Epson Scan feels a bit dated and lacks some featuresĮpson Scan shown in Professional mode with all windows open except the configuration dialog. Let's start off by looking at interfaces. Since I'm looking at this from the perspective of film scanning, I'm limiting my comparisons solely to scanning of positive and negative strip film and slides, and won't be considering features like document or photo print scanning, copying, OCR, and the like. VueScan Professional, meanwhile, is ordinarily $99.95. SilverFast SE Plus costs $99, although it was included free in the bundle with our Epson V850 Pro. We understand it addresses some of our concerns, but have not yet tested it ourselves.Īll three applications were tested with Windows 10 version 1909 on a 2018 Dell alongside an Epson Perfection V850 Pro scanner. Unfortunately, SilverFast version 9 was issued after this article had been completed, but before it made it through our edit queue. To do so, I compared Epson Scan 3.9.3.4 – which comes bundled with the company's Perfection-series photo scanners and seems nicely representative of manufacturer-supplied software – with two of the most popular third-party alternatives, LaserSoft Imaging's SilverFast SE Plus 8.8.0r22 and Hamrick Software's VueScan Professional Edition 9.7.35. If you're like me, you probably still have years' worth of unscanned slides and negatives waiting to be tended to some rainy day, and a COVID lockdown gives you a golden opportunity.īut are you better off using the software that came with your scanner, or should you shell out for a third-party alternative to get the best results? Before I rolled up my sleeves and started scanning, I wanted to answer this question for myself. A difficult 2020 that has blended into a difficult 2021 has made it harder for many of us to get outside and shoot, but that doesn't mean you have to neglect your photography.

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