Epson perfection 4870 photo and Mac OS 12.5 Monterey

hello, I'm new to this and after two days of researching this topic unsuccessfully, I'm hopeful someone can help me? I've used my scanner successfully x years, but now own a new MacBook air laptop which I cannot get to work with my scanner. I'm primarily wanting to scan in 1,000's of old 35mm film (old family photos). I've looked into VUE Scan as an option, but am not sure that will work. I'm considering buying a new scanner (flatbed for film and photos), but am not sure if that is necessary? I've tried reaching out to Epson for help (they don't have software to capture the image and suggested using the image capture on my Mac). That doesn't work either. Any thoughts? Thanks so much!! kim

Download Vuescan (it will run in demo mode) and see if it works (it should).

You might have been doinked by the 32/64 bit changeover if your older computer was old. I lost my old Canon scanner when I got a new Silicon Mac. Hamrick (Vuescan) told me there wasn't a driver that was compatible. Your Epson is older than my Canon I believe.

Like brbo stated, download Vuescan and try it.

You might want to get a new scanner anyway. Scanners became way faster after the switch to LED light sources and USB 2 connections. The difference is pretty dramatic. If you have thousands of prints to scan that could save you hours of time.

Epson doesn't have full scanner software for the 4870 that's compatible with Monterey, but the driver software they have on the site will allow your Monterey Mac to work with the scanner using the built-in Mac scanner utility software.

You can download the scanner driver from Epson https://epson.com/Support/Scanners/...oto/s/SPT_B11B163011?review-filter=macOS+12.x

Mac OS Monterey is OS 12

Once you've installed the driver you can use the built in scanner utility in Mac OS. You can access the scanner by going to System Preferences (or whatever the name is now in Monterey), and choose printers/scanners. You should see the option to select the 4870 scanner if it is connected and turned on. Your Mac has it's own software to do the scanning. I've tried it, and didn't think it was that great, but I didn't really try too hard to figure it out. I usually just boot to an older version of the OS so I can use the Epson software which I'm more familiar with.

If you have Photoshop, Elements, or other image manipulation software, you should also be able to access the Mac scanner utility by going to "import" under the file menu. There should be an option there to select the scanner.

Thanks so much to all of you for the replies and information. It is very much appreciated!! If I opt for a new scanner, any suggestions that would be compatible with my Mac OS 12.5 monterey? I'm not a pro; it's all a hobby for me. I "grew up" in a darkroom and admire quality equipment and results. And getting my 35mm film scanned in with good quality is my goal.

The issue is most likely caused by the Apple Silicon in your new MacBook Air, as opposed to 32/64 bit or the operating system. Apple Silicon pretty much requires a ground-up rewrite of any drivers or things like that that talk to hardware. So, if Vuescan doesn’t have a usable driver, then I would say probably best to go with a new scanner, and make sure it has a driver for Apple Silicon…..

Lew_B said:

The issue is most likely caused by the Apple Silicon in your new MacBook Air, as opposed to 32/64 bit or the operating system. Apple Silicon pretty much requires a ground-up rewrite of any drivers or things like that that talk to hardware. So, if Vuescan doesn’t have a usable driver, then I would say probably best to go with a new scanner, and make sure it has a driver for Apple Silicon…..

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thank you. I think VueScan is working. I'm struggling with settings for scanning color film, but I'm hopeful i can figure that out. Thanks SO much!!

FWIW I use an Epson 4990 with Vuescan and a new MacBook Air and it all works great together. The 4870 and 4990 are close cousins. More modern scanners are not appreciably