The simply designed setup and interface of the Epson Perfection 1650 will have you happily scanning away in just a few minutes. The scanner connects to your PC or Macintosh via a USB cable, and its slim design and small footprint show that it was designed with the home office in mind.
A serious hobbyist couldn't ask for a better combination of precision and value. Despite the relatively low price, the scanner offers a 16-bit grayscale, 48-bit color, and a maximum resolution of 1,600 x 3,200 dpi--which is more than enough scanning power to glean every sharp detail from family photos.
One-touch buttons allow you to instantly copy, print, or e-mail photos. The built-in zoom feature provides a range of 50 to 200 percent, supplying plenty of options for enlarging or cropping your final prints. A cold cathode ray lamp is used as the light source, a powerful and economical choice that provides hours of efficient lighting. Maximum scan size is 8.5 x 11 inches, large enough for most office documents as well as your favorite vacation shots.
Included in the box is a USB cord, along with Epson Twain and a design software package. The manufacturer's warranty covers parts and labor for a full year.
1 Fast, reliable, and easy to use
You can't go wrong with this. I've had it for over 2 years now, and am still loving it. Even though it is USB it is extremely fast. Another plus, is that the linux drivers are awesome.
2 NOT for XP Pro...
This scanner worked fine on ME, but we all know how well ME works. I upgraded to XP PRO, and just can't get the software to work. Mechanically, the scanner is fine, but the software and support from Epson and Newsoft has left a lot to be desired. I have spent HOURS on the phone to both support groups, but error code (-115) seems to be unbeatable. Never mind, Epson, I'll buy the Canon next time. Vote with your dollars.
3 Easy to use, good quality, fast enough
I'm very happy with this scanner - most photos scanned only require some basic dust and lint correction in PhotoShop or similar. Can scan negatives or slides, though the interface to do this is a little less than ideal and it's easier to scan prints if you have them. Software provided is flexible, allows scanning to files or scan to printer (copy feature). TWAIN interface allows interaction with PhotoShop or other software directly - easy to acquire new images. When I bought this scanner, a lot of folks were complaining about the dust on the backside of the glass, but I didn't really see much of that with mine. It is a little difficult to keep clean, though.
4 Poor software
I was disappointed with the software provided with this scanner. As a software developer I have a high tolerance for bugs, but a few issues were particularly bothersome:
1) My wife installed and uninstalled the scanner before she gave it to me as a present, just to make sure it worked. It did. When I received it and tried to reinstall the software, it would not work. Apparently the uninstaller does not work properly. After following technical support's 15 step instructions on how to get it working again, the scanner was still not being recognized.
2) Epson does not make their own scanner software - it is produced by a company called Newsoft. That means if you have any problems with the software, you have two companies to deal with.
3) The scanner is not compliant with WIA (Windows Image Acquisition), so it will not seamlessly integrate with other applications that use the WIA standard. In addition, it is not plug and play on installation; the directions specifically say to cancel the Windows dialogs that try to install the scanner for you. In other words, it doesn't seem to play nice with Windows XP.
I returned it and purchased the CanoScan 5000F instead. Completely plug and play with XP, scans at a higher resolution, and the software has been flawless.
5 Poor software
I was disappointed with the software provided with this scanner. As a software developer I have a high tolerance for bugs, but a few issues were particularly bothersome:
1) My wife installed and uninstalled the scanner before she gave it to me as a present, just to make sure it worked. It did. When I received it and tried to reinstall the software, it would not work. Apparently the uninstaller does not work properly. After following technical support's 15 step instructions on how to get it working again, the scanner was still not being recognized.
2) Epson does not make their own scanner software - it is produced by a company called Newsoft. That means if you have any problems with the software, you have two companies to deal with.
3) The scanner is not compliant with WIA (Windows Image Acquisition), so it will not seamlessly integrate with other applications that use the WIA standard. In addition, it is not plug and play on installation; the directions specifically say to cancel the Windows dialogs that try to install the scanner for you. In other words, it doesn't seem to play nice with Windows XP.
I returned it and purchased the CanoScan 5000F instead. Completely plug and play with XP, scans at a higher resolution, and the software has been flawless.
