Epson 3200 review

The Epson Perfection 3200 scanner

Page 5.

pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Real world scans.

Of course I can produce page after page of test chart scans, but the vast majority of users are going to use their scanners for scanning in existing photographs, so armed with a handful of en print size prints produced by a mini-lab, I am going to see what this scanner is capable of doing.

The first scan is of a violinist, the original print is slightly cooler than on my scan, but this this warmer version is far more pleasing and flattering to the sitter. This scan was made with the Auto Exposure selected.


Skin tones have been well reproduced, although the original print is slightly cooler	Good tone range with clean colours

Although the Auto Exposure works well on most pictures, if you re-crop the image then the Auto Exposure readjusts its settings. In the above example on the left (a detail of top picture) I scanned in the whole image and on the right image I scanned in a cropped section, no other adjustments were made. You can quickly see the advantage of being able to turn of the Auto exposure settings, especially if you want to make critically accurate scans. Having said that, the auto exposure produced some first class scans

Using the Unsharp mask filter

Set to Low	Set to Medium	Set to High

Although I have previously stated that the Unsharp Mask Filter was basic, the results it produced are very good, notice the extra detail on the pink clothing. Most scans, whether drum, film or flatbed require some USM. If the scanning software hasn't enough control then turn it off and perform the sharpening in your imaging application.

The Descreen filter

No descreen filter	Set to Magazine 133 lpi	Set to Fine Prints 175 lpi

The Descreen filter also worked quite well on my sample shot, although the recommended setting for a magazine was not suitable. The above scans are from a small section (1 x 1.25 inch) in a magazine, as you can see the focus has been softened considerably. The best results were obtained by using the Fine Prints setting together with a High setting on the Unsharp Mask Filter. On larger pictures you could use the Magazine setting and apply a medium amount of the USM filter.

Object scanning

Whole leaf scanned at 1200dpi	Detail at 100%

Barbie at 600dpi	Detail at 100%

Although I don't normally use a flatbed for scanning 3D objects, I have included a couple of samples for those that are more adventurous than myself. The leaf shot shows how much detail this scanner can capture, and the Barbie doll shows the scanners depth of focus. I think I could be tempted to experiment more with object scanning (at a future date).

Greyscale scanning

Scanned in 8 bit greyscale	Scanned in 24 bit colour

Detail showing how the scan has faithfully captured all the grain detail on the print (600dpi)

Scanning BW pictures in greyscale mode produces a neutral colour, the same image scanned in 24 bit colour produces a warm toned scan. To my surprise and disgust it has has also shown up some inadequate washing in my BW processing technique, notice the slight staining in the bottom left corner. This is not visible on the actual print, but obviously the scanner has picked it up, who said inkjet prints were inferior to conventional photographs? The last two detail shots show that this scanner will capture every last drop of detail, traditionally photographers have always claimed, if you can see the grain then the picture is sharp. Well you can see all the grain here. I will scan in this BW negative in the film scanning section and compare the scan to this scan of the print.

Document scanning conclusion.

Having tried a selection of different images I am more than impressed with the 3200, it is a very fast scanner that will capture colours sure to please. The Epson Scan software was very fast in showing the image previews and updated the images almost instanly after adjustments were made. I was slightly dissapointed with the scans of the reference test print on page 4, subsequent scans on real photographs shows this scanner performed brilliantly on the types of pictures you are likely to be scanning.

I will be doing extensive film scanning next, this will form the main part of the review. Please post any requests in the forum.