The design of the V350 uses a silver-gray housing that is fairly slim in size and with a lid that allows the exploration of thick or irregularly shaped objects. Supplied with Epson Scan software, it works in three different modes: Automatic mode for basic scanning where there are few options and is geared towards novice users; the Home mode in which you can perform a few additional operations; and the Professional mode which offers full control over the examinations. In our case, we ran most of the tests using professional mode to import the images into Photoshop CS2.
To scan paper, photos or slides it is necessary to lift the scanner lid to place the object directly on the glass capable of scanning objects up to A4 size. It also allows you to directly scan negative strips in this way, although it is much easier to use the built-in automatic film loader. All you need to do is press a button on the scanner lid and the film magazine magically pops out of the lid. Then you just have to extend a small guide and insert the film into the slot. The scanner takes care of automatically loading the film by aligning it in the correct position. Next, select the movie option in the Epson Scan software and click on the Previous button.
The software performs a preliminary scan and displays a small preview image for each frame of the negative. You can select all the images or only those that you want to scan, as well as adjust the cropping area, the resolution, apply automatic dust removal operations, etc. Finally, once the Scan button is pressed in the software interface, the V350 completes the job.
In our tests we used 5 minutes to scan a negative strip with four images at a size of 10 x 15 cm at 240 dpi and 48 bits of color. Once the process is complete, the V350 automatically ejects the negative strip. After pressing the Eject button, the scanner releases the current strip and is ready to accept the next one. With a little practice, a total of 10 strips per hour can be scanned.
The scanner is also very comfortable to operate when scanning photos and documents, requiring around a minute to complete most tasks, and with a small performance penalty for scans performed with a high number of bits for resolution. .
The scans obtained in our photo tests were a bit darker than expected, with a slight bluish variance when we used the default settings, although only minor adjustments are necessary to obtain good quality photos. The scanner has also captured many of the finer details from our test cards, although our slide resolution test scans did not offer the same level of focus as the opaque scan. The color tests on slides were also slightly dark, although we were able to bring the colors back to their original state with minimal touch-ups.
In previous products we found that dust removal software tended to be overly aggressive, removing some elements from the image in the process. The V350’s dust removal feature for scanning negatives worked properly. It removed dust and other surface imperfections (which are often quite relevant when using high magnification levels), while leaving other areas of the image intact.
Conclusions
The Epson Perfection V350 Photo is a flatbed scanner that facilitates obtaining very good quality images; And while it loses some detail when scanning transparencies, its ability to automatically load and scan negatives, without having to lift the scanner lid first, is one of the best options for digitizing our old photos.
Web: www.epson.es