6 Great little scanner
I really like this scanner. It scans quickly and the images look great. The software is easy to use. The only complaint I have is this: I batch scan... so I was using the Smart Panel... (their software). Once done scanning a bunch a photos, I hit "launch" to launch the program of my choice (Photoshop). There wasn't enough memory to open Photoshop, so I quit out of several programs. Upon returning to the Smart Panel all my scans were gone. I called tech support and they said that that was how it works.
But other than that, I really like it.
7 Returned it.
I had read the various reviews and went ahead and bought the scanner anyway. Others had complained about the scans being very dusty, crooked, etc.
I had the same problems, the scans were consistently dusty and very distorted at the edges of the glass. Even on a black image, the scan was full of white specks. Completely unacceptable. I returned the scanner. Maybe there was just a bad batch of this model based on the number of bad reports here.
Cannot recommend :(
8 1650 scanner review
This has been the most trouble free item I've bought since I upgraded to XP. If you FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS, and don't have substandard computer equipment...This thing is out of the box, set-up, and scanning within 10 minutes. I had read all of the "nightmare" driver and software stories from other reviews, but in this case I'm glad that I took a chance...Great scanner for the money!
9 Great scanner for its money
After reading the reviews on this site, I reluctantly purchased the scanner and was shocked at the ease of installation and scanning. I have windows 98 (I hate to give up things I like)and an epson C80 printer, so I'm not sure if either helped to facilitate the installation, but it is a great little scanner. I gave it a rough trial as soon as it arrived by scanning a few dark pictures of poor quality. The scanned pictures turned out far superior to the original (without touchup) and I'm still trying to figure that one out. Good luck and many hours of enjoyment if you purchase this little gem.
10 Great tech service. Does descreening scans.
I had great difficulty installing the software for the Epson 1650 and once I called Epson's tech service it was because I hadn't uninstalled my old UMAX scanner stuff. Once that was done I had no problem installing Epson's software, but needed their tech help to do it.
When first using I didn't like the 'automatic' scans at all, and called Epson tech people again because I couldn't find how to descreen an image from a magazine. Espson Service took the time, almost an hour, to lead me through each step of setting up the "Manual" scanning part of the system and it's wonderful. I was impressed by the tech help and the guy even called me back the next day to see if I needed any more help. That's a first.
Contrary to other reviews here, the Epson DOES descreen scans very easily and accurately, and does it through the Manual screen, not the automatic scan page. It doesn't help that the online manual doesn't produce anything when you search for 'descreen'.
A great scanner, fast, big preview window. Does film transparencies too...a great asset that used to cost a bundle before. I'm very pleased I purchased this scanner.
11 Very disappointed
I may have just had a fluke bad scanner, but I returned this scanner two days after I purchased. Compared to the much cheaper Visioneer, the software was a pain to use, almost too automated. You can override to manual but I wasn't impressed with that option either. The most disappointing was the scanned image, looked like something I copied instead of scanned.
Be careful when you uninstall this software, my PC hasn't been the same since.
