Epson Perfection 1200U Scanner Alessandro Vernet September 10, 2000 The goal of this page is to compare the overall quality you should expect get when scanning pictures with an Epson Perfection 1200. I compared this to results you get when ordering a Picture CD from Kodak. The exact same photo have been scanned with: Kodak Picture CD (TIF file, 4.50 MB) Epson Perfection 1200U w/film adapter, negative at 1200 dpi (TIF file, 5.42 MB) Epson Perfection 1200U, print at 300 dpi (TIF file, 5.91 MB) Epson Perfection 1200U, print at 600 dpi (TIF file, 23.7 MB) I have included below the four complete pictures for you to evaluate the overall quality (light, colors, etc). I have then isolated and zoomed into a small part of the picture to see how detailed each image is. Look at the images below, make up your mind, let me know what you think, and then read what I think at the bottom of this page. Whole Picture - Kodak Picture CD Whole Picture - Negative Scan 1200 dpi Whole Picture - Positive Scan 300 dpi Whole Picture - Positive Scan 600 dpi Detail - Kodak Picture CD Detail - Negative Scan 1200 dpi Detail - Positive Scan 300 dpi Detail - Positive Scan 600 dpi Quality - I think we'll agree on this one: The negative scan sucks. Really. The colors have nothing to do with the original. Look at that uniform sky-like blue color all over the picture, while the original (and to a lesser extend, the other scans) correctly restitutes that particular late afternoon light. Now the print scans are darker and more contrasted than the Picture CD scan. It's fine here, but on other pictures the increased contrast is very noticeable. So it's a tie here. Picture CD: A / Neg scan: D / Pos scan: A Details - The negative scan is blurry and not enough contrasted. On the opposite, print scans are too contrasted and thus dark areas are completely black. The Picture CD scan is far from being perfect (or even good), but it gives the most detailed picture. Picture CD: B / Neg scan: C / Pos scan: C Conclusion - I am very surprised by the poor quality of the negative scan. Surprised and disappointed. The negative scan looses this round with no discussion. On the other hand the Picture CD solution appears as a winner closely followed by the regular print scans. I did not emphasis the different between the 300 and 600 dpi scans in my comments. In fact, as the resolution of the pictures on this page is pretty low, you don't see much of a difference. But if you look at the original TIF files (you can download those at the top of this page), you'll notice that the 600 dpi scan is more detailed than the Picture CD scan (except of course in dark areas). So my choice goes to the Picture CD because it not only the best solution overall (even if closely followed by the regular print scans), but it is the most convenient. For about $8 per roll, you get a CD with all your pictures scanned. It's a clear win to me if you try to compare this price to the time you would spend scanning the pictures yourself.