The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet
Entered CNET Catalog: 08/26/2004
SKU: 0010343850576
Manufacturer: Epson
Manufacturer description
Digitize and restore stacks of negatives in just a few simple steps - and rediscover moments from the past! It's all possible with the Epson Perfection 2580 Photo. With its new, easy-to-use Auto Film Loader, anyone can quickly scan and view individual frames of 35mm negatives. And, with one-touch color restoration through exclusive Epson Easy Photo Fix, it couldn't be easier to bring back the brilliance of every cherished event. Best of all, with astounding 2400 x 4800 dpi resolution, it's a snap to achieve remarkable detail, ideal for reprints and enlargements. Fully automatic scanning and other innovative features make it easy to scan photos, film, or text with consistently vivid results, while Epson Smart Panel and convenient bundled software allow for added creativity. And, with Hi-Speed USB 2.0, the Epson Perfection 2580 Photo speeds through every scan. That, combined with the remarkable efficiency of the Auto Film Loader, makes it simple to archive and organize boxes of negatives in a flash. Compatible with both Windows and Macintosh , the Epson Perfection 2580 Photo provides the ideal solution for any scanning task. Offering incredible versatility and detail in one affordable solution, it's the perfect choice for bringing old memories to life.Product summary
The good: Decent scans for the price; easy to set up and to use; convenient 35mm negative autoloader.
The bad: Weak film-scan quality.
The bottom line: A nice buy for the penny-pinching hobbyist/amateur photographer who has moderate scanning needs.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 10/13/2004
The Perfection 2580's space-capsule-like silver-and-gray pebble finish is stylish, and its 10.8-by-16.5-inch footprint won't hog too much desk space. Epson built an autoloader into the lid for convenient 35mm film scanning. The package also includes a standard adapter for handling mounted slides and a USB cable for connecting the unit to either a Mac or a PC. Before you start, you'll need to install the driver and the EpsonScan utility, which provides an easy way of setting up scans based on your skill level.
If you're a digital-imaging newbie, you'll probably be happy using Full Auto mode, which requires no more effort than selecting Auto and clicking the Scan button. If you want to make some basic image adjustments, try the Home mode, which gives you options for fiddling with brightness, color, and resolution. The Professional mode gives you full control over the image size, the resolution, the color, and the exposure. You can also adjust sharpening, descreening (used for taking the half-tone dots out of magazine or newspaper pictures), and dust removal.
With an optical density of 3.2 and an optical resolution of 2,400dpi, the Perfection 2580 offers performance that would set you back a few hundred a couple years ago. Print scans came out fairly well, with even flesh tones and a relatively high level of image sharpness. While it's no match for a dedicated film scanner, the Perfection 2580 turned out decent 35mm scans--good enough for uploading to the Web or e-mailing to friends. And Epson gets bonus points for the convenient autoloader. You can also use the supplied adapter to scan mounted 35mm slides.
Family archivists will appreciate the dust-removal tool, which removed specks from negatives and transparencies with moderate success. However, using this tool triples your scanning time and will cost you a bit of sharpness. The Easy Photo Fix option does a pretty decent job of restoring a neutral color balance; it applies a preset color correction to compensate for the way prints tend to fade over time. It's not perfect, but it'll take a couple of years off your family treasures.
As for help options, you can install Epson's Smart Panel software, which displays a pop-up menu with eight button functions for scanning, OCR, basic image editing, and sharing pictures via the Epson Web site. This is a great newbie feature but one you will probably grow out of. You can access all the standard drivers and manuals at the Epson Web site. If you need additional help, you can call Epson's tech support Monday through Friday, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14out of 14 user reviews
Very good Scanner and software
Pros: speed, ease of use and scan features
Cons: Lack of method to auto hold the lid up while loading
out of 14 user reviews
Great price for a good scanner
Pros: High quality images and a good software pacage
Cons: Can be slow and a little noisey
Overall a good scanner that produces nice looking files for the $$ I paid for it.
out of 14 user reviews
XP started to hang
Pros: did not have time to figure any
Cons: XP hang 3 times in less than 24 hours
I am not an expert, but they seem to be quite OK.
Unfortunatelly my computer started to hang. It is the third time in less than 24 hours when I have to reset it. (Normally I restart my computer only after I install a new program)
out of 14 user reviews
Great Scanner however a stain inside the glass is not good
Pros: makes great scans including the film scanner although it still depends on how good the films are
Cons: A whitish stain inside the glass is bothersome(cannot be seen without the scanning lamp on)
out of 14 user reviews
Not Upto the mark!
Pros: AutoFeed for Films!
Cons: Very slow for 48 color or higher DPI scans. Low quality software
The image correction software is not good either. It does not fix scratces on pictures as some other scanner softwares do.
Add to it I was not able to install all the software. I have administrative priviledges on my laptop, but it complained about it.
out of 14 user reviews
Lousy scanner, save your money!
Pros: Nice design
Cons: My opinion says it all
out of 14 user reviews
Dust, dust, and more dust!
Pros: Great scanner if you want to scan dust particles.
Cons: Bad scanner if you don't want to scan dust particles.
The second one worked very well. No dust in scanning compartments. The scans look great.
out of 14 user reviews
Weak all the way around
Pros: This will be the third scanner I have returned since Saturday. (today is tuesday). My beloved Canoscan Lide 20 died. I replaced it with a Lide 35. The platen glass had ripples in it. Returned. Replaced that with an HP. Should have known better. Crummy res
Cons: Cons. Used usual test pictures. Oranges and Reds are too hot. Blues and Greens washed out. For being a much higher res scanner than my original Canoscan Lide 20, this scanner has terrible resolution even though the specs are supposed to be better. With t
out of 14 user reviews
I'm returning it later
Pros: It's quieter than the HP comparable model and a little faster. Quality of photo scans is good.
Cons: slide and negative scans were very poor and hard to set up. If a strip of negatives doesn't have perfect holes, forget it.
out of 14 user reviews
Don't even bother with negatives
Pros: Regular flatbed scanning of documents, artwork, or photos is crisp and precise.
Cons: The scanning quality of the negatives is practically useless. It makes new negatives look old, yellow, and blurry. If I want the "old" effect I'll use photoshop. Bad enough I had to return it.
out of 14 user reviews
Good value for price.
Pros: Simple set-up. Reflective scans are very good. The film loader works as advertised.
Cons: Negative scans have strong blue cast. The TWAIN driver allows you to correct colors but it takes some time to make the adjustment for each image.
out of 14 user reviews
Mac OS-X friendly
Pros: Decent sofware bundle for OS-X USB2 support Worked first time! A vast improvement over the Canon LiDE80 which I had to return Decent quality scans - fine for home and light business use
Cons: Doesn't work with fast user switching (need to keep switching scanner on and off) No on/off switch on scanner (see above) Doesn't have a 'Scan to fax' button
out of 14 user reviews
Very Good Mid-Priced Scanner
Pros: Scans reflective surfaces and paintings on canvas at a good quality.
Cons: 35mm negatives have yellow tint & slightly blurry.
out of 14 user reviews
Couldn't get it to work anywhere
Pros: Lot's of features that seem easy to use - if you can get it to work.
Cons: Hooked this puppy up to 3 computers, as per the instructions, and none recognized it. Re-ordered a new one (in case this one was damaged) and the new one didn't work either. Tech support (Not toll free) said it was my computer and I needed to re-install m
