Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great scanner for the home user
Comment: I just purchsed this scanner about two or three weeks ago for the purpose of scanning several hundred old photos for a 50th wedding anniversary. I had been using an outdated all in one device and it was painfully slow. I read several of the reviews on several of the scanners and decided on the Epson V500. I have not been disappointed. I think that if I were a professional that maybe the speed would be an issue but even for the task of scanning several hundred pictures I think it is going to work very well.
Pros- The scanner setup was quick and easy, the speed is great for home use, the picture quality is very good for my purposes, it absolutely rocks for scanning negatives, I love that I can decide not to get a preview scan if I don't want one, and I like just about everything about it.
Cons- As with other reviewers, I agree that the plastic holder for negatives and slides is very cheap feeling and I think if you were doing a lot of work with them they would break very quickly. It's a tad noisier than I would have expected but definately not load, and it's a little slower than I would have expected.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Scanner
Comment: I have been looking for a scanner that would scan my 35 MM slides and negatives. The Epson 500 is great!! Now I am not a photographer and don't do this very often. I wanted something simple! The Epson 500 is, and it is reasonably priced.
I started with a few slides and then some negatives. It was really easy to figure out how to use this baby. After I finished testing, I went on to my project.
I liked the fact that you can pick where you want your photos to go and how you want to scan them. I used the ICE method which fixes flaws in the film, if there is any. Another reviewer gave me a tip about checking the "all" box just before you scan to make sure all the photos are scanned with ICE.
The scanner is a little slow but I am using it only for this project. Four 35MM slides take about eight minutes. I just have my laptop set up and then let it run when I have time. Not a big deal. The big deal is that I now have pictures from my days in Viet Nam that I can save and look at again. Not that I had much time for taking pictures over there! I am sure I will find more things to do with this scanner.
I looked at what it would cost to have my very small number of slides scanned professionally and this purchase is the least expensive way to go. By small number I am talking about 300 slides.
I have about 1000 35MM negatives that I am going to do next so I will have paid tor this scanner many times over.
I have been using it for a month now and am very happy with the results.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Epson V500 scanner
Comment: My main reason for buying this scanner was for the 1,200+ slides taken during our chilhood. I also tried the Canon 8800F scanner. From my trial scans, the digital ICE for the V500 did a much better job of cleaning up scratches than Canon's software. My computer skills are rather limited, but I was able to set this up and scan in just a few minutes; actually, I've used it both on a PC and a Mac. I'm scanning the slides at 4800 dpi in the home mode using digital ICE on all slides and color restoration on most. It takes about 12 minutes to scan 4 slides under these conditions. With this resolution the file size is 13-14 MB saved in JPG with a compression factor of 2. TIFF file size would be 70-100MB. I have also scanned some photographs dating back as far as 1920 and am very pleased with the results. I'm very happy with this scanner.
Customer Rating:
Summary: exactly what i was looking for
Comment: so far, so good! the scanner has great features - like restoring color to old photos, or adding light to dark ones. it's pretty simple to use (i was able to get started right away, although i did find many cool things i could do once i started reading the manual).
Customer Rating:
Summary: to be or not to be...
Comment: Easy to use and extremely fast compared to my last scanner... vista forced me to get a new scanner and epson is always a good choice for printers so I tried the scanner and it isn't a disappointment... Recommend it highly...
Summary: Great scanner for the home user
Comment: I just purchsed this scanner about two or three weeks ago for the purpose of scanning several hundred old photos for a 50th wedding anniversary. I had been using an outdated all in one device and it was painfully slow. I read several of the reviews on several of the scanners and decided on the Epson V500. I have not been disappointed. I think that if I were a professional that maybe the speed would be an issue but even for the task of scanning several hundred pictures I think it is going to work very well.
Pros- The scanner setup was quick and easy, the speed is great for home use, the picture quality is very good for my purposes, it absolutely rocks for scanning negatives, I love that I can decide not to get a preview scan if I don't want one, and I like just about everything about it.
Cons- As with other reviewers, I agree that the plastic holder for negatives and slides is very cheap feeling and I think if you were doing a lot of work with them they would break very quickly. It's a tad noisier than I would have expected but definately not load, and it's a little slower than I would have expected.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Scanner
Comment: I have been looking for a scanner that would scan my 35 MM slides and negatives. The Epson 500 is great!! Now I am not a photographer and don't do this very often. I wanted something simple! The Epson 500 is, and it is reasonably priced.
I started with a few slides and then some negatives. It was really easy to figure out how to use this baby. After I finished testing, I went on to my project.
I liked the fact that you can pick where you want your photos to go and how you want to scan them. I used the ICE method which fixes flaws in the film, if there is any. Another reviewer gave me a tip about checking the "all" box just before you scan to make sure all the photos are scanned with ICE.
The scanner is a little slow but I am using it only for this project. Four 35MM slides take about eight minutes. I just have my laptop set up and then let it run when I have time. Not a big deal. The big deal is that I now have pictures from my days in Viet Nam that I can save and look at again. Not that I had much time for taking pictures over there! I am sure I will find more things to do with this scanner.
I looked at what it would cost to have my very small number of slides scanned professionally and this purchase is the least expensive way to go. By small number I am talking about 300 slides.
I have about 1000 35MM negatives that I am going to do next so I will have paid tor this scanner many times over.
I have been using it for a month now and am very happy with the results.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Epson V500 scanner
Comment: My main reason for buying this scanner was for the 1,200+ slides taken during our chilhood. I also tried the Canon 8800F scanner. From my trial scans, the digital ICE for the V500 did a much better job of cleaning up scratches than Canon's software. My computer skills are rather limited, but I was able to set this up and scan in just a few minutes; actually, I've used it both on a PC and a Mac. I'm scanning the slides at 4800 dpi in the home mode using digital ICE on all slides and color restoration on most. It takes about 12 minutes to scan 4 slides under these conditions. With this resolution the file size is 13-14 MB saved in JPG with a compression factor of 2. TIFF file size would be 70-100MB. I have also scanned some photographs dating back as far as 1920 and am very pleased with the results. I'm very happy with this scanner.
Customer Rating:
Summary: exactly what i was looking for
Comment: so far, so good! the scanner has great features - like restoring color to old photos, or adding light to dark ones. it's pretty simple to use (i was able to get started right away, although i did find many cool things i could do once i started reading the manual).
Customer Rating:
Summary: to be or not to be...
Comment: Easy to use and extremely fast compared to my last scanner... vista forced me to get a new scanner and epson is always a good choice for printers so I tried the scanner and it isn't a disappointment... Recommend it highly...