Quality. Performance. Precision.
A premium value for professional quality scans, the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo delivers extraordinary results with 4800 x 9600 dpi resolution and an impressive 3.4 Dmax. This full-featured performer makes it easy for anyone to quickly restore, repair and renew classic photos, film and transparencies for stunning color reprints and enlargements. Powerful Digital ICE technology offers built-in dust and scratch removal capabilities for film, while Epson Easy Photo Fix provides one-touch color restoration. Together, these two features bring new life to faded or damaged originals. The Epson Perfection 4490 Photo offers fully automatic scanning for increased productivity, plus two advanced scanning modes for greater control. Convenient film holders accommodate multiple 35mm slides and negatives, plus medium format film. And, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ensures fast data transfer. There's even a fully featured software package that includes Adobe Photoshop Elements, ABBYY FineReader Sprint, and more. Compatible with both Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems, this scanner provides an unbeatable solution for any task or project. Rich in quality and versatility, the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo will highlight and optimize every detail. When partnered with an Epson Stylus ink jet printer, it's a perfect choice for creating brilliant images made to last. Features include: - Professional level 4800 x 9600 dpi resolution
- 3.4 Dmax for wide dynamic range and greater image quality
- Powerful Epson Easy Photo Fix™ to restore faded color photos
- Built-in transparency unit with dedicated light source for better scan uniformity
- Versatile scanning with film holders for 35mm negatives, slides and 2-1/4" transparencies
- Powerful software package for photo and document scanning; includes Adobe Photoshop Elements
What's in the box
Epson Perfection 4490 Photo Scanner, 2.7" x 9.3" Transparency unit (built into lid), Two Film Holders: 35mm slides and film strips and medium format, CD-ROM with Epson Scan software, productivity software and Electronic Reference Guide, CD-ROM with Adobe Photoshop Elements, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 cable, Epson Setup Sheet, AC adapter and power cable |
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 SUPER scanner! |
| Review Date: December 16, 2006 |
| Reviewer: R. Brooks, Central, TEXAS |
I am an aerial photographer based in Central Texas between Abilene and San Angelo. (I have my own airplane and a bucket truck for doing nothing but aerial photography... I've been in the photography, film and video business since 1973... and I have accumulated thousands of slides over the years... I only share this with you not to brag, but to convey to you that I am probably more picky about image quality than the next guy... and I scrutinized this scanner VERY close before buying it and after making several hundred scans of my slides...)
I bought a 4490 Photo Scanner from Best Buy in Abilene, Texas last month (November 2006) in order to transfer some of my 3,000 plus slides to my computers. I paid about $200 with tax included.
I read several reviews of this scanner before deciding what to buy, and I was nearly scared away. Please don't let the nay-sayers steer you away from this scanner!
As far as the people who say the scanner makes a " grinding noise..." well, these people have not read the instructions and they did not UNLOCK the scanner safety feature after taking it out of the box after their purchase. The scanner is shipped from the factory to the store LOCKED so the internal mechanisms won't be sliding back and forth during shipment. UNLOCK the scanner and it WON"T MAKE THE GRINDING NOISE!
I originally tried to purchase a Nikon V Coolscan because I have been using Nikon products since 1976 and I LOVE NIKON (I MEAN I AM A NIKON FANATIC) but the Nikon Coolscan V wasn't available anywhere. I had to get some slides scanned in the next 48 hours for a website I needed some slides on. I was very desperate and in a big hurry so I decided on trying the 4490 Epson. I figured if I had problems, Best Buy would take it back and give me a refund. I told the sales clerk about the "bad" reviews I had seen in regard to this scanner and he advised, a full refund could be made if I wasn't happy.
Well, long story made short, I have had no problems and I am totally blown away at what this scanner was able to do with my slides, some dating back to 1961, but most taken in the late 1970s and in the 1980s.
With the built-in software (dust removal, color correction and Digital ICE) the control I have is extraordinary. In fact, I have been able to make scans that look better than the original slides (for old slides needing "tweaking.")
I HIGHLY recommend this scanner if you need to preserve your slides like I do. I am a professional photographer and my old slides (from around the world) needed to be preserved and this scanner has done a WONDERFUL job of getting them into a high-quality digital format.