12 Fabulous little scanner for the money!
I was looking for a low-cost decent-quality scanner to replace the two-year-old Umax Astra 1200s that I was very frustrated with (the quality of the scans was OK, or so I thought, but every time I tried to scan anything over 600 dpi the scanner software and Photoshop would quit, even after numerous clean reinstallations). After reading many reviews of many different products both here and on computer Web sites I decided that this one sounded like the best bet for the very reasonable price. (I'm spending the big money on a Nikon slide scanner, but that's another story.) I use the flatbed scanner in my desktop publishing business, mostly for small grayscale photos and line art, and for personal use as well (arcane projects, postcards, etc.). I had some 600-dpi scans of old movie posters (with lots of vibrant color and high contrast) I had made on the Umax from some very high-quality coffee-table type books. Just for comparison I re-scanned some of the same images on the Epson 1650. To put it bluntly, the Epson scans blew the Umax out of the water. The color fidelity and saturation of the Epson is greatly improved over the Umax scans, particularly in the reds, yellows, and fleshtones. The overall sharpness is also much improved, even when utilizing the automatic de-screening feature. Though the Umax scans were also de-screened, when I put them side-by-side in Photoshop at the same resolution and magnification, the process dot pattern of the originals is much less visible in the Epson scans than in the Umax scans, even with the increased sharpness. Very impressive. Overall brightness and contrast of the Epson scans is also better. In short, in no area were the Umax scans superior. I am very pleased. The prints off my Epson Stylus Color 880 (another terrific, inexpensive macine that also influenced me to buy this scanner) look fabulous, especially when printed on Epson photo gloss paper. (Printing to, for example, Xerox brand ink jet glossy photo paper still yields a print which would look great without anything to compare it to. However, placed side-by-side with the original, a print on the Xerox paper has a noticeable magenta cast and undersaturated blues and cyans while the Epson print is virtually dead-on.) A perfectionist with an exceptional eye may be able to spot some technical flaws with the scans produced by this machine (I can't and I'm pretty picky myself), but then they should be spending [lots of money] for a professional-level scanner if that's their wont. And yes the OCR bundle leaves a lot to be desired, but anyone doing lots of OCRing should just spring for OmniPage anyway. For this kind of money, the scans produced by this little box are terrific; even without color management and with minimal Photoshop tweaking they come off the printer extremely close to the originals. What else can you ask? My only caveat to a buyer is to make sure to read the installation instructions carefully and not interrupt the relatively long and unnecessarily confusing installation process. I'm a reasonably proficient (12+year) professional Mac user used to one-click installations and I somehow interrupted the installation before it was done. The scanner was unusable until I did an uninstall, reread the instructions carefully, and did a clean reinstall. After that the scanner software has worked flawlessly (it even dumped a Photoshop plug-in into the correct folder for me!) and it allows me to calculate reduction/magnification percentages online (hurray!), something even Umax's cheesy "professional" mode didn't allow. Highly recommended!
13 Technical Support is Terrible
I purchased the Perfection 1650 Photo about a year ago. I have been waiting for a driver for the Mac OS X ever since. None in sight yet. If you attempt to contact Epson Technical support you are referred to a *snailmail* address. Unbelievable!! I tried it and got no response. I am sorry I bought the thing.
14 Worth every penny
Awesome! Running XP, a true plug and play unit. From box to scan in 10 minutes including all sw setup, connecting and first scan. Compared to an older unit i had prior, the scan quality is superior, easy of operation all around terrific. No need of manuals, process is easy step by step. No glitches, a winner.
15 Epson scanners with XP
This is a response to the person having problems with his scanner using windows xp, but directed to potential buyers of the 1650 (or any other hardware device), his problem is most likely with the operating system, there is alot of documentation on the problems many drivers have with this OS, so much so that there is usually a seperate driver for it, I used XP for about 2 weeks and then actually bought Windows 98 and have not had any unsolvable driver problems.
16 An Excellent Scanner
From the time I received my shipment from Amazon to the time I was printing my first scanned photo was 13 minutes. That alone is enough to recommend this scanner.
After using it for a few days I found it to be an amazing device, delivering high quality scans with a minimum of fuss. The resolution is excellent and the color reproduction is very, very good. You will notice that it can scan a touch little lighter than the original. If that happens to be a problem it is easily corrected, either at scan time or by using a photo editting package.
The only limitation I see in this machine is the speed. I have a 1.2Ghz PC with 1GB of RAM. Total scan time for an 8x10 photo is about 25 seconds. If you are a professional scanning lots of images each day you should spend some more money. But if you scan only a few pictures a day then the speed is not an issue.
17 Buy this scanner!
For the money this item is outstanding! I am able to scan photos, negatives and slides to create huge files for longterm storage. And for general publishing I can resize the item and create a wonderful 8 x 10 print from my HP printer. Having a CD burner is extemely important when you are making good use of a scanner like this so you have somewhere to put the images so you don't choke your hard drive. I have no dust under the glass issues. No reliability or software problems either. I did realize that I needed to purchase a better photo manipulation software package and an upgrade in RAM in order to efficiently do the job with my current PC.
