Burning scanned images question

[Ron G]

Now that I have an awesome new Epson 2580 scanner one of my friends has
asked me to scan a bunch of 4x6 color prints and put them on a disc for
him. Assuming I scan at 300dpi should I simply transfer the scanned (and
possibly edited) file to the discs in its original size and, if I save
as TIFF, high res? He may or may not want to print, but would certainly
want to view them on his computer. If I reduced the files to, say, 800x,
but kept them as large in size as possible, would that still leave
plenty of room for good prints?

The Epson has a couple of quirks. It absolutely does not get along with
any other scanner drivers that may be left on your computer, be sure
that it is completely detached from your computer when you load its
drivers, and the accompanying software, while offering some good
features, is a bit cumbersome (I generally scan right out of Elements
anyhow), I have to say that I have been blown away by image quality, and
in particular the quality of 35mm slides. This scanner also has a film
strip feeder, which I have not tried yet. Oh, I had a question about a
conflict with another driver and the woman who took my call very quickly
was quite thoughtful, knowledgable and eager to help. Can't beat this
package.

Thanks, as always, for help.

 

[Leonard Evens]

Now that I have an awesome new Epson 2580 scanner one of my friends has
asked me to scan a bunch of 4x6 color prints and put them on a disc for
him. Assuming I scan at 300dpi should I simply transfer the scanned (and
possibly edited) file to the discs in its original size and, if I save
as TIFF, high res? He may or may not want to print, but would certainly
want to view them on his computer. If I reduced the files to, say, 800x,
but kept them as large in size as possible, would that still leave
plenty of room for good prints?

If I were scanning 4 x 5 prints, I would do it at 600 ppi, since that
would allow your friend to make larger prints, if he chose. If you scan
a certain size print at a certain scanning resolution, that determines
the size of the scanned image in pixels. That is the only thing that
matters. A 4 x 6 print scanned at 300 ppi would have dimensions about
1200x1800 pixels and at 600 ppi about 2400x3600 pixels. You should save
the images in tiff files or some other lossless format such as png.
Your friend can then decide what to do with the images. A lot of
viewing software can display large images, but if he doesn't have such
software, you may have to also provide images about 800x600 for display
on his monitor.

 

[Will G]

Hi Ron,
I'm quite interested in your experience with the Epson 2580 as I am in
a quandry deciding between the older, more sturdy 3200 (with Firewire)
and the modern 2580 (without FW, but with presumably faster scanning.)
However, I'm very concerned that the scanning speed may be slow on the
2580. Can you enlighten us? How long does a 4x6 at 2400dpi take? Or a
full page at 300dpi, etc? Thanks in advance.

--Will

This product is so new that you are the only person I can find on the
web that has one!