| Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner
This is a review of the Epson Perfection 4490 photo scanner. Now with more tips and tricks.
This scanner is awesome, with a few minor exceptions. It does up to 4800 by 9600 DPI as well as scans in 35mm or medium format slides and negatives. As you can see from the photos, it has a removable white cover that you can insert when you want to scan something other than negatives.
From the photo on the left you can see the various front panel functions of the 4490. The right photo shows the adapter plates for film negatives and slides. The scanner comes with two: one for 35mm and one for 120mm medium format. While I have yet to try the 120mm adapter, the 35mm works great. You can insert two negative strips at once and the scanner software automatically picks up each negative as a different photo. You can also do some basic editing to and pick which negatives you wish to scan in, so you don’t have to take them blindly. Now, onto something I don’t like, the ICE system.
You can see what the ice system does on the right. It just plain looks bad to me. Perhaps I haven’t figured out how to use it just yet, but I set it for quality instead of speed, so you think it would produce something tolerable. Overall, I really like this scanner. It makes beautiful scans of my negatives that only require minor touchup in photoshop to get rid of things like dust spots or small scratches. Buy one, you won’t regret it!
Updates:
I have tested out the 120 scanner plate quite a bit now. I’ve used it to scan 6×6, 6×9, and even some odd sized negatives. The negatives that come from my J610 are actually close to 6×10.5. The scanner handles all of these sizes just fine, but you’ll want to use it in manual mode. I’ve noticed I can actually dry and scan 120 faster than 35mm without any strange warping/curling on the negatives.
You can see some of my 6×6 samples here.
Posted by falcoln0014 
April 2008
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5 Responses to “Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner”
I was recently browsing around and discovered a way to get better negative scans. All you have to do is place the negative emulsion down on the glass and line the adapter plate up over it. You’ll have to flip the images horizontally, but they look GREAT! After doing some vigorous research I’ve discovered the ICE system is for color photos only. I’ll have to try it out again after I do some color processing. I know that guy! This scanner is awesome i hear! But i have on important question, that determines weather or not i should get it… thanks, With the included 35mm scan plate sprocket holes do not show up, but i found an easy way to fix that. It also has slots for 35mm ‘slides’ to scan in. By cutting a thick piece of matte board into the shape of a slide (with a hole in the middle large enough to show sprocket holes) it would be possible to scan with sprocket holes showing. It does have a plate for medium format, but I don’t currently have any to try it out. I would assume it works just as well as the 35 plate. Have something you would like to say? If you would prefer to comment via Facebook post it here: |
falcoln0014 Says:
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