Hi-res color flatbed scanner: Epson ES-300C scanner - Epson America Inc.'s ES-300C high-resolution scanner - Hardware Review - evaluation

Home Office Computing, Nov, 1991 by Steven C.M. Chen

AT A GLANCE: A high-quality 400-dpi flat bed color scanner with an excellent array of bundled image-enhancement software.

DOCUMENTATION: Very good; clear and well illustrated.

SETUP: Requires opening up your computer, installing card and software.

EASE OF USE: Simple once you've learned scanning and image-editing software features.

SUPPORT: Toll-free, no-cost support; friendly and knowledgeable.

LIST PRICE: Scanner $1,699; PC interface kit $495; Macintosh interface kit $595

STREET PRICE RANGE: $1,530-$1,750 (including interface kit)

MANUFACTURER: Epson America, 20770 Madrona Ave., Torrance, CA 90509; (800)922-8911

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: 286-based or higher, hard-disk drive, 2MB of RAM minimum; 2MB Macintosh, hard-disk drive

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: Windows 3.0 with PC interface kit (DOS programs available from third parties); System 6.0.4 or higher

SOFTWARE INCLUDED: With PC Interface kit (all are Windows 3.0-based): Image-In's Scan, Paint, and Plus module for image scanning and basic editing; Micrografx's Picture Publisher Plus, for photo editing and retouching; and Color Lab ES-300C; with Mac Interface Kit: Letraset's Color Studio and Image Studio, HammerLabs ScanDo desk accessory

DIMENSION: 12.6 by 20.1 by 4.8 inches

WARRANTY: One year

It is only recently that a good flatbed color scanner can be had for less than $2,000. The Epson ES-300C, an excellent entry in this field, is only a few hundred dollars more than the popular Hewlett-Packard ScanJet Plus gray-scale scanner. But what is a color scanner good for? That depends. It adds color images and photos to presentations and can certainly double as a regular gray-scale scanner to add images to your desktop-publishing documents.

Setting up the ES-300C is pretty easy and straightforward. If you have Windows 3.0 already installed, the entire process takes no more than an hour to complete.

The ES-300C scans both color and black-and-white images very clearly and accurately. However, the quality of on-screen images is never as good as that of the original scanned image, so keep in mind that a display system that can display more colors will do a much better job in showing off the ES-300C's capabilities. Since the ES-300C can produce 24-bit color images (16.8 million colors), obviously it would be most beneficial to have a 24-bit VGA monitor. This is especially important if you intend to show on-screen presentations.

Color scanning means slow scanning. It takes several minutes to scan in a full-page color image, and it takes just as long to load up a large file to show on-screen. This is the nature of today's technology. The ES-300C performs much more swiftly when scanning a black-and-white image but is not as fast as an HP ScanJet Plus (which is designed to scan black-and-white images). The actual amount of time will vary, depending on the speed of the computer, memory, and harddisk drive, and the scanning resolution and size of the image.

The Epson's ES-300C incorporates "onepass" scanning, known in the industry as TruePass. Unlike some other color scanners, the ES-300C requires only one pass instead of three (each pass picks up one color: red, blue, or green).

What's not to like about a color scanner? Before you run out and buy the ES-300C, be prepared to spend a few hours learning the included software. Cost is also a consideration. Less-expensive (and lower-quality) color-scanning options include using a color hand scanner and combining a camcorder and a low-cost image-capturing board (see short review of Computer Eyes video digitizer on page 54; see also three new scanners in Previews, page 13). In this case, the combination of hardware and software offered by the Epson ES-300C is a winner if you need the addition of high-quality color images in your computer presentations.