This scanner is a replacement for a HP Scanjet 4890 and is everything I expected the Scanjet to be but wasn’t. Admittedly the Scanjet was two years old and technology can advance a long way in that time but even so the Scanjet didn’t meet my expectations whereas the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner has exceeded them. I require a scanner which can quickly scan photos, slides and negatives and gives high quality results. I also require it to be a good all rounder including scanning text and converting it to PDF.
The Epson Perfection 4490 Office is aimed at the small or home office and is basically the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo with added automatic document scanning capabilities. Because this scanner is essentially a photo scanner it has a superb resolution of 4800 x 9600 dpi and an impressive 3.4 Dmax (this is the most dense area that a medium or image capturing device can record and 3.4 is very good). It is very quick and,
for example, can scan three black and white A4 pages per minute at 300 dpi and two pages per minute at 300 dpi in full colour. It has a professional appearance and is finished in silver and black. Its vital statistics are (W x D x H): 12.6" x 21.2" x 7.8" (27.2 x 47.5 x 11.3 cm) and it weighs 10 lbs. its maximum supported media size is 216 x 297 mm (A4)
The software for photo images is outstanding. You get Epson Easy Photo which provides one-touch colour restoration of faded photos, slides and negatives. There is also built-in Digital ICE which can easily remove scratches and dust from negatives and slides. Furthermore included in the software are Adobe Photoshop Elements, ABBYY FineReader Sprint Plus OCR, Epson Creativity Suite and NewSoft Presto! BizCard. The 4490 is compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems
It has a 2.7" x 9.3" transparency unit built into the lid and it has its own light source for better scans of slides and negatives. You get two transparency holders for slides and negatives. Digital Ice is designed to work with negatives and slides and it has two settings: quality or speed. Quality gives the best result but is slower but it is worth the extra time. It also has dust removal software which you can use as an alternative. (These are only for use with negatives or slides, for photos you have a colour restoration ability which restores natural colours to scans of old photographs and is also good but scratches or damage need to be repaired bvy hand)
The quality of scans is consistently high and it is able to make enlargements and reductions in size while maintaining the clarity and quality of the original. Colour reproduction is spot on with faithful reproduction of the original. Black and white images benefit from its 256-level greyscale consequently they are scanned in excellent detail with superb tonal variation. There are two scanning resolutions; 2,400 dpi which is fine for general scanning and the 4,800 dpi which is ideal for enlargements or if you are going to be working on damaged photos or negatives. There are three scan modes: Full Auto, Home and Professional; with the professional being the most versatile and the automatic the easiest – operation simply involves placing he item to be scanned on the scanner bed and pressing the button. It can also automatically convert negative images to positives resulting in better colour balance
The automatic document feeder holds up to 30 sheets (Legal, Letter, A4 or smaller)taking into account its scan speed it is possible to quickly create multi-page PDF files using the Perfection 4490’s automatic Scan to PDF button. It will also scan text into a word document (great for those studying). As it can also reduce size and enlarge images it is great for diagrams.
The scanner is very easy to set up and comes with a quick start sheet so you can get going immediately and it has warning stickers to remind you to remove the transport locks. The software needs to be installed prior to hooking the scanner up and this only takes a few seconds. In my case it was recognised immediately and was good to go. There is a very comprehensive electronic user guide to help you with all the functions.
In the box you get; The Epson Perfection 4490 Office scanner AC adapter and power cable USB cable Hi-Speed USB 2.0 cable 2.7" x 9.3" transparency unit lid Two film holders (35mm slides and film strips and medium format) Automatic document feeder (ADF) Lid Paper support Spare paper path guide ADF document mat Software CD-ROM (Epson Creativity Suite, ABBYY FineReader Sprint Plus OCR, NewSoft Presto! BizCard, Epson Scan with Epson Easy Photo Fix Technology, Electronic Reference Guide) Adobe Software CD-ROM (Adobe Photoshop Elements) Epson setup sheet
All its connectors are at the back so are tidy and out of the way. The 4 quick launch buttons for operations are at the front but the on/off button is handily on the left side and it can be turned completely off when not being used instead of remaining in standby mode. The front button panel has presets to send the scanned image to the printer, via e-mail, save as a PDF file or save as an image file
It has a manufacturer warranty of 1 year
I am really happy with this scanner, as I work from home a great deal I find its versatility to be very useful. It produces high quality scans of colour and black and white photos, negatives and slides. The software removes most of the dust and scratches that spoil old photos and the maximum resolution makes it a lot easier to restore by hand any large damaged areas that the software couldn’t repair. Text is also rendered superbly and the automatic sheet feed is a real boon when scanning more than one sheet. In operation it is very quiet and discrete- combine this with its professional appearance and high quality scanning and it is a perfect piece of office equipment. This scanner will sell for around £130 and at that price is a bargain and well worth the money
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