18 Great Scanner!
Bought this scanner last week, and installed it on a Compaq laptop with Windows XP Professional. Downloaded the TWAIN driver for XP and the Scan to email patch for XP from Epson's website before it arrived. When it got here, the installation was a snap (with one minor glitch), and everything worked from minute one.
The minor glitch with the installation happened when I first inserted the CD. The installation screen came up that allows you to select what applications to install. The first product installed fine, but the 2nd one cause the machine to lock up while displaying a "installation in progress... please wait" message for about 15 minutes. Finally had to reboot. When the machine came back, I inserted the CD again, then hit exit. I just went to each application's directory on the CD and double-clicked on the setup files. Worked fine from then on. Maybe Epson needs a little work on their installation processes...
As far as the scanner itself, I'm very impressed with its quality. A little noisy during a scan, but so what? It's not like you're going to be scanning 24 hours a day!!!
Anyway, it works well, and does great scans for the money. What more could you want?
19 Very good scanner, but may be TOO GOOD!
This is a very good scanner, with some bad support. First off, the software that comes with it does not work with Windows XP. The support for the software is from some third party company, not Epson, and they seemed to be mentally challenged! The actual driver for the scanner, which is from Epson, works fine. So, I had to use one of my picture viewing programs to get the scanner to work. Once I did, and you may find this hard to believe, I found the scanner scans TOO GOOD! It picks up DUST! That being said, the quality of the scans are incredible! I am sure if you do have Windows XP, you will rate this scanner 5 Stars. If you have Windows XP, be prepared for a headache. Now that I got the scanner working, I do recommend it.
20 Excellent scanner value
There is much to like about the Epson Perfection 1650 scanner. What sets this one apart from others I have used is the truly excellent supporting software that is included. You get your choice of scanning applications, including some one-button jobs that you might find entertaining. YOU will want to ease into manual mode, called Epson Twain, where you get exquisite control of all the scanner settings, with very fine adjustments possible. Figure it all out, experiment with it, and get very high quality scans, just the way you want them, with little or no Photoshop tweaking necessary.
Native resolution is said to be 1600 dpi, but in reality the sharpness maxes out at 800 dpi, apparently limited by the optical system. Best results are at submultiples of 1600. Going from 800 dpi to 1600 dpi gets you a file four times the size, with no additional detail. For most scanning, this is not a problem. If you are a philatelist scanning itty bitty stamps, you need a better scanner.
I bought the accessory 4x5 transparency unit, as I shoot some photos in that format. Strangely, the cosmetics of the transparency unit (beige) do not match the scanner (two-tone grey.) There are holders for a 35mm strip, and for 120 and 4x5 formats. Unfortunately, there was no 35mm mounted slide holder. You just lay them on the glass. Scans from film are quite good, but limited in resolution. They look soft compared to a dedicated film scanner, but then, there is a huge difference in the price.
OCR software is included. I gave it a really unfair test, scanning a fuzzy, distorted printout from a library microfilm reader. Astonishingly, it read every word correctly, except for one drop cap at the beginning of a paragraph.
This scanner is an excellent value in its price range, with the best software support I have seen to date.
21 Images are as crisp as the original
Despite the slightly negative reviews I saw here, I purchased this product any way. I am so pleased! You can scan almost anything. I even scanned a stuffed cow to put on a website. The images are as good as your original copy. My son scans magazine photos for book reports. Support for Windows XP is easily downloaded from the Epson website. A great buy!
22 Disappointed!
I'm a graphic designer, and I did a lot of research, including "professional" sources such as photography mags & websites, before choosing the Epson 1650. I've found this scanner disappointing -- it consistently clips the shadows and highlights so that very dark areas scan to muddy gray while the brightest areas come out about 25% darker. Tweaking the Twain settings to expand the range pulls more black into the shadows but still misses the c,m & y and vice versa on highlights. So on color scans, there is a lack of richness at both ends. I also use the scanner for OCR, and the bundled OCR software is horrible.
