Epson Perfection V550 Color Photo, Image, Film, Negative & Document Scanner with 6400 DPI Optical Resolution

This is really more of 4.5 because of some of the confusing descriptions. This scanner comes with DIGITAL ICE LIGHT, not the full DIGITAL ICE technology. "Light" means that the technology only works on scanning negatives, not photos. I didn't find this out until I was reading through the user guide online and read another review on the Epson site. This is the first scanner that I have bought specifically for photo's. Once you figure it out, it is really easy to use and provides great scan quality. I love all the options you have when scanning, it fits every one of my needs. I can scan quickly for documents or less important photo's, or I can get quality files when I scan important photo/negatives. My father passed away last year and I have digitizing all the old family photos so that we can get the stories and names of everyone before we lose any more family members and their memories. I was using a general scanner and spending way too much time having to crop out each photo. This scanner does an AMAZING job of auto-cropping each photo (if there is at least 1/4" between each photo) or letting you tell it where to crop and then saving each one in it's own file. It also has a lot of auto enhancing features that work on most photo's. There is no user guide that comes along with the scanner (most items don't anymore) and the user guide online isn't great, but there is a lot of information on line to supplement the information. Since this is my first photo scanner, I don't have anything to compare it to directly. The quality of the scanned photos is great, but the quality of the scanned negatives is AMAZING. I am scanning negatives that are 65 years old! They are as clear as day and the ICE "technology" seems to be working great. The downside is that this scanner only has ICE Light, which means that the "technology" to remove scratches only works when scanning negatives, not photos. This seems odd, since most scratches are going to occur on photos and not negatives, and most items to be scanned nowadays are going to be photos. It seems like any product that is manufactured from here on out should be with that in mind. This is the latest release of these scanners and has the most options, so it is really odd that it didn't have the latest technology.

Excellent scanner for slides, negatives and prints. When I was researching what scanner to get to replace my old HP scanner I did a lot of looking around. This one was the best trade-off between cost and image quality. Since it uses LEDs to light it up there is zero 'warm-up' time. When I scan 35mm slides I can dial up the Dot Per Inch (DPI) so high that when I zoom in tight on the finished scan I can see the film grain! The software from Epson is pretty good too. It offers 3 modes that go from "I don't know anything about scanning pictures - just do it for me", to "I know just enough to be dangerous but I still want some control on how my pictures are scanned", to "I have a good solid understanding of how scanning works and I want be in complete control." Most of the time "Restore Colors" does a good job but occasionally it takes the colors over the top to make the picture look like a cartoon. But it's easy to turn it on, check the colors, and then turn it off again if you don't like it. Occasionally the software will misidentify a slide as being turned horizontal when it's actually vertical ... but usually a rescan of the preview will solve that. In six months worth of use I have only had one occasion that the software "got confused" and I had to toss out the preferences file to reset everything. But then it was all back to normal again. All in all ... this is a very good scanner with excellent performance without a major hit to the wallet. P.S. since I don't run Windows I don't know how well it works in that environment but if the software is similar to the Mac version you're good-to-go

This is a fun scanner. I debated between the older (2009) V600 scanner or this recent 2013 model, V550. Since I already have PSE 10, I opted for the newer scanner thinking I might as well utilize the latest technology. I mainly bought it to do my Dad's medium format negatives from the 1930's and on. I am totally impressed with my test samples for the medium format. The problem I now have is I find I am wanting to scan everything. I would rather scan now then work up my own photos! It is an easy scanner for a novice to use but the 'User's Guide' could be so much more descriptive than it currently is. There are a lot of hidden features to this scanner. I have barely touched the surface of what it can do.. If the manual was better detailed with explanations I am sure I could learn the extras much more quickly...however I now have to stumble around or do online research to get my answers. For instance somewhere on the scanner i found a De sensitive box - does that mean for greater focus or reduces 'noise" by eliminating some detail? Quick explanation of that would have been nice. I am not sure that that box is even mentioned in the User's Guide. I did figure out that Professional Mode is used only for film and slides, whereas the Home mode mode is useful for everything else. I also found that AutoScan is unnecessary and seems to double the scan time. As someone else noted - the power button is oddly positioned on the side where the power light is on the front. Additionally it would have been nice to have a bigger area to place more negatives or slides. Not sure if this is possible, but it would have been nice to have the holders for the slides and negatives made to be adjustable. The medium format film I am scanning are not cut into uniform sizes (they were created in a home dark room), so it's a bit of a juggle to get them to stay in these standardized holders I plan to try and cut my own out of cardboard for faster use. I have learned that the point of the holders is to elevate the negatives from sitting flat on the scan bed. Bottom Line - Great, easy and fun scanner to use but a bit of a learning curve to know how to get the most out of this scanner.

