Epson Perfection V700 Photo

More on this product: review; user reviews; specifications; compare; shop

Print
E-mail
Share

CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
Detailed editors' rating

Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 5 reviews
See all user reviews

Product summary

The good: Speedy; full-featured hardware and software; FireWire and USB 2.0 connections.

The bad The bad: No automatic document feeder option; large; a bit loud; driver has some annoying interface quirks; frequently pauses in midscan to warm up.

The bottom line: The Epson Perfection V700 Photo makes an excellent choice for a deep-pocketed photo hobbyist or a pro who needs to scan originals in a mixture of sizes.

Specifications: Type: Flatbed scanner - Desktop; Optical Resolution: 6400 dpi x 9600 dpi; Scanner interface type: IEEE 1394 (FireWire); See full specs

Price range: $314.95 - $614.25

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: Lori Grunin
Reviewed on: 10/12/2006
Released on: 03/17/2006

"I'm sitting on 1,000 slides. What's the best way to get them into the computer?" is a frequently asked question I get from both friends and readers. Of course, the easiest solution is to send them off to someone else. But that can get expensive, and many people don't want to subject their prized photos to the disinterested hands of a technician. That leaves you with a scanner as your only option. For speedy, unattended scanning, a dedicated slide scanner with an automatic feeder, such as the Nikon Coolscan V, is a good bet. After you're done with the slides, though, it becomes an expensive paperweight. So after the costs and benefits play out, your best overall choice turns out to be a really good flatbed scanner--like the Epson Perfection V700.

The V700 improves upon its popular predecessor, the Perfection 4990 Pro, not to mention that it beats that model's price by about $50. You might also notice, however, that its design radically differs from last year's models; a switch from all rounded curves to sharp angles and corners. I happen to prefer the flat-topped version, because every large object on my desk must be able to hold a pile of something or other. Speaking of which, you'll need to allocate a big chunk of desk space for the V700: 6 by 12 by 20 inches.

Epson includes a variety of carriers in the box: one holds 12 slides, another four six-frame film strips, one for two 4x5 transparencies, and one for eight medium-format frames. They're all well designed and easy to load, and they each snap into a notch to lock in place on the scanbed. My biggest problem with the myriad mounts is finding places to put them. A version of the V700, the V750-M Pro, also offers a liquid mount, as used by drum scanners. This allows the film to press directly against the glass, which maximizes sharpness and minimizes artifacts. Though the V700 doesn't supply this, it does use separate lenses for reflective (hard-copy) and transmissive (slides and negatives) originals; since the latter generally need to be optically enlarged far more than the former, the lenses need to be optimized differently. One lens is designed for optimum resolving at a horizontal resolution of 4,800dpi, the other, 6,400dpi. Of course, the scanner can interpolate way beyond that, and for small originals, you generally find yourself in interpolation territory.

Click here for more on the V700's feature set and scan quality.

I had no problem surrendering precious desk space to the V700 and tend to use it for everyday jobs as well as digitizing the family slides. I most often use its scan-to-PDF function, which always operates seamlessly. You can use the button on the front of the scanner to launch the operation. My one big gripe here is the lack of an automatic document feeder (ADF) option, as if the thought of common office tasks were beneath the notice of such a high-class product.

See more CNET content tagged:: slide,; scanner,; Epson,; desk

User reviews

Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 5 reviews
My rating: 0 stars Write review

Showing 3 of 5 user reviewsSee all 5 user reviews
3.5 stars

7 out of 7 people found this review helpful

"Great Scanner - Terrible Software!"

by stedanrac on March 14, 2007

read more
4.5 stars

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

"This thing can RAISE THE DEAD."

by mortso on January 27, 2008

read more
4.5 stars

"It looks like a rock, and it deivers as such"

by danbrown9 on September 10, 2008

read more
See all 5 user reviews Write review

Submit your review

Epson Perfection V700 Photo

1. Rate this product:: (Mouse over the stars to rate this product and click to set your rating.)
2. One-line summary:(Summarize your review in one line. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 55 characters
3. Pros:(Tell us what you like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
4. Cons:(Tell us what you don't like about this product. 10 characters minimum; required.): 0 of 250 characters
Bottom-line summary:(Explain to us in detail why you like or dislike the product, focusing your comments on the product's features and functionality, and your experience using the product. This field is optional.): 0 of 5000 characters; Submit