The Epson Perfection 2450 photo scanner is a consumer-oriented device that graphics professionals and advanced photographers won't hesitate to take for a spin.
With speedy one-touch scanning, great image quality, and software that even neophytes will master in minutes, this 48-bit image grabber is a home or business user's dream machine.
The Perfection 2450 photo scanner's steep price is justified by features that imaging professionals will love, including 2400 x 4800dpi (dots per inch) resolution, a built-in 4 x 9-inch transparency unit, and an advanced image-capture driver with a multitude of fine-tuning controls.
Even first-timers will breeze through installation using the Start Here poster. Click a few buttons to install the software for Windows 98, 2000, Me, or XP or Mac OS 8.5 through 9.x.
Then connect the power cord and attach the unit to your computer with a USB or IEEE 1394 (FireWire) cable. While the included, printed manual is a too-brief 54 pages, HTML-based documentation provides step-by-step instructions, scanning tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and detailed troubleshooting and maintenance information, including instructions for cleaning the scanner and replacing the fluorescent bulb.
The Perfection 2450 is also easy to use. This scanner's generous 4 x 9in transparency-scanning area and its 2400 x 4800 resolution make it a practical tool for grabbing scans of everything from 35mm slides to 10 x 13 centimetre chromes or positive film images.
Three easy-to-use interfaces (and a daunting, professional scanning application) are at your disposal. Press the one-touch button on the front of the scanner, and the Epson Smart Panel pops up with wizards for optical character recognition; copying; and scanning to a file, an e-mail, the Web, or an application.
The Perfection 2450 also comes with a versatile software bundle. It includes a TWAIN driver used within compatible applications, such as the bundled Adobe Photoshop Elements.
The software can operate in fully automatic mode, determining your original's size and type, choosing an appropriate resolution, and capturing a colour-corrected image with no intervention.
Those with a little scanning experience under their belts can also switch to another mode that lets you select many of the settings.
Photoshop Elements retains most of Photoshop's more powerful features, including filters and sophisticated painting and retouching tools, but with simplified menus and abundant recipe wizards to lead you through the most common image-editing tasks.
Graphics professionals and advanced photographers will hustle directly to the LaserSoft SilverFast SE scanning application and never look back.
This tool offers every prescan adjustment you could want, including access to histograms; gradation curves; adjustments for manipulating the brightness, contrast, and colour balance of an image; scaling controls; and a resolution slider for choosing settings from 50dpi to 6400dpi.
The Perfection 2450's performance in capturing images is everything a consumer wishes for and a professional demands. In our tests, it scanned a full-page colour document in just under 21 seconds and a greyscale original in a little less than 19 seconds.
Both times are fairly speedy for a scanner with this resolution, but both were slower than those of the speed-demon HP ScanJet 5470c. The Epson's output was impressive. Scans of colour prints had superb, fully saturated colours, with lifelike, neutral skin tones.
The transparency and slide scans looked especially good; we captured fine detail in both inky shadows and luminous highlights. Our slide scans had excellent colour matching, abundant detail, and notable sharpness, while avoiding the high contrast common to reasonably priced scanners that claim transparency capabilities.
Epson backs the Perfection 2450 with a one-year warranty. Support technicians will also answer your questions by e-mail (Epson promises a response within two business days). More support documents, FAQs, and downloads are available from the company's Web site.
As easy to use as any entry-level scanner, the Epson Perfection 2450 nevertheless boasts superior image quality, decent speed, and advanced slide/transparency-scanning capabilities that will captivate business users and graphics professionals alike.
Its chief shortcomings are skimpy printed documentation and an 8.5 x 11.7in scanning bed, rather than an 8.5 x 14in one. Overall, this is an attractive scanner for both home and business.
| Product: | Epson Perfection 2450 Photo Scanner |
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| Price: | AU$999 |
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| Vendor: | Epson |
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| Phone: | 1300 361 054 |
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| Interoperability: |  Windows 98 SE, 2000, me, Professional, Mac OS 8.5 to 9.x. |
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| Futureproofing: |  A solid entry-level scanner, that will please both beginners and professionals. |
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| ROI: |  Scanning bed is a little small, but superior image quality and decent speed make it a good investment. |
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| Service: |  One-year warranty, Ph: 1300 361 054. |
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