I had previously purchased an Epson V370 Scanner to scan slides and negatives. I had one problem, and I called Epson Telephone Technical Support, and was instantly given the correct solution to my problem by someone who spoke and understood American English. The Epson V370 Scanner could not scan Medium Format (120 or 620 size) negatives, so I bought an Epson V550 Scanner, which can scan Medium Format negatives. I had only one problem with the Epson V550 Scanner, it would not scan Medium Format negatives. Like the V370 Scanner, it scanned everything and anything else perfectly. I imagined that if I called Epson Technical Support that I would have the same good results that I had the previous time that I called. I DID NOT. No one that I spoke to could speak or understand American English. No one that I spoke to knew what an Epson V550 Scanner was, what Medium Format film was, or anything else. I wasted hours on hold while the people who I was talking to asked other people what to do. The Metal Midgets at Epson Telephone Technical Support finally told me that the "Hardware" was defective, and that I had to send the scanner back and that they would send me a new scanner and that I had to give them my Credit Card number and that they would place a hold for $179.99 (although the V550 is $169.99) on my Credit Card until they had received by old scanner back, although they REFUSED to send an email confirmation of either the Credit Card transaction or tracking data on the new scanner that they were sending me. After the most aggravating hours of my entire life that I spent on the phone with Epson Technical Support (I still have a headache from it a day later), I sent an email to Epson email Technical Support and got the correct answer, go to "Configurations" and change film size. Oddly enough, this information is not in the 118 page PDF Manual on the Epson website, or anywhere else. I called Epson Telephone Technical Support to cancel the shipment of the replacement Scanner and Credit Card charges. The person I spoke to left me on hold for around 15 minutes, so I hung up. I called back a few hours later, and was told that the shipment and Credit Card charges could not be cancelled. I am going to refuse the package and call my Credit Card company to get the Credit Card charges taken care of. If any responsible person at Epson really cares about their Telephone Technical Support and if calls really are recorded for "quality assurance", the reference numbers are 140825991118 and 140825005158.

I purchased this scanner after my printer/scanner combo quit working. I decided to just get a dedicated scanner and this scanner fills the bill perfectly. First of all the added bonus of being able to scan film negatives and slides is a huge plus. The quality of this scanner exceeds the quality of my dedicated film scanner plus it can handle much more different types of film and negatives. For me the main issue for any scanner is the software. I was able to download the manual before buying this scanner and confirmed that it has all the bells and whistles that I need for all my scanner needs; especially being able to adjust the sliders on the histogram and being able to correct the color. Of course it has all the other features you would ever want. You will have to dig into the manual to get to some of the features but it's worth the time to explore. The advance features are too numerous to mention but suffice it to say that you can do anything you can imagine with this scanner. The only issue is that you need a lot of overhead room to lift the cover and remove the light baffle for film. Also the scanner is a lot longer than my older scanner so it does take more room than usual. One strange feature is that the power switch is toward the back on the right side; not exactly convenient! The film frames are a little fidgety but they do work. The software automatically recognizes the frames but you do have to make sure you setup the parameters (film, reflection, color, gray scale, resolution, etc) before you do a preview. I've only had this scanner for a week so I hope it will stand up to the test of time.

