Most of us have "legacy" content that we would like to digitize: prints we laboriously perfected in the darkroom, slides that we exposed with the utmost care, and family mementos from previous generations. In other words, a good, versatile photo scanner is required equipment these days.

The Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner is a flatbed scanner capable of producing 13" x 19" enlargements from your 35mm slides (6400 dpi), uses LEDs for its light source, and includes Digital ICE to help eliminate dust appearing on your scans. All of this for $249 USD (or less).

PC Mag gave it an Editor's Choice for photo scanners, and the Amazon ratings are either love or hate... the hate stemming from slow scanning speeds (which wasn't noted by PC Mag). Seems like the bottom line here is... that if you want terrific quality for an affordable price, and are not in a production environment, the Epson V500 is a good choice.

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