Epson Perfection V550 Color Photo, Image, Film, Negative & Document Scanner with 6400 DPI Optical Resolution

This is really more of 4.5 because of some of the confusing descriptions. This scanner comes with DIGITAL ICE LIGHT, not the full DIGITAL ICE technology. "Light" means that the technology only works on scanning negatives, not photos. I didn't find this out until I was reading through the user guide online and read another review on the Epson site.This is the first scanner that I have bought specifically for photo's. Once you figure it out, it is really easy to use and provides great scan quality. I love all the options you have when scanning, it fits every one of my needs. I can scan quickly for documents or less important photo's, or I can get quality files when I scan important photo/negatives.My father passed away last year and I have digitizing all the old family photos so that we can get the stories and names of everyone before we lose any more family members and their memories. I was using a general scanner and spending way too much time having to crop out each photo. This scanner does an AMAZING job of auto-cropping each photo (if there is at least 1/4" between each photo) or letting you tell it where to crop and then saving each one in it's own file. It also has a lot of auto enhancing features that work on most photo's. There is no user guide that comes along with the scanner (most items don't anymore) and the user guide online isn't great, but there is a lot of information on line to supplement the information. Since this is my first photo scanner, I don't have anything to compare it to directly.The quality of the scanned photos is great, but the quality of the scanned negatives is AMAZING. I am scanning negatives that are 65 years old! They are as clear as day and the ICE "technology" seems to be working great. The downside is that this scanner only has ICE Light, which means that the "technology" to remove scratches only works when scanning negatives, not photos. This seems odd, since most scratches are going to occur on photos and not negatives, and most items to be scanned nowadays are going to be photos. It seems like any product that is manufactured from here on out should be with that in mind. This is the latest release of these scanners and has the most options, so it is really odd that it didn't have the latest technology.

Excellent scanner for slides, negatives and prints. When I was researching what scanner to get to replace my old HP scanner I did a lot of looking around. This one was the best trade-off between cost and image quality.Since it uses LEDs to light it up there is zero 'warm-up' time.When I scan 35mm slides I can dial up the Dot Per Inch (DPI) so high that when I zoom in tight on the finished scan I can see the film grain!The software from Epson is pretty good too. It offers 3 modes that go from "I don't know anything about scanning pictures - just do it for me", to "I know just enough to be dangerous but I still want some control on how my pictures are scanned", to "I have a good solid understanding of how scanning works and I want be in complete control."Most of the time "Restore Colors" does a good job but occasionally it takes the colors over the top to make the picture look like a cartoon. But it's easy to turn it on, check the colors, and then turn it off again if you don't like it.Occasionally the software will misidentify a slide as being turned horizontal when it's actually vertical ... but usually a rescan of the preview will solve that. In six months worth of use I have only had one occasion that the software "got confused" and I had to toss out the preferences file to reset everything. But then it was all back to normal again.All in all ... this is a very good scanner with excellent performance without a major hit to the wallet.P.S. since I don't run Windows I don't know how well it works in that environment but if the software is similar to the Mac version you're good-to-go

This is a fun scanner. I debated between the older (2009) V600 scanner or this recent 2013 model, V550. Since I already have PSE 10, I opted for the newer scanner thinking I might as well utilize the latest technology.I mainly bought it to do my Dad's medium format negatives from the 1930's and on. I am totally impressed with my test samples for the medium format. The problem I now have is I find I am wanting to scan everything. I would rather scan now then work up my own photos!It is an easy scanner for a novice to use but the 'User's Guide' could be so much more descriptive than it currently is. There are a lot of hidden features to this scanner. I have barely touched the surface of what it can do.. If the manual was better detailed with explanations I am sure I could learn the extras much more quickly...however I now have to stumble around or do online research to get my answers. For instance somewhere on the scanner i found a De sensitive box - does that mean for greater focus or reduces 'noise" by eliminating some detail? Quick explanation of that would have been nice. I am not sure that that box is even mentioned in the User's Guide.I did figure out that Professional Mode is used only for film and slides, whereas the Home mode mode is useful for everything else. I also found that AutoScan is unnecessary and seems to double the scan time.As someone else noted - the power button is oddly positioned on the side where the power light is on the front.Additionally it would have been nice to have a bigger area to place more negatives or slides. Not sure if this is possible, but it would have been nice to have the holders for the slides and negatives made to be adjustable. The medium format film I am scanning are not cut into uniform sizes (they were created in a home dark room), so it's a bit of a juggle to get them to stay in these standardized holders I plan to try and cut my own out of cardboard for faster use. I have learned that the point of the holders is to elevate the negatives from sitting flat on the scan bed.Bottom Line - Great, easy and fun scanner to use but a bit of a learning curve to know how to get the most out of this scanner.