Epson Perfection V200

The standalone scanner market has been under threat for some time now. Not only are digital cameras spelling an end to piles of photos at the end of every holiday, but the rise of excellent multifunction devices such as the Canon Pixma MP600 (web ID: 102285) mean that for just a little more cash you get a superb scanner, as well as a device that will run off top-quality prints.

But Epson is determined to remind people there's an option for those who don't particularly want a new printer, and the V200 is a tempting alternative at this price. And there's plenty to like: it can produce a preview in just eight seconds and a 300dpi scan of a 6 x 4in print in just ten seconds. The same scan at 1,200dpi took 40 seconds.

All our scans were of the highest quality. Noise was kept to a minimum, and the colours in our scans were perfectly reproduced. A scan of an A4 glossy image at 300dpi took only 17 seconds, and colour saturation was identical to the hard copy.

Epson's excellent TWAIN software is very flexible. You can adjust levels and curves in real-time, with your changes reflected in the preview so you can see what your final image will look like. The TWAIN software also comes with some good dust-removal software. Our images were slightly softer after turning it on, but unsightly specks were removed without resorting to Photoshop's clone brush.

A transparency adapter is included, allowing you to scan either a single strip of 35mm film or four plastic-mounted 35mm slides. This is a promising-sounding inclusion, but there are too many limitations for us to recommend the V200 to those with hundreds of films to digitise. A scan at 2,400dpi produces an image with a resolution of 3,384 x 2,184 - enough for an 11in-wide print at 300dpi. But scanning four negatives at a time took 5mins 53secs - fine if you've got a few to handle, but a few weekends worth of work for an entire photo album.

For those happy scanning the odd photo, the V200 is a bargain, particularly considering Epson's scanning software and the faithfulness of the images it creates. But for larger batches of images, the Perfection V350 will make lighter work of a big box of memories.

Author: Dave Stevenson