As far as all the people who have complained that this scanner is slow, GIVE ME A BREAK! Scanning a slide at high resolution on any scanner takes time. Go do something else while the machine is busy. NO SCANNER CAN COPY YOUR SLIDE IN A SPLIT-SECOND... be patient!
I've scanned about 300 slides so far with this scanner and I have a few hundred more to go and I am VERY HAPPY with the end results. In fact, I am glad I didn't buy the Nikon V Coolscan because I save a bundle by purchasing the Epson. I have every reason to believe the Epson 4490 makes as good of scans as the Nikon (and I am a Nikon Loyalist using only Nikon cameras in my aerial photography business...)
The Epson 4490 Photo Scanner allows you to scan up to 6 slides at time, and if you scan all 6 at ultra high resolution using the software enhancments, it can take an hour or so. But if you simply want a standard scan of a slide, it only takes a moment, and even in the "fast-mode" the scan looks good.
This scanner is durable, attractive and takes up no more room on a desk than a regular scanner. Is it noisy? Well, does your microwave oven drive you nuts? If so, then go get some ear plugs. This scanner is much quieter than my microwave and for those people who complain of noise, I suspect they are being a little too finiky.
I love this scanner and I bet you will too. I am VERY HAPPY with my purchase and I suspect this scanner will provide years of service.
(UPDATE... January 2008)
I used this scanner on an Apple Mac Powerbook running OSX... And I recently purchased a Pentax 645N camera. This scanner doesn't have a provision to accept the film for a Pentax 645. It can take a 2 inch by 2 inch as in a Hasselblad and the larger image size of a Mamiya RB67, but not the odd size of a Pentax 645...
I have not tried using this scanner with a Windows computer.
It scans documents as good as any I have ever seen, and I am still blown away at how good the scans are of my 35mm slides, both Ektachrome and Kodachrome... Software is great and this scanner MAKES NO NOISE like other complain about... If they would unlock it, the darned thing would be quiet, but if they don't unlock it upon taking it out of the box and prior to first use, it will most likely damage the plastic gears on the slide tray and damage the unit and it will ALWAYS be noisy...
Good luck |
A very good hi-res scanner for a low price.
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| Review Date: March 22, 2006 |
| Reviewer: C. Haymes, NJ |
I was debating between two Epson scanners, the 3200 and the 4800 dpi models. I was still undecided after reading the reviews amd comments. So i decided to opt for the more expensive, by comparison, 4490 model. And boy, am i glad i did. We are using it with a Mac OSX system and are very happy with the results.
My wife is a graphic designer and i am a photographer so we have discerning eyes. The quality of the scans on automatic mode (through the Photoshop plug-in) come out just fine- generally equal to the original, and often better with some tweaking.
It is one-touch simple to use in auto, yet when necessary you can use the pro mode which gives you the options you need for professional use. e.g screening, percentage and quality choices. The scanner is not slow, we scanned nearly 800 photos in a few days. The photos look great on the computer and even print out beautifully. I tried some old 35mm color negatives at the highest resolution and they printed beautifully on 8x10's. They are sharper than slides i had previously scanned on an older c. 2300 dpi Minolta film/slide scanner.l
I found the Epson software included to be perfect for our use. Tried Silverfast AI, but went back to the Epson for its ease of use. If your needs are for high quality and simplicity and you don't need or already have the high end software, then I highly recommend this 4490 scanner. It is probably as good as the more expensive 4800 dpi models, but at a much more reasonable price. I hope this helps you decide. |
Perfect!
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| Review Date: January 7, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Tanja Wilson, Indianapolis, IN USA |
Up until a few days ago, I had a six-year-old HP all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/fax. I had recently decided to scan all of our older photographs so we could find them and share them as we do the pictures taken with our digital camera, but that scanner made it a very tedious process, with fairly poor quality results. Fortunately, that printer died a couple of weeks ago. Rather than replace it with another all-in-one that might also produce less-than-stellar results, I replaced it with an Epson photo printer and the Epson Perfection 4400 scanner.
Installation was simple and easy. As a test, I printed a picture taken with our digital camera on the new printer. Then I scanned it with the new scanner, using fully automatic mode. It recognized that there was a color picture, cropped it, and sent the results to Photoshop. I didn't have to make any option selections at all. And my husband can't tell the difference between the original digital file and the resulting digital one.
