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Author Topic: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner  (Read 7725 times)

Wayne Fox

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #20 on: January 20, 2018, 11:58:22 pm »

Wayne,  I believe you can turn two side scanning off.
yes, you can turn it off, but many of my images have descriptions and names of those in the picture written on the back by my late wife, and so I was quite excited to see I could capture that at the same time.  At this point the odd numbering thing is something I'm willing to put up with (until Epson can help me resolve it, or can fix it in the software if indeed it is a bug), because I do value that information.

Having seen this, I am just about ready to get one to scan boxes of old family-type images that relatives are clamouring for. In Canada, the price is about CDN$900. I checked the Canadian Epson site to find out where to buy since my main photo supplier does not list the scene. A couple of user reviews on the Epson site show that a few people have experienced major problems with the scanner. Have any of you who have the scanner experienced any similar issues?
I read through the 1, 2 and 3 star comments.  So far I haven't seen an indication of lines on the scans I've done, and I've gone through a few 100 4x6's so far.  I also haven't seen it double feed any thing.  I'm holding off scanning more until I can see if I can resolve the numbering issue. I'll update as I get into this a little more next weekend.
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JeanMichel

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #21 on: January 21, 2018, 03:34:23 pm »

Thank you Wayne and Kevin. From you experience, and that of the majority of the 'reviewers' on the Epson site, the scanner works as expected.

Quite a large number of my spouse's snaps have information on the back, so I too will have to figure out a way to keep track of the front and back.

Kevin, yes B&H does have an efficient way to ship to Canada, handling all customs and retail taxes – I have bought the occasional piece from them – but I usually try to buy from the shops I know here in Toronto and Montreal. Cost differences end up being insignificant most of the time.

Thanks again.

Jean-Michel
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hillz

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #22 on: January 25, 2018, 05:31:59 pm »

Kevin, thank you for the review. I wonder how the quality of the print scans compare to the scans of negatives? I have 40 years of photos piled in a drawer and most of them are in the original envelopes with film strips. I was thinking of Epson v800, but the amount of labor required is frightening. FF640 seems to be a workable solution; how would it compare to v800 labor vs quality? Thanks, Zach.
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Kevin Raber

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #23 on: January 25, 2018, 06:26:31 pm »

Zach,  Couldn't tell you.  The whole idea of scanning negatives is completely unthinkable.  When I saw this print scanning product I jumped all over it.  My prints are scanned now and that is a lot of assurance to have them archived. 
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Kevin Raber
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hillz

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #24 on: January 26, 2018, 03:14:07 am »

Just ordered it from B&H from your link. Thanks again.
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Wayne Fox

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #25 on: January 26, 2018, 10:16:35 pm »

Today I downloaded and installed the most current version of the software on Epson's support site.  I believe this was different that where I was instructed to download the software in the scanner packaging materials.

The numbering seems to be correct now, i was not skipping numbers based on whether there was a back scan that was saved.

  I did notice one anomaly still, when starting a batch you are asked for 3 pieces of information which is used in creating the filename.  A year choice (or year range) a season or a month choice and a custom description.  The first two are popup menu choices, but there is a "empty" menu choice to exclude them.  However when I left the custom field blank, the scanner operated using a sequential number that was not reset between scan jobs or batches, so each folder would begin with the next number after the preceding batch.  A little odd, I would rather it always start with 1.  Including a name seemed to resolve the problem, so I left the month season choice blank and put that into the custom field.  I may choose to use a custom field and not bother with the popups anymore.
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drralph

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #26 on: January 29, 2018, 01:31:44 pm »

B&H has now lowered the price on this unit to USD $579.99.  I was planning to get one, and this has added immediacy.  But it makes me wonder if a v.2 is on the way.  The unit came out about 16 months ago, and seems to be a best seller.  Anyone have an Epson rumor contact?

Kevin Raber

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #27 on: January 29, 2018, 01:38:35 pm »

Nothing on my Radar
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Wayne Fox

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #28 on: January 29, 2018, 09:43:37 pm »

Happily scanning away.  Now trying to figure out what program to import/organize the 1000's of scans that make it easy to allow family members to access.  Those that have jumped in and bought one of these, any comments?  Messing with Apple Photos right now, thinking iCloud sharing might be a good option, but was curious what others are trying.

