but it is worth it.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

Simple to use. We are scanning photo of our daughter when she was young from slides. Now we will be able to burn a DVD to show our grandchildren how cute their mom was when she was their age.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

Easy to use - I use mainly for scanning films (35 mm and medium format).
The software to improve the scanning does wonder. BUT there is a but. If you want to use it, it takes like 15 min per picture - of course less/more depending on the resolution you use. I would say that the best way to go is to first scan films at low resolution, pick those you want to print nicely and then use good resolution + the software to "clean" the picture.
I don't give 5 stars just because it can really go slow.
Other little problem is that hte medium format scans 2 frames at the time, instead of 3 or 4, which also takes more time.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

Intended use was for photo and art reproduction. The unit came with no manuals or instructions. With only dialup speeds, on line info is very slow to get and you can only look at it, not copy it. That makes it very cumbersome to learn all the features available. The copies I have made are very good, but much slower than the last unit I had.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

Scanning Photos,Slides and X-Rays

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

Being able to scan various sizes of photos as well as slides and film is exactly what I needed. I have a large quantity of family papers and photos which need to be added to the family tree so present and future generations will know about their ancestors. Using the 4490 has made it extremely easy to capture family history and make it available to family members as well as making my task of creating the family tree easier.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

I had an Epson Perfection 3170 Photo Scanner for 6 years and was happy with the results so I decided to stick with Epson and went with the 4490. So far it's working fine and there have been no disappointments. I use this mostly for documents, but it works great for any of my photos.....

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

nice scanner for negative film scanning.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

I am quite please with my decision to purchase this scanner; Chosen primarily because it is the lowest price unit I could find that features Digital ICE. This feature works amazingly well...I have about 2200 old family slides to sort through and cleaning up a hundred or two in PhotoShop would be a huge task. This unit scans 4 35mm slides in one pass and can apply the Digital ICE and other filters in batch mode which means you can set it and leave while it does its thing.
The ancient (2.0) version of PhotoShop Elements included in the package does what it needs to do and so far has worked flawlessly with the scanner. These filters increase the time considerably but work so well that actual touch-ups necessary in PhotoShop are reduced to a bare minimum.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

So far only used to scan 120 negatives. Happy with the results. My only issue is that I don't understand why the scan area for medium format is so small. The transparency lamp is the length of the scanner, but you can only scan a small area of that with the medium format holder, two 6x6 negatives at a time, or one 6x9. Also wish I could scan a strip without having to choose frames.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

The 4490 scanner produces excellent scans from 35mm slides and film and supports the 120 film format. I process my own b&w 120 film and have been extremely happy with the results so far. The scans are accurate and of very high quality for an inexpensive scanner. Certainly not as good as a high end drum scanner but more than adequate for what I do and that includes art printing and web images. Highly reccomended.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

This is the second time I've owned the scanner and absolutely fell in love with it. It's inexpensive, and gets the job done for 35mm, 6x6 and 6x7 format. The film holders are definitely not as bad as people say, but they work quite nicely.

The color from the software seems to work nicely, but I would use a third-party program if possible.
I highly recommend this if you need something to get you started in medium format (or 35mm) scanning.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

I was pleased with the its ease of setup and compatibility with my iMac. I was very happy to see the photos that I scanned appear clearly on the 24" screen. The time for each photo scan was less than I expected. My daughter also used it to scan some of her pencil drawings into Corel Paint.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

I use my 4490 to scan the documents that let me go paperless (recepts, invoices, letters, legal documents etc.)

My canon copier recently became unexpectedly unuseable when its toner cartridge ran out. I found in addition to traditional scanning functions the 4490 can also function quite efectively as a color copier merely by using the copy button on the control panel. After confirming the copy request on a pop-up screen on one's computer the 4490 scans the document and sends the image to my computer's printer.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

I love the new scanner--once I got it to talk to my snowleapord Mac. The downloaded new files for OS X 6worked, but the copy of Adobe Photoshop 2 didn't work. Originally I installed this scanner on my Windows XP but since I needed to disable the virus protection on it in order to install the software, I am not able to get directions for using the scanner there. Now I have downloaded them from your site, but it has all taken the morning. I have great faith that all will work well now, but please, update the bundled software and include directions for use!

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

Excellent results, low cost ... This has got to be a required tool for your computer. Second only to the keyboard and mouse.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

I could not be happier with the Epson 4490 Photo Scanner. After careful reviewing other products in the same price range, I have been very happy with the results of the Epson 4490.
Although the scanner was purchased to scan prints, I was very pleased with the quality of 35 mm slides that have been scanned.
The printer is very easy to set up, warms up quickly and is quiet.
The software inner face is very easy to use but my only complaint is that the window for the scanner cannot be enlarged. Having a 17 inch laptop screen I want to use all the screen but the Epson software limits the Epson window to a quarter of the size of the screen.
The quality of the 35 mm slide scans more than makes up for the one flaw in the software inner face. Although 35mm slides take about 2 minutes a piece for scanning at 3200 and 4800 dpi, for the money you will spend, the quality is good.

Comments about Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner:

The 4490 is probably the best value for money scanner for someone who wants to wade into scanning those old slides and negatives without wanting to be disappointed. It is not a professional unit and is not priced as such. However, for any one that mostely shot camera in hand photos with consumer grade equipment and film and that used to have his/her 6 by 4 prints done by the local 1 hour photo shop, this scanner is all you need. My prints from scanned negatives are actually better than what the local photoshop could achieve. The batch scanning allows one to put two strips of negatives (or 4 slides) into the scanner, initiate the process and return 40 to 60 minutes later with 8 to 12 negatives scanned at 2400 dpi, all colour corrected and most scrathes and dust spots removed. I stated "most" dust spots removed since there are the odd dust spot that still creeps through the Digital ICE, so it is always bettre to get the negatives as clean as practically possible. Yes, the pixel peepers out there may tell you that a $2000 plus dedicated scanner will do a better job, which is true, but how many "I was here" "This is my nephew riding his bike" etc type photographers have always used a tri-pod with the mirror locked up and a remote trigger on the shutter, used only professional film, stored in a cooler before and after usage, developed by a professional lab, etc. For the rest of us an Epson 4490 is good enough. For Medium Format film this is all scanner you need - for everything up to 8 by 10 prints