The Epson 3200 is an excellent scanner as long as you know its'imitations and can be happy with them. It will superbly scan medium-format and large format, but will be someone "soft" in enlarging from the 35 mm format. For 35mm, I would suggest that you go out and purchase a medium-priced dedicated film scanner. Another point is that it only has a D-Max of 3.4. What this means is that if your negative is too contrasty or has too-extreme a range of tones, then don't expect the scanner to handle all of the detail "capture". However, with if doing portraits with flash-fill, studio set-ups, or softly-lit landscapes (which are the best time of day anyway) you'll will appreciate the results. The Epson 4870 will be replacing this model and coming out in February 2004. Epson says that it has a D-Max of 3.8 which is a "moderate" but good jump from the D-Max of 3.4 with the 3200. Another point is to note is that large file scans will take time, even with other scanners or with Firewire", so be patient.
The price was great since I purchased the product during the holidays (10% off peripherals from Dell at the Time) plus 100.00 US Rebate from Epson.
Strengths:
1.Well-constructed
2.Excellent results within the limitations of the product
3.Quiet
4. Well-priced. THe Epson 3200 is being replaced by the Epson 4870
Weaknesses:
1. Extremely poor documentation. If you are not at an intermediate level (see classification above), they you might have trouble, Of course, there are many "forums" and support groups on the Internet that will help you out.
2. The medium-format/ 4 x 5 film holder can scan 1 image at a time, and needs to have the other parts of other images covered over with black cardboard, otherwise the scans will be "messed-up" such as having by only parts of the image being scanned show up on the preview scan.
Similar Products Used:
1. Nikon 4000
2. Nikon 8000
3. Flextight by Imacon
Customer Service:
1. You have for the telephone (long-distance) costs to talk to a representative.
2. As with all products and most manufacturers, the reps may not be as knowledgeable as you, and will limit their advice solely to their product. Do not expect them to answer questions about resetting Microsoft XP Memory configuration to your hard drives to allow the computer to run more smoothly.
I too found the 3200 produced fuzzy scans of slides at 3200 dpi when used without sharpen. I got the full version of Silverfast in order to automate scans of ten slides at once. The Silverfast software though expensive is excellent, but it needs to be set on "More Sharpen" to counter the fuzziness. I think that we must use a proper film scanner to get really good results. I had hoped to improve on my CanonScan 2700F which scans at 2720 dpi, but I was disappointed. The CanonScan can only scan one slide at a time, of course.
Sad
Strengths:
Capabiity to scan up to 12 negs at one go, and the ability to scan medium format.
Weaknesses:
The Epson automatic scanning software, as distinct from the Silverfast, chops too much off the edges of slides and films.
Similar Products Used:
Epson 1600Photo which seemed to give sharper results, for some reason.
Teh CanonScan mentioned above, now some years old.
Customer Service:
My complaint by e-mail (in respect of my earlier 1600)about the chopping of the edges of the scans was not answered nor was the fault corrected in the later software
Rating Reviewed by: L Eliot(Unregistered User)
(Intermediate)
Review Date October 30, 2003
Overall Rating 1 of 5
Value Rating 2 of 5
Used product for 0-1 years
Visitors rate this review 4.00 of 5,
1 votes
Review 3 of 7
Price Paid:
$399.00
from Fnac
Summary:
I have just read the review by B. Gold and I must say I have had the same problem. I bought one Epson 3200 Photo Perfection last week (unfortunately before reading the review) and I was very disappointed because numerous spots appeared on the light parts of the images scanned on the top rignt corner. I hard previously returned an Epson 3170 Perfection Photo for a replacement, because it had exactly the same problem too. I tried four 3170 and it was the same with each of them! It seems that there is some dust inside the scanner, expecially on the top right hand corner of the glass, so it is impossible to clean it up. I phoned Epson but they said they hadn't heard of that problem, which surprises me very much although I admit that the spots are not visible when scanning films or dark photographs. I hope Epson will acknowledge this problem and find how to solve it in the near future because I don't know of any equivalent for this resolution at an affordable price.
Strengths:
A very good resolution.
Silent.
Transparency units provided.
Weaknesses:
Scans of light-coloured photographs are defective.
The product does not provide an APS film strip holder.
Similar Products Used:
Epson Photo Perfecion 3170
Some hp scanners (1200 dpi).
Rating Reviewed by: B Gold(Unregistered User)
(Intermediate)
Review Date October 25, 2003
Overall Rating 1 of 5
Value Rating 3 of 5
Used product for 0-1 years
Visitors rate this review 5.00 of 5,
1 votes
Review 4 of 7
Price Paid:
$360.00
from Buy.com
Summary:
I recently ordered the Epson 3200 Photo Scanner and was sorely disappointed with this product. It scanned images with ghosting and water type spots in the top right hand corner when scanning light colored images. Reversing the picture so the light colored part appeared on the bottom showed no evidence of this spotting. I returned this unit for a replacement, only to receive another model with the same exact problems. However, besides the spotting problems, this replacement also had a large spec of dust on the underside of the scanning bed, which according to Epson could not be cleaned. I would advise anyone shopping for a scanner to look elsewhere. While the unit has the capability to make excellent images, I have yet to see a model which is not defective and poorely manufactured. Buy Microtek or Canon instead.
Rating Reviewed by: Michael Lee(Unregistered User)
Review Date July 21, 2003
Overall Rating 4 of 5
Value Rating 4 of 5
Used product for Less than 1 month
Visitors rate this review 5.00 of 5,
4 votes
Review 5 of 7
Price Paid:
$500.00
from Teds Camera. Melbour
Model Reviewed: epson 3200
Summary:
Excellent scanner:
(a) Versatile (35mm, various medium format sizes and 4x5s)
(b) Quick scans - particularly with formats bigger than 35mm
(c) Convenient firewire connection
(d) Bundled SilverFast SE software is excellent
(e) For the price, simply excellent.
Question: Is it as good as dedicated film scanners from Nikon, Minolta, etc, costing much more (e.g. Nikon 8000ED and the Minolta Scan Multi Pro at around US$2,200?)
Answer: No! No! No!
In what ways does the Epson 3200 loses out to these scanners?
I compared 35mm E100VC transparency scans at 3,200 dpi with my Nikon LS2000 (4 year old unit that does 2,700 dpi. Unsharp masking was NOT applied.
(a) The tonal detail on the Epson is F-L-A-T. Assuming there are 4-5 people in a group shot sitting in a counch, you cannot pick up details on the face
(blemishes, spots, etc) and the skin.
(b) Image from the Epson is comparatively fuzzy. Note that the lens on the Epson has a fixed focus, and there is no facility to adjust it via the software.
(c) Color on the Epson has a reddish/magenta shift, and is considerably less saturated. Adjusting levels, color balance and saturation in Photoshop (V7) does not replicate the colors from the dedicated film scanner, but comes close.
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