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Rangefinder Magazine
November 2003

First Exposure: Epson Perfection 3200 Scanner by Bob Rose
High-Resolution and High-Speed Scanning

Epson Perfection 3200 Scanner

Scanners have traditionally been among the most expensive and complex devices to operate in the digital-imaging process. In the past few years, major strides have been made to produce affordable and easy-to-use scanners. However, quality of the “affordable” scanners has rarely been good enough for photographers and labs. Now, with the introduction of the Perfection 3200 Scanner, Epson has changed all that.

The Perfection 3200 Scanner is the ideal successor to the popular Perfection 2450. It offers even higher resolution, faster scanning speeds, better film handling and more sophisticated software options—all for about the same price.

Weighing in at 13.2 pounds, the 3200 measures 11.9 (w) x 18.7 (d) x 4.8 (h) inches and should fit on just about any desktop. It’s equally at home connected to a Mac or a PC, via either a USB 2.0 or Firewire cable.

Epson’s new 8.5 x 11.5-inch flatbed scanner incorporates a new imaging engine that provides optical resolution up to 3200x6400 ppi or spi. (That’s pixels per inch or samples per inch. Unfortunately, most manufacturers incorrectly specify this as dpi, dots per inch—something used primarily to describe printer performance.)

With an interpolated resolution up to 12,800ppi, 48-bit color depth and a dynamic range of 3.4, Epson knew a lot of photographers would seriously consider the 3200 for scanning film. So, pop off the reflective document mat on the inside of the top lid, and the integral 4 x 9-inch transparency adapter is ready for action. Three film holder assemblies sit nicely (only one at a time) on the scanner document table (or, as I call it, the “glass part”). These holders are a major improvement over earlier designs and are intended to securely support two 6-frame strips of 35mm film, four mounted 2x2 slides and a combination of 4x5-inch sheet film and 120/220 roll film (with a 6x9 cm scanning window).

Epson Film Holders

The Epson install disk includes a very robust version of Epson Scan software, which offers all the controls that most people think they want. It also activates the Epson Smart Panel (currently only in Windows XP and OSX Classic), which gives you one-click direct access to popular scanning options (copy, print, file, e-mail, OCR, PDA, PIM, web and direct scanning to an application). And, of course there’s a fairly complete 100-page reference guide on the disk as well.

The real magic is the inclusion of Silverfast Professional Scanning Software. To their credit, Epson knew that some of the greatest features of their hardware could only be accessed with very sophisticated software. Rather than develop it themselves, they teamed up with LaserSoft Imaging, the designers of Silverfast.

Although Silverfast offers the same kind of functionality you may find only on very expensive professional lab scanners, the user interface is totally under your control so you can display and work with only the features you need.

ScanPilot walks you step-by-step through the entire scanning process, which offers both automatic settings and full manual controls. And, unlike most professional scanning software, you also get “consumer” features like SRD-Smart Removal of Defects and NegaFix-Negative Optimization. (The Ai version adds another level of sophistication, plus features such as ACR-Adaptive Color Restoration, GANE-Grain, Noise Elimination and more.)

If it seems like I’m getting carried away talking about Silverfast, that’s not the case. More control is available at the scanning stage than even Photoshop can offer in the “digital darkroom.” Streamline your workflow by making the scan right, and you won’t have to touch the file until it’s ready to print.

Full Frame Scan from 6x6 cm transparency.

Although Silverfast does deserve its own accolades, it’s really the power of the combination of this software and this scanner that makes the Epson Perfection 3200 Photo and 3200 Pro outstanding products.

So how did all this work? It couldn’t have been much simpler. Unpack the unit and follow the Quick Start Guide that prompts you to install the software (on Mac and Windows). Plug in either a USB 2.0 or Firewire cable (not included), and you’re ready to go. Although there’s no noticeable speed difference between the two connections, you really should consider upgrading your I/O card if you only are running with USB 1.1.

Straight out of the box settings are just fine for typical work, and having the Smart Panel controls was a real convenience if I just wanted to create a quick file to share with friends and family on the Internet or make a simple copy of an image. Although the Start button on the front of the scanner is programmable to access this feature under Windows, it is currently inactive under Mac OS.

I appreciated the simplicity of the Epson Scanner software. It offers “Full Auto Mode,” which has some control over what “Auto” settings are, and “Home Mode,” which provides the bare minimum sizing and scaling interface. And, of course, there’s also my preference, “Professional Mode,” which adds a respectable amount of image quality adjustments.

Shifting gears and scanning via Silverfast software gave me incredible control. I was more easily able to massage the data from the scanner to look exactly the way I wanted it to. Selective settings and extra features allowed me to change spot colors, fix image defects, and do many things that I never would have considered trying with a scanner in this price range (at least not without a few hundred dollars worth of extra software plug-ins).
Another nice feature of Silverfast was the ability for me to setup the ScanPilot software so I could turn the scanner over to a less-experienced person. They could follow the sequence I programmed, which freed me up to work on other things. But if you don’t have someone to assist you, the Ai software offers the option of setting up batch scanning, so you can still use your time for something else while the scanner works for you.

	Enlargement from full-frame scan (equivalent of detail from 24x24-in. print)—no unsharp masking applied.

The maximum resolution of the 3200 is overkill for scanning photographs. It is, however, a great thing when you’re including any text and graphics. But considering you can scan an 8x10-inch color image at 300ppi in about fifteen seconds (twice as fast as the Perfection 2450 that it replaces), it’s almost a moot point.

So if you’re bringing old photographs and integrating new photographs into your digital archive or workflow, this is a very fast and easy way to go.

Now for the real question how good would the 3200 work as a film scanner? I’ve always suggested to photographers that if they can’t afford a “real” film scanner, their money is best spent sending film to a lab for a high-res scan. Fortunately, I had a chance to make a direct comparison between the 3200 and a dedicated film scanner costing ten times as much.

A 6x6 cm transparency scanned in at 3200ppi yields a 137 MB TIFF on any scanner (that’s simply the math). And, a 10x10-inch inkjet print only showed slight color and tonal differences between the two scanners. But if I really enlarged the images and/or output them on a more sophisticated printer (laser imager on silver-halide media), the more expensive scanner displayed better detail and depth in the image. Was it ten times better? Not to my clients.

Plus the Epson scanned the transparency in about 4-1/4 minutes instead of 11-1/4 minutes—so you decide.
Speaking of decisions, at this point the only question you may have is whether to go for the Epson Perfection 3200 Photo for $399 or Epson Perfection 3200 Pro for $599. The difference between the two in terms of selling price is only $200. But the difference between the two with respect to the included software is almost $579, so you’re getting a lot of value for that extra $200. Plus, I didn’t really have the space here to talk about the great features of the ArcSoft software. And, in my opinion, anybody considering this scanner should have a color-managed system.

You can’t get much better software than Monaco EZcolor (in fact, all you have to do is add the MonacoOPTIX and you have a basic, full color-management solution). If you haven’t guessed it by now, there’s no question in my mind that the 3200 Pro is the way to go.

Epson America Inc. 3840 Kilroy Airport Way, Long Beach, CA 90806; (562) 981-3840 (800) 463-7766 http://www.epson.com/

Bob Rose joined the photo industry in 1978 after graduating from RIT. Rose has been a contributor to a number of publications including the Focal Press Encyclopedia of Photography and has taught at Parsons School of Design. In 1999 he formed his own company, VMI. He can be reached at: vmi-info@earthlink.net.