23 Customer Service at Epson Appears Seriously Lacking
I purchased the previous model Epson Scanner Perfection 1640SU Photo. Had an HP before that and it failed in short time. The 1640 was the best of the litter and worked magnificiently until I upgraed to Windows XP. Now it doesn't work at all and I haven't been able to contact Epson for an answer. Epson promises in their web site, an XP driver in 'early' 2002. It's no longer early in 2002 and I have been unable to use my 1640 for two months. All I can do is read about the updated model and wonder how many customers will be dissapointed when they upgrade, trying to find a driver for their EPSON product. Didn't have an problems with my Epson printer for a long time but didn't change operating systems while using it either. It also...is no longer in my posession. It was replaced by a Lexmark Z52 and has been a work horse. Will I purchase another Epson scanner, so I can get on with my life? Probably not, unless I can locate an XP driver solution for the Windows XP OS...
24 Great except...
This is a perfect scanner for the home user. The software is simple
to use, you have a choice between automatic scanning and manually
scanning.
However, I was disappointed with the descreen feature (which
doesn't seem to work) and Epson seems to have forgotten the
option to scan from newspaper or magazine -> and yes, this
does make a difference :) if you're specifically looking
for these options.
But if you're looking for a fast, quality scan from photo
quality or original prints, whether you're output is a laser
printer, inkjet or a website, this is a great machine.
25 No Better Than 1250 I Returned
I returned two Epson 1250's, figuring anything by Epson couldn't be lousy (I have owned many Epson printers over the years...all were great). Then I bought the 1650. I found only one difference - no dust under the glass, Otherwise, it was the twin brother of the 1250. Poor color match, slow & noisy, awful software. Called Epson more than once and nothing improved. My 4th scanner was a Canon N670U. I've had it for a month now and it has been excellent. Perfect color and much faster than the Epsons.
26 Hmmm..... I can't think how it COULD be improved
I really like this machine.... It warms up in less than 20 seconds and prescans in about 5 seconds -- so it doesn't take long to get started. The Epson TWAIN 5.51A software offers 10 choices of image type: Color Photo (48-bit), Color Photo, Color Document, Black and White Photo (16 bit),Black and White Photo, Black and White Document, Illustration, Text/Line Art, Text (Background Removal) and Copy and Fax. One can preview the prescanned image in each by simply selecting each in the dropdown menu. It is simple to preselect the area to be scanned, and the file size under each image type shows on the "target" line. If the file size is too large (or you can handle a larger than indicated file size), you can adjust the DPI in the following increments: 50, 72, 96, 150, 200, 240, 266, 300, 350, 360, 400, 600, 720, 800, 1200, 1600, 3200, 9600, and 12,800 dpi. (Again, these options are all drop-down so they don't clutter the interface.) Changing this option dynamically alters the "target" preview file size. --- Scanning is a one-click process, and when finished one is taken from the TWAIN to a preview screen where one can rename the scanned file, and either scan more documents or exit into a third screen where one can (if saving to a drive) select the file path, and type of image file format: PCX, TIF, BMP, JPEG or PCT. If you save to JPEG you can select the image quality (high, medium, or low). This is my first scanner, but I can't think how it could be easier to use. I am still exploring the more esoteric features (aka bells-n-whistles), but the operation is simple and the quality of the images is fantastic. Between this scanner and my Paint Shop Pro software, I've been able to do anything I can imagine in the way of imaging. I'm not surprised at the high rankings that this machine has earned in a number of publications.
27 Pretty good for the price
The best scanners cost an arm and a leg, but this one has the features of some top quality scanners but is priced affordably. I've owned several different scanners over the years and have found that few come even close to being as good as this one.
28 From Simple to Complex
This scanner along with it's TWAIN driver works for those who know nothing about scanning, as well as those searching for a more customizable importing option. The driver allows adjustment of nearly every facet of the medium being scanned. Photoshop Elements (...) is bundled with the scanner's software, but if you are planning on doing any advanced photo editing, I would suggest purchasing the full version of Photoshop. However, for simple projects and web use, what it comes with is sufficient (you cannot save photos in CMYK with Elements).
Software included: Epson TWAIN driver, Epson Smart Panel, ArcSoft PhotoImpression, Epson Software Film Factory Lite (I only installed the driver- the rest can be considered fluff if you don't want to create photo albums or something), plus a separate CD with Photoshop Elements.
29 nice
its a nice scanner, epson is a quite nice brand of scanners
