X-bit labs

EPSON Perfection 3170/4180 PHOTO Scanners Review

Category: Other

by Sergey Samarin

[ 10/21/2004 | 02:22 PM ]

September was a fertile month for Seiko Epson Corporation as it issued another two products, Perfection 3170 and Perfection 4180, after the August release of the Perfection 2480/2580 pair. The two new scanners are targeted at amateur photographers and beginners who want professional-like quality.

Table of contents:

• Technical Characteristics
  
• Functionality
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Scanning Speed
  
• Image Noises
  
• Random Noise
  
• Correlated Noise
  
• Profiling and Gamut Ranges
  
• Conclusion
  

September was a fertile month for Seiko Epson Corporation as it issued another two products, Perfection 3170 and Perfection 4180, after the August release of the Perfection 2480/2580 pair. The two new scanners are targeted at amateur photographers and beginners who want professional-like quality of image digitizing. For a starter, here’s a specifications table:

Technical Characteristics

Epson Perfection 3170 PHOTO

Epson Perfection 4180 PHOTO

So what’s so interesting about the specs? The distinguishing trait of the new scanners is the scan resolution. It is because of this parameter that these scanners are positioned right before the top models in the Perfection series: the 3170 model (3200dpi) becomes a relatively cheep alternative to the Perfection 3200, whereas the 4180 model (4800dpi) – to the Perfection 4870. By the way, the latter device won the prestigious EISA Award (European Imaging and Sound Association), being officially named the best European scanner of years 2004-2005!

The above-listed specifications also indicate that there the two new devices are much alike to each other, so I think they can be described together, with some reference to the top models. The scanners both perform image digitizing in a wide range of optical densities (3.4Dmax), and the high internal bit depth of the converter (48 bits) suggests a high precision of measuring the input signal. These two parameters already guarantee you scans with gorgeous halftones and shadows.