Epson Perfection 1240U Color Flatbed Scanner
by Epson

List Price: $149.00
Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details

• Fully automatic, 1-touch scanning
• 1,200 dpi optical resolution, 9,600 x 9,600 dpi enhanced
• 42-bit color depth
• Plug-and-play USB connection
• Comes with comprehensive software bundle

• AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (3.3 Feet/1.0 Meter)
• AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to Mini-B Cable (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters)
• AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to B-Male Cable (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters)
• AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (9.8 Feet/3.0 Meters)
• Belkin USB Extension Cable (10-Feet)

Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Epson Perfection 1240U Color Flatbed Scanner

Customer Review: Excellent Film Scanning
Summary: 5 Stars

Scanning of photos is very quick and yields excellent results. When I tried it with 35mm film, I was surprised at the quality. I had some B&W astro photos that I had previously scanned on a $4,000 Minolta film scanner. I scanned them on the Epson and was astonished that the quality was actually better than the film scanner. The Epson results were sharper and had bettery gray scale rendition. I also scanned some color slides and even 16mm film strips and got acceptable results, although for those, I suspect a dedicated film scanner would have done better. The TWAIN driver uses an unsharp mask filter by default, making scanned images appear very sharp at the expense of a little pebbling in some smooth areas. That's probably why lots of people have reported this scanner as producing sharper images than others. Although to be fair, when I tried some sharpening filters, including unsharp masking, on the Microtek, I was able to get the image as sharp as on the Epson, but the pebbling was worse than what the Epson produced. It appears that Epson's filtering algorithm is quite good. With the unsharp mask on the Epson driver turned off, the focus is a little softer, more similar to many other scanners. For most pictures, I leave the unsharp mask turned on because the overall results are better.

I use an Alps MD-1300 Dye Sublimation printer. Scanned photos printed on the MD-1300 are almost indistinguishable from the originals.

Driver installation is not completely automatic, so read the manual and follow the instructions. It didn't work when I tried it on my own before reading the manual because the procedure is a little different from the usual Win98 driver installation. The only problem I found with the software is that the TWAIN interface didn't work with a very old version of WinFax Pro 4.0. It works fine with WinFax Pro 10.0, iPhoto Plus 4, and MGI Photo Suite. I didn't install Adobe Photo Deluxe because I had tried it previously and didn't like the user interface and slow speed.

Overall, this is an excellent scanner and I would highly recommend it.

Description of Epson Perfection 1240U Color Flatbed Scanner

Complete with a premium software bundle, the 1240U scanner includes Adobe Photo Deluxe, NewSoft Presto!, ArcSoft Photo Printer, and much more. Scanning speed is a zippy 7.0 milliseconds per line for color and 6.5 milliseconds per line for gray levels. This scanner is compatible with both Mac and PC computers, and although this unit does not come with a transparency unit, it can accept one as an optional add-on. The Epson Perfection 1240U measures 10.6 by 17.14 by 3.66 inches and weighs 6.17 pounds. It comes with a limited one-year warranty. --Linda Anderson