Sweeeeet -- Epson 4490 on the way

[josphy]

Just snagged an Epson 4490 off the 'bay for $150.  I was actually planning to just get a 4180 refurb. from Epson for $99, but then I noticed Epson is running a $50 mail-in rebate on the 4490 -- would make it about $160 after rebate from newegg.com.  On a lark I decided to see how that compared to ebay prices, and someone had put one up, basically new, w/ a BIN price of $149, so I jumped on it.  Saves me $20, and hate waiting for rebates anyway.  Fifty bucks in the hand is better than waiting for a rebate check in the bush.

Anyway I'm pretty psyched.  I used to have an old Epson 1600-something model w/ a transparency adapter that gave pretty good scans, so this should blow the socks off that.  Plus it has ICE.

Anybody have links to any good reviews of this model?  I assume it's sort of the lesbian sister of the 4990?

[sebastian toombs]

just got the same scanner myself.  cant say i know much of anything about scanning 120 film (which is what i shoot) or any film for that matter...   but the price was right so i jumped at it.   if youve come across any useful sites or reviews, please do pass them on: i really have no idea what im doing!

[josphy]

Sebastian, there is definitely a learning curve to it!  I am finding that the scanner pulls out quite a bit of detail, but it's very soft initially.  I think after I perfect my sharpening technique (unsharp mask in Photoshop) a little better, I'll be pretty pleased with the scanner for up to like 11x14 or 16x20 from my 645 negs.

The epson software really does suck too.  I had an old Epson 1650 or something like that with the optional transparency adapter, and it was actually pretty good and the software was much better.  I have Vuescan now and the scans aren't really vastly better, but the software is much easier to use in some respects (although somewhat tricky to use at first too).  But I'll say that the initial "guess" the software makes at the adjustmens are much better, and it's a lot easier to judge the histogram etc.

[Aaron D.]

I vastly prefer the Epson software to Vuescan, and I have tried and tried. Learn the Epson SW first.

It's a great scanner, in my opinion as good as my Minolta film scanner for black and white. You can get good results on color negs, too-slides are good, but you do have to sharpen carefully.

Excellent for MF!