The espon V550 is a very good scanner. Software was easy to install and fairly easy to execute. Take the time to read the instructions before you start. This will save you a lot of time and make the process much easier. Scans are clear. For older pictures or documeents you can adjust the resolution. I keep it on 300 DPI for most scans. Produces good results at a reasonable time. If you are scanning a lot of pictures at first, you can create folders in your pictures file, then drag and drop as the scanner goes to the next picture. Saves time. Scanner will do multiple pictrues as long a there is about 1/2 inch or so of room between the pictures to allow the scanner to recognize multiple pictures. When you first hit scan it will show you how many pictures . If it shows only 1 picture, you have some pictures too close. Stop the process and rearrange or reduce the number onthe bed. One thing to watch is the .jpg numbering starts over at 1000. I wish it would continue past the 1000 mark. I ended up with a comment on duplicate pictures, when in fact the number sequence started over and I happen to put them in the same folder. Easy fix is to just rename the second picture. Overall a very good scanner and worht the money. No issues so far.

First, I'll explain why I chose this over the V600. They are very similar products and these are the only notable differences I could find. V600 advantages: * Includes Photoshop Elements, albeit a 3 year old version (v9 from September 2010). * Digital ICE for prints as well as for film (V550 only has the latter). From the little bit of research I did, I get the impression that Digital ICE for prints doesn't work too well. V550 advantages: * Includes ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Sprint. * Newer hardware, so maybe it will be supported longer (this is just speculation). * Less expensive. When it first arrived, I installed the Epson software and made some scans which I compared against my 10 year old Canon multifunction device (MP370). I was disappointed. The colors from the Epson looked much less accurate, and there was too much contrast for my taste due to the auto exposure. Thankfully I had the idea to try other software: Windows Fax and Scan, VueScan, and SilverFast. The first two seemed to be an improvement over the Epson software. Then I tried SilverFast, and was amazed that I finally got a great looking scan with accurate colors. I immediately purchased SilverFast ($49) since the trial version leaves a watermark on the scans. Now when I compare the scans to those from my Canon, they look far better. One tip that I recommend in SilverFast: go to Preferences, CMS, and change the internal color profile to sRGB IEC61966-2.1. Most monitors, software, etc. are designed for the sRGB color space, so you will get more consistent results this way (especially because a lot of software isn't color space aware, e.g. IrfanView). Or, if you want to make 48 bit scans like I do: in Preferences, General, check "for HDR output" next to Gamma Gradation (otherwise no gamma correction will be applied, resulting in a dark image). Then you can use the "48 Bit HDR" scan setting. When scanning at 48 bit, SilverFast will embed the scanner's color profile into the image. Then, you must use editing software that's color space aware, e.g. Adobe Photoshop Elements, and before exporting your work, make sure to convert the color profile to sRGB.

I've tried other slide scanners in the past - several years ago - with disappointing results. When I stumbled across several dozens of 35mm slides from my late stepfather's stuff, I decided to give this one a try. I'm impressed and very satisfied with the results - it's a real good bang for your buck. Installation was painless using the quick start info and CD. I loaded some slides into the plastic insert and fired it up. First thing I did, was go to "Professional Mode" which provides a lot of options that will improve the quality of your scans. Primarily, increasing the DPI setting allows for larger images - setting at 2400 DPI produces images of about 3.5-5MB, and resolution of 3000. I also upped color depth to 48-bit color. It also slows down the scan time - I think 3-4 minutes for 4 at a time on my low end Dell. I uploaded several of the scanned images to Target and had a bunch printed for my mom. The printed results are Very Good in my opinion - close to excellent really when you consider many of these are from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and allowing for imperfections from scratches and dust. Scanning at a high resolution allows for more printing options - I had one shot printed at 8x10 and 5x7. Yes, there are specks of dust (I didn't do any cleaning prior) - I cleaned up several scans using a smudge tool. I have not used any of the built in adjustment options such as unmask, dust removal or "digital ice". I prefer to scan them as raw files and use a real old copy of Paint Shop Pro 7 to manually adjust. I find tweaking the color balance, sometimes a sharpen and some brightness or gamma correction produces some very good results. Other photo tools provide these basic options too I think. Or you can use pro tools like Photoshop. I would recommend this scanner - for slides or negatives - to anyone who wants to save some old photos that can produce great results to preserve your memories. A terrific value.