Scanning three or four pictures at a time is also a breeze. Before, I had to use Photoshop's feature to separate the scanned pictures into multiple files. This scanner recognizes that there are multiple color photos and automatically sends a separate file to Photoshop for each of them. The only time this didn't work was when we didn't leave any whitespace between the photos.
Negatives were also easy to scan, even though I'd never done that before. Loading them into the negative holder was a little tricky the first time. This is primarily because of the way the film processor I used in 1997 packaged negatives, but it was still a little frustrating. Two strips of negatives can be scanned at a time, up to 12 pictures at a time. The scanner sends individual files to Photoshop for each negative. At least half the time, the quality of the copy produced from the scan was better than the lab-printed picture.
PROS:
* Quality of photo scans
* Scan negatives / slides
* Ease of use
* Integration with industry-leading apps (Photoshop)
CONS:
* Footprint is quite a bit bigger than I'm used to
* Negative holder is a little tricky
This is marketed as a photo scanner, and that's how I use it. The only text scanning I do is copies of invoices / receipts to attach in Quicken. Since these are actually pictures, I can't comment on any suitability for or compatibility with OCR applications.
I also can't comment on the manual, since I haven't read it yet.
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Excellent performance for your personal photo & archiving needs
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| Review Date: January 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: lisa rigby, |
| I bought this scanner so that I could archive my family photo collection (around 1,000 images). I scanned many slides, negatives, newspaper clippings, and original photos with no problems and great results. It is very easy to use. Usually I set it on "auto" mode and it instantly recognizes what kind of original you're trying to scan (slide, photo, newspaper article, etc.) It also scans pretty quickly, although slides and negatives take a little longer. The cover of this machine opens up and will expand so that you can scan books and photo albums without taking the pictures out -- -- this is particulary important if your photos have been glued into a self-adhesive book for many years (don't try taking them out! You'll rip them - I learned the hard way). The machine also allows you to scan at very high resolution -- professional level. It's nice but I don't do that too much. Also, a note if you are planning on scanning slides and negatives -- the biggest issue is dust and other particles on these images. Scanning will pick up every little detail (which is great) but you really need to dust off the slides/negatives with a soft brush (I use a watercolor brush). I believe the scanner came with Photoshop Elements 2 -- which is also an absolute necessity for cleaning up scratches & dust in old photos. I don't use Photoshop Elements 2 because I already have Elements 4, so I really can't speak for the version that came with this machine. But all around, a great tool and well worth the money if you would like to preserve your family's photo treasures. |
I don't understand the low reviews for negative scans
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| Review Date: May 7, 2006 |
| Reviewer: B. Hunt, Central Illinois |
| I love this scanner. I bought this scanner from Circuit City as an open box item. I had 14 days to decide to keep or return. I will keep it. The scanner was simple to setup and the software is very easy and user friendly. It scans pictures beautifully, quickly and quitely. I also scanned some old negatives and it converted the negative to photo images of very good quality. I believe the users that had negative comments on dark scans of film negatives didn't utilize the very simple software that allows you to lighten very easily. It's not often I leave feedback for anything unless I'm not happy with the product. This product deserved a positive one. With the DPI potential of this, it is probably more than I will ever need, but it's nice to know the horsepower is there should I ever need it! |
Great for transparencies
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| Review Date: March 3, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Richard F. Hopkins, |
I have scanned slides and photos. Results for both was outstanding. The forty year old slides I am archiving look nearly as good as the day I shot them. I am amazed at the degree of detail, and that is only at 800 dpi. It will scan at 4800 dpi. The automatic correction is very good and the color accuracy is excellent.
The only downside so far is that it takes a while to scan at 800 dpi, so be prepared with auxilary activities while you wait. One contibutor to this lack of speed might be that I am using a USB 1 rather than USB 2.
I highly recommend this scanner. |
Buy This Scanner!
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| Review Date: May 27, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Allen P. Hild, Colorado |
The espon 4490 Photo is an excellent scanner - installtion/setup of s/w and hardware was a breeze. We are using this scanner for old photos (~10-60years old) and negatives (~10-60+years old) to archive them digitally and "repair" the imagery.
While the included software may not be the ultimate in the market for digital alterating photos etc, the auto repair feature has worked wonderfully, we are very pleased at the results. Scan times using usb2.0 for transfer are very fast. If you really need more robust digital editing software and don't want to pay for it get GIMP.
You won't be dissapointed with this scanner. |
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