Epson Perfection 4490 Photo - flatbed scanner price and reviews

This scanner is easy to install and use. It has different levels of scanning options that make it easy to produce excellent results. The front control buttons are a welcome addition to Epsons usually plain one button control panel. I knew that Digital Ice was availble only for slides and film, but after using the scanner I think I'll also be getting the 4990 scanner which can use Digital Ice with snapshots. It is a solide scanner and I also appreciated the hinged lid that stays up by itself, so I can put scanning items on glass with both hands if need be. I picked scanner up for $235 from circuit city's website.

The editor and user reviews convinced me to get this scanner. I have decades of family photos to scan and wanted a simple scanner to take care of them. First install attempt resulted in partial Adobe software setup [Biz Card failing to install] and the Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 never would install. I had an old computer and thought the problem might be my hardware. Email to Epson about problem brought no solutions. For other reasons I then bought brand-new computer and tried again, but software install failed the same way again. So I went ahead and used the scanner and put a lot of photos on my computer. Since the Photoshop Elements 2.0 failed twice I gave up on it, went to Adobe website and ordered the trial version elements 3.0. After I get all the photos scanned I will use the trial version for 30 days. According to the Adobe website the features and benefits for Photoshop Elements are way beyond my needs and wants. In fact most of the photos scanned are treated to Google Picasa 2 free software and fix most problems. Operation of the scanner is simple with three options offering simple to complex choices of scan, dpi, color prints, slides, negatives, etc. Overall I am just satisfied because the software install failures. www.dougcaldwell.net

I bought this scanner expressly to scan old medium format, B&W negatives. It was amazing what sharp clear pictures I got from 65 years and older negatives. It does as well with colors on film and slides. Great at scanning photos and documents too. I am very pleased, plus I saved a ton of money by doing the family pictures myself.

I previously owned an Epson Perfection 1670. It made great document scans with crisp clear lettering. Photos were great also. Had lots of flexibility within the program, especially with the Epson SmartPanel and Epson Scan. Scanner quit running after 3 years. Bought the 4490 on recommendation of sales staff and my experience with the 1670. It falls short of the old scanner. The software does not include the SmartPanel which I loved. It costs more, does not have the flexibility or clarity of the 1670, and the scan time is about 3 times longer. If you want automated scanning maybe this is the one for you, but it doesn't work for me. In short, this scanner really stinks! Also, when my old scanner quit, I contacted Epson on 8/21 for assistance. On 8/22 I received an automated acknowledgement of my request along with the notation I would hear from them in a few days. It is now 8/30 and I'm still waiting (I use my scanner daily!). If this is their idea of customer service I'm done with them. I'm taking this scanner back and buying an HP.

I am so displeased with the software becuase it does not save your settings. It does what it wants to do, ignores any saved settings, and goes back to the default settings.

As a professional who scans documents, negatives, slides, and anything else that comes along, I should not have to revert back to my saved settings. However, this product doesn't even allow that. When you do, you get different settings than you originally saved. Strange!

Epson was my number one manufacturer for a scanner because years ago I was pleased with the quality I received from their inkjet printers. I chose them over another competitive brand, but the software with this program leaves one to wonder why no one else has complained; are they too ingorant to know that low quality images are not what they expected; default settings will leave them nothing more than blurry or unacceptable images later on; or years later an outrage that they were jipped.

As a professional in photography (mostly 35mm) and archiving old films and documents, it is with displeasure to announce that this product was almost what I wanted. The hardware appears to be what we want, but the software is many digits away from what the hardware expects.

Epson, get it together. Your software is garbage. Fire the programmer and get someone who knows what they're doing. It just doesn't work!

I like the ability to scan several negatives or slides at once, but can't the damn program remember the settings that you prefer for the final scans? I don't think so.

Pass on this until a fix comes out and I'm not waiting very long. I guess my client is going to have to wait a little longer becuase certain manufacturers don't give a damn!

The 4490 replaces my dying four year old HP6300C. I got great scans with the latter, had a fax button that connected automatically with fax software, and found the software very easy to use.

Lacking any fax connection, I tried to scan to email, only to discover that my only options were Outlook or Outlook Express, Eudora, or AOL Communicator, rendering the button useless.

When I scanned to printer, I had to do a preview and set the scan area to prevent the black background from being printed. Print quality was adequate.

I had to read the manual to figure out how to use the software as the process is non-intuitive but learnable.

I scanned in a 50 year old photo and took it into Photoshop together with the same photo I had scanned with my old HP. I edited them both using the same tools and gave a slight edge to the 4490 finished product.

The price was great, about half what I paid for the HP. But I would have paid more to have gotten a fax button.

Wonderful scanner for under $250. Images are 10-fold better than my previous Compaq scanner. Software was easy to install and I had no problems installing the unit - Ready to go in less than 10 minutes. Software is also very user freindly for beginners to play all the features. Again I can't begin to explain how great the image quality is.

When I use the Epson copy program that came with the Epson scanner, it sets the paper source to auto sheet feeder, no matter what the default is (it is the paper feed switch).

When I click on output paper on the Epson scanner software, I can set the Canon ip4000 printer to paper feed switch or cassette, and then click "OK" but no matter what I do, it goes back to auto sheet feeder when executing the actual copy. The software always seems to reset it to auto sheet feeder. Other changes I make, such as paper size, portrait versus landscape, etc. all seem to take and are not changed. But the paper output always reverts to auto sheet feeder. No other program of mine does this. I do not want the auto feeder for copying. The default is set to be the paper feed switch. Every other program uses the default or can be changed.

I wrote Epson and they said that their copy software does not affect the printer paper feed in any way. Then their tech said that Epson scanners are only guaranteed to work with Epson printers! She said I should contact Canon. But then I tried it with my HP 832. Same thing!

Happily I finally got a good tech who told me about a website that has free copy software (www.nicocuppen.com). This does work. Too bad Epson did not hire Nico to fix their lousy software.

I expected more from what I thought was a good company.

I bought a refurbished unit direct from Epson. It was broken. They replaced it. That one worked briefly but then broke just outside of the 30-day return window, so I had to deal with warranty service. Epson requires you to take the scanner to a local service center, so I took it to one that is an hour traveling time each way (closest one available). They held onto the scanner for one-and-a-half weeks. I got it, brought it home, and discovered that it was still broken. Now, the only option is to take it back to this service center again to have them attempt to repair it. After all the time spent on the phone (and a previous bad experience with a brand new Epson scanner), I've become extremely fed up and will never buy another Epson scanner again (I should've learned my lesson the first time, but this was too good a price to pass up).

However, if you get a working unit, then this is really a great scanner. I found it great for scanning my medium format negatives, that is for all of the one week that it actually worked.

I purchased this scanner to archive all my families photos from the beginning of time 40+ years. It even makes the kodachrome slides look great. I have scanned about 40 and it works great. I would highly recommend this scanner. I wanted the 4990 but it was just too expensive right now. I can't believe how much I like this scanner. If the 4990 is better I can't imagine how.