Epson Perfection 1650 Photo Flatbed Scanner

Richard Price
2 October 2001

The Epson 1650 Photo flatbed scanner will appeal especially if you want to turn a collection of 35mm slides or negatives into a digital album. It has a transparency unit (TPU) for scanning film and slides built into the lid of the scanner.

The tendency these days for manuals and trouble shooting guides on CD makes me frustrated. Fortunately this scanner comes with a printed quick set up guide.

After the software is installed it is just a matter of plugging in the USB cable and power adapter. The scanner does not have an ON/OFF button. It switches on as soon as the AC adapter is connected and plugged in. To switch it off it has to be unplugged or switched off at the wall.

Once everything was connected I hit the start button and the Epson Smart Panel widow appeared. I was ready to scan!

Before scanning transparencies it is necessary to remove the reflective document mat to reveal the backlight.

I positioned the film holder on the glass as indicated slipped in four slides and hit the start button. Scans were slow and there was a long warmup period. A lot of time was also wasted trying to figure out exactly how Epson Smart Panel works. I did not find it intuitive or friendly.

The quality of the scans made it worthwhile. Colours and tones were well rendered. Even at 200 dpi every scratch and speck of dust was there too.

Scanning colour negatives was just as impressive. On screen the colours looked a lot better than the snaps I got back from the photo lab.

The film holder only has room for four 35mm mounted slides or a 35 mm filmstrip with six shots. It’s a pity there is no place to store it when not in use.

The scanner has four front panel buttons. Start scans and sends the captured image to an assigned application in a single step. Photo Print can be used to scan and print images as photos. E-mail optimises and transfers the scanned image to a pre-selected e-mail program. Scan to Web can be used to upload the image to the EPSON photo-sharing site PhotoStation. It is a free service and includes 20MB of web space where users can store and share images in personalised photo albums.

The Epson 1650 uses a high-speed ASIC hyper processor to handle complex image processing and can scan at 1600 x 3200 dpi. It is available for both Windows and Mac users.

Users have the choice of full auto or manual mode when scanning.

The Epson 1650 includes OCR software that works well with clean text but does not recognise handwriting. PhotoShop Elements is also included with the scanner.

As with most scanners and their free software it is much easier to scan from an application such as PhotoShop or Fireworks rather then use Epson Smart Panel.

Once the idiosyncrasies of the Epson Smart Panel are mastered, the 1650 is a highly capable flatbed scanner for documents or 35mm slides and negatives.

Price AU$499
www.epson.com.au

By Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com

For information on getting a product reviewed email richard@energyme.com