Testbed and Testing Methodology

The EPSON Perfection 4870 scanner turned to be an exciting machine and it took me some time to get determined about the testing methodology. After some consideration, I decided to test the scanner in several phases, attaching it to a testbed that was configured as follows:

• Intel Pentium 4 2.00GHz CPU;
• 1GB DDR SDRAM;
• EPoX 4BDA2+ mainboard;
• USB 2.0 + IEEE1394 controller (NEC 720100 + Agere FW322);
• ATI RADEON 7000 graphics card;
• IBM Deskstar DTLA307015;
• Samsung SyncMaster 757 NF monitor;
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1.

Actually, you need a very powerful computer for a scanner with so high declared values of the optical resolution. Otherwise, any scan operation threatens to become never-ending, playing on your nerves. Moreover, Digital ICE technology needs additional system resources to work properly. The following table shows how much system memory and free disk space you need to scan photos and films with Digital ICE enabled:

Dimensions and type of the original	Resolution	HDD space required	System memory required
6” x 4” (152 x 102 mm) photo	600dpi	157MB	185MB
	4800dpi	626MB	370MB
A4 (210 x 287 mm) photo	600dpi	631MB	255MB
	4800dpi	2524MB	510MB
35mm film	150dpi	1MB	8MB
	300dpi	1MB	15MB
	600dpi	4MB	30MB
	1200dpi	16MB	59MB
	2400dpi	63MB	117MB
	3600dpi	142MB	175MB
	12800dpi	251MB	233MB
Medium format (114 x 56 mm) film	150dpi	4MB	34MB
	300dpi	8MB	70MB
	600dpi	29MB	139MB
	1200dpi	116MB	277MB
	2400dpi	464MB	553MB
	3600dpi	1042MB	830MB
	12800dpi	1853MB	1106MB
4” x 5” (94 x 118 mm) film	150dpi	4MB	36MB
	300dpi	13MB	72MB
	600dpi	51MB	144MB
	1200dpi	202MB	287MB
	2400dpi	805MB	573MB
	3600dpi	1811MB	859MB
	12800dpi	3219MB	1145MB

The resolutions shown in the table are actual resolutions supported by Digital ICE. These values may differ from those you may want to use in the scanning program. In such cases, conversion occurs. For example, if you have selected 200dpi, the scanning for Digital ICE will be done with 300dpi and then converted into 200dpi.

In any case, this table will help you estimate the capabilities of your computer – maybe you should consider upgrading before purchasing the Perfection 4870?

Table of contents: Please Meet EPSON Perfection 4870 PHOTO Technical Characteristics Package and Accessories Design Features Slide-Adapter Digital ICE and Dust Removal: Dust Won’t Pass!     Processing Films: Digital ICE for Films     Processing Photographs: Digital ICE for Prints     Dust Removal: Software Cleanup Scanning Software: EPSON Scan     Full Auto Mode     Home Mode     Professional Mode Testbed and Testing Methodology Digitization Speed Scanning Quality Image Noises     Random Noise     Correlated Noise Profiling Conclusion