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Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner Introduced
Epson UK Press Release
Epson® introduces the Perfection 4490 Photo, combining outstanding quality with ease of use for the ultimate home scanner
The Epson Perfection 4490 Photo incorporates Digital ICE Technology, to ensure that even scratched films can be restored to their former glory.
August 2005: Gone are the days when complicated software was needed to remove scratches, and dust on film. Launching at £199 the Epson Perfection 4490 is the only scanner in its class to feature Digital ICE technology, guaranteed to restore old or damaged film easily and efficiently. With a resolution of 4800 x 9600 dpi, the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo also ensures that the scan results are as finely detailed as the original.
The Epson Perfection 4490 Photo will scan and save all of your 35mm and medium format film as photographic images - avoiding the risk of damaging or losing these precious memories. The integrated Transparency Unit (TPU) can support up to twelve 35mm frames, four 35mm slides or one medium format film up to 6 x 12cm. All these formats can be scanned and saved with ease. The Perfection 4490 Photo will automatically detect whether the film is positive or negative, colour or black and white. The Preview mode even allows you to see the image exactly as it would appear in a photograph.
Four feature buttons on the front of the scanner allow you to scan the image as a PDF, attach it in an email or copy it simply by pressing one button. Epson scan software even has the ability to automatically orientate your photographs or documents, even if it is not placed on the panel squarely, taking the guesswork out of the scanning process.
An Automatic Document Feeder is available as an option. The feeder fits neatly on top of the scanner, and allows you to scan up to 30 A4 sheets. Using this negates the need to manually place the documents on the scanner bed one at a time.
For enhancement of images before and after scanning, the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo offers a feature packed software bundle that includes Adobe ® Photoshop® Elements 3.0, ABBYY® FineReader® Sprint 6 and Epson Creativity Suite software. And with a new black and silver casing, it is a stylish addition to any home or office.
Richard Bayliss, Consumer Sales and Marketing Manager, said: “The Digital ICE technology integrated in the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo not only gives you the high performance capabilities of a 4800dpi medium format flatbed scanner but also the capacity to restore scratched and damaged film.”
Epson Perfection 4490 Photo key feature summary:
· Automatically remove dust and scratches on film using Digital ICE Technology
· Built-in transparency unit (TPU) for positive and negative scanning of 35mm film, slides and medium format films (up to 6 x 12cm)
· One touch scanning for PDF, emails and copies
· 4800 x 9600dpi for sharper images
· Includes Epson Creativity Suite, Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 3.0 and ABBYY® FineReader® Sprint 6, Version 5 for Mac
· High speed USB 2.0 interface
· Optional Automatic Document Feeder for scanning multiple documents.
· RRP £199 inc VAT
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#1 max meier
I bought one of this scanner the other day, for any kind of serious work with film totally useless, the outcome of a filmscan has such a low quality (compared with a normal filmscanner), its a waste of money. dont buy !
9:45 am - Monday, August 8, 2005
#2 Max Meier the Liar
You're full of crap "max". It's not even available to the masses yet and your comment is from the 8th of August.
And there's no such thing as a "normal" filmscanner. This is well above a "normal" scanner in all regards, and I'm basing it from the prior "perfection" scanner series.
7:38 pm - Saturday, August 27, 2005
#3 Martin Houlton
I just got this scanner and so far I am very pleased with it. I think Max must have used it in full auto mode, you do get a low resolution scan with that. But go into professional mode and you can select your preferred resolution. You can also select digital ICE, I can't see any reason not to use this all the time.
Care still has to be taken to avoid getting dust on the film or flatbed. Digital ICE cannot cope with the larger particles. I also got a hair maybe half an inch long on one of my negatives, that made a spectacular white line! A quick clean with the blower solved that.
Of course, this is a document scanner as well as a film scanner. My choice was influenced by the fact that my old flatbed scanner was faulty. I think the 4490 will suit me as I only want to scan a few negatives from each film I take. Maybe a dedicated film scanner will be more suitable for someone who wants to scan a lot of negatives.
10:39 am - Thursday, September 8, 2005
#4 kevs
I bought this scanner at the weekend with the intention of scanning transprencies. My finding so far is that the scanner introduces colour fringing that looks like chromatic abberation into the images. This is worst in high contrast images. It could be the glass causing this - i'm not taking it off to find out!
Another thing: to get the best, ie sharpest, scan from film, ignore the manufacturer's advice to place film emulsion-side up, ie laterally-reversed. The scans seem much sharper the other way, and it's a simple job in GIMP or Photoshop to correct the reversal.
Don't place film directly on the glass as you'll get 'herring-bone' interference patterns appearing.
It's a bit slow when scanning at high-res; a 6x6 image can take almost twenty minutes to scan.
3:29 pm - Monday, October 24, 2005