Epson Perfection 2580 Photo Scanner
A flatbed scanner with an Auto Film Loader for 35mm negatives / 2400 x 4800 max. dpi / One-Touch Color Restoration / PC & Mac / USB 2.0 Maximum Resolution - 12,800 x 12,800 dpi with software interpolation Color Depth - 48-bit internal/external Greyscale Depth - 16-bit internal/external Optical Density - 3.2 Dmax Scaling (zoom) - 50% to 200% (1% step) USB 2.0 Interface (backwards compatible with USB 1.1) Supports PC and Macintosh Computer Systems Unit Dimensions - 10.83 (w) x 16.5 (d) x 3.4 (h) Unit Weight - 6.6 lbs.
Epson Perfection 2580 Photo Scanner Accessories
 Epson PHOTO AND BUSINESS CARD FEEDER ( B12B813372 )
London (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE)
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Epson Perfection 2580 Photo Scanner Reviews
Experienced no disappointments in my usage of it. Works well along side of Adobe Photoshop software. I use this to produce quality images of 300dpi - 600dpi for use in professional print media. It can only scan one slide at a time however. Other scanners usually can scan up to 4 slides at a time. The quality is excellent. One neat feature of this scanner is you can enlarge a small photo by several percent and it still looks great.
I really love it. I then do some routine photo enhancing in MS PictureIt and I end up with digital photos that are better than my original prints. I simply load the negative, go do something else for 5 minutes, then return and I have 4 nice digital scans. Yes it is slow but that is the beauty of the automatic feeder. I bought this scanner to scan old 35mm negatives and it works beautifully. My routine is to start the next automatic negative scan while editing the digital photos that were just completed so I am never really waiting on the scanner anyway.
I guess they want me to buy another, double-duh. Besides the price, I liked the negative feeder feature- a strip of 6 35mm negs can be fed in and the little motor whirrs and pulls in the strip to do one at a time. As other reviewers have said, EPSON IS NO HELP. I am satisfied with the quality of the scans and the ease of software, although I wish it allowed.RAW files to be created. The belts stretch, duh.
Pretty slick- Look Ma, no hands. The clicking sound was the tip off and scans 3 through 6 came out chopped up. It was refurbished and only cost $80. On my own, I found that there is a user adjustable mechanism to re-tension the belts. I finally located a parts store, but the they only sold the whole lid for over $100. Then, after 4 months and 500 6 frame film strips, the feeder belts began to slip. I've taken it to it's max setting, then past that with masking tape spacers.
Also, as other reviewers have said- Epsons are cheaply built. I set it up and began scanning with no problem. I got this scanner for Christmas last year. I am upset that Epson doesn't allow an obviously wear prone part to be sold. Recommendation- get a better scanner to start out, if you can afford it.
This software really IS awful, and I'd love to have half an hour alone with whoever designed or approved it, to point this out. But the real hassle, is NOT having a Photoshop Import plug-in (what were they thinking.)., and this tortuous software that takes most of the fun out of scanning. I run a graphics studio, and use a scanner several times a day for photos, printed material, even small items such as jewelry that require some depth of field from the scanner. So here we were in Dec 2005, frantically looking for a new scanner with Mac OS9 drivers. Then it started producing banded images, and to make a long story short, this is a defect of some HP scanners, there is no fix, and HP goes out of its way not to help.
I haven't had a chance to try scanning any 3D objects on the scanner glass so I can't comment on the depth of field this scanner offers. Bottom line. Gone is the useful ability I had with the HP to Import directly into Photoshop (I've trolled the net for hours trying to locate an Epson 2480/2580 Photoshop Import plug-in; I might add that I was astonished to find NO reference to Photoshop on Epson's site - did they have a falling-out with Adobe perhaps). Finally, and getting desperate, I tracked down an Epson Perfection 2580 (basically a repackaged 2480), which comes with OS9 drivers, and bought it on the spot, which happened to be Nanaimo BC. After asking around amongst my contacts in the graphics and design community, the consensus was that Canon has nice scanners and provides the best software, and that Epson has the worst software, although their scanners are fine. grrr.
After installing the software and removing enough packing material to insulate a doghouse, I fired it up using the Epson Smart Panel software, and was able to eventually save an image file to a folder on the desktop. I've also tried just running Epson Scan (which is supposed to simply produce a bare-bones scan), but can't find any way to set resolution, adjust viewing area, change the scan type and so on with this method. SO I have to save a scan to the Epson desktop folder, and then open that file from within Photoshop, which is tedious and time-wasting. Because we have so much dedicated software that runs native in OS9, we're holding out on the Big Upgrade to OSX as long as we can.
The Canon LiDE 20, 30, or 50 all ran in OS9 , but no store had any stock; they'd been cleaned out months back. It's too bad that Seiko/Epson makes a mechanically decent device, and then cripples users with clumsy, ill-conceived software. An import plug-in might at least by-pass some of these obstacles. What can I say. On the down side, this is a real screecher (the HP was almost silent by comparison) - everyone in the office knows when I'm making a scan. The OCR software is a demo, but most bundled software is diluted these days. Eventually we'll be forced to upgrade, at which point we'll probably abandon Apple (the Mac OS experience bears little resemblance to its once friendly and open architecture), giving us a wide range of options in software and hardware, and another opportunity to try a Canon scanner. I'll have to gird my loins and face the Epson Smart Panel again I guess.
Last year I researched a new scanner to buy while we still had a choice of OS9 driver scanners, finally selecting an HP Scanjet 4400c. Nice-looking scans (eventually) of color photos and grayscale images, nice package, front buttons are recessed enough so they're not being accidentally pressed (like the protruding HP buttons) and launching unwanted software, and all the required cables and attachments are included (incredibly, some scanner makers still don't include everything needed to use all the features). The same applies to the "Professional Mode" of the Epson Smart Panel software, although I CAN make some of these adjustments in "Automatic Mode". This was a joy to use, with friendly software, all the options we required, and good scans. All the recent Canons (LiDE 25, 35, 60) only ran under OSX.
Tricks I learned are to keep the glass cleaned. Spray it on a piece of soft paper towel to clean the glass of dust. GREAT JOB EPSON.
Worked great until I ran across a project with my Aunt who handed me well over 2000+ negatives. I mentioned before that I used the HP 5530. And it gets almost every picture perfect. I was scanning in 35mm with my HP 5530 which HP so notabable disctontinued 2 weeks after my purchase. I have scanned over 2000+ pictures from 35mm film and this thing just keeps on clicking along. GREAT PRODECT EPSON.I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER PURCHASE SOMETHING LIKE THIS FROM YOU. After a few nights of messing around with the HP and trying to locate an additional plastic mount the last few months and finding out I couldn't even purchase it from HP, well, I knew this little project was going to take me a "very long time".
I rescanned all of my girlfriends Alaska pictures with the Epson and re-posted them on my website. I ran across the Epson here on Amazon and Santa got it for me for Christmas. I just wanted to write an update on my review that I did on December 27.
Then again, I use JASC Paint Shop Pro to flip and rotate as needed. It wasn't something I really wanted to do, but 30+ years of negatives was exciting. To see the quality of this scanner, visit www.davevogt.net, look at Buzz's page, her Alaska pictures and you can see the results of the 35mm scans. I am almost on picture 500 tonight. Use Sparkle. I have to admit, this low profile scanner with the 35mm feed is really "cool". Make sure you read the instructions and you should have no problems. Some big memories have emerged.
I had no problems installing the software or hardware. The autofeed and software are great. dave. That scanner is really nice but the software was horrible. I'll scan in 4 pictures, reload the scanner with another set of 35mm film, start scanning, hit update thumbnails in JASC, and correct the pic's while the next batch is scanning. You have a new fan. Only problem I encountered was a piece of tape got caught in the transfer mech that was attached to the film from the lab but I was able to get it cleaned out and I was back on my way.
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