« Last Edit: January 29, 2018, 10:07:41 pm by Wayne Fox »
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1PhotoGuyinNM

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #29 on: February 01, 2018, 12:20:49 am »

I just purchased this scanner and cannot seem to find a way to specify the output file type as ".tiff".  By default, it seems to use jpeg.  Am I correct in assuming that the FastFoto application will only allow jpeg output?  I believe the Epson Scan 2 application will allow tiff file output but it does not have many of the features contained in FastFoto.  Any help on how to specify tiff output using FastFoto is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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digitaldog

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #30 on: February 01, 2018, 09:36:51 am »

Depending on what software launches after install of the various programs you can select a TIFF. After pressing the blue button on the scanner.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2018, 10:34:15 am by digitaldog »
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1PhotoGuyinNM

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #31 on: February 01, 2018, 12:58:52 pm »

Thanks Andrew.  Yes, I'm aware of the option to select TIFF within EpsonScan 2, however the EpsonScan 2 application does not provide the: Auto Enhance, Red Eye Removal and Restore Faded Colors enhancements that Epson FastFoto does. This is really unfortunate since it EpsonScan 2 does not appear to be optimized for batch processing of photos with auto enhancements which is FastFoto's strength.  If I want to use those features I must use the FastFoto application which according to Epson support will only allow JPEG output.
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digitaldog

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #32 on: February 01, 2018, 01:40:06 pm »

Nor does the software embed an ICC profile (sRGB). Sad. I did setup a watched folder to assign that but I shouldn't have to!
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drralph

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #33 on: February 09, 2018, 03:21:13 pm »

B&H has now lowered the price on this unit to USD $579.99.

The sale is over at B&H.  The price is back to $649.99.

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #34 on: February 28, 2018, 02:44:32 pm »

What workflow have folks used to most efficiently get all these images into a DAM/LR?  I have set the FastFoto software to open the scans in Preview, and did the image rotation there, which I found took more time than the scans themselves.  I think fully keywording these images is a bridge too far, so I am looking to organize them as best I can.  Has anyone had a process that they are happy with?

digitaldog

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #35 on: February 28, 2018, 02:53:41 pm »

What workflow have folks used to most efficiently get all these images into a DAM/LR?  I have set the FastFoto software to open the scans in Preview, and did the image rotation there, which I found took more time than the scans themselves.
I just saved them to my drive where all photo's reside, in their own folder, imported into LR and then did the rotations, metadata/keywording, cropping etc.
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drralph

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #36 on: February 28, 2018, 08:32:09 pm »

I just saved them to my drive where all photo's reside, in their own folder, imported into LR and then did the rotations, metadata/keywording, cropping etc.

Did you leave the file name assigned by Fastfoto?

digitaldog

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #37 on: February 28, 2018, 08:34:51 pm »

Did you leave the file name assigned by Fastfoto?
No. I batch rename there.
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Wayne Fox

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #38 on: March 02, 2018, 02:13:34 pm »

I scan each box of about 200 snapshots to a folder named with the approximate date they were taken.

Because I’m using Apple Photos so I can share them with my family via iCloud,  I use exiftools to change the capture times to correspond to the year and approximate month when they were originally taken so when I import them they will fall into a somewhat correct chronological location, then import them.  It’s very quick to rotate them in Photos.  I then create albums and share them with my family.

I’ve been scanning at 600 dpi thinking I could get a better print from them later, but I may test that , it could be 300 dpi is more than adequate to print the same size print. 600 dpi is still pretty fast but it’s probably overkill. I was saving both the original and the “corrected” version and then going through and picking the best one, but after finding that 99% or better I was picking the corrected one, I just save the corrected version now.  Much faster.
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digitaldog

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Re: Just Published - Epson FastFoto FF640 Scanner
« Reply #39 on: March 02, 2018, 02:16:16 pm »

Unless you are going to really crop, or enlarge 300PPI is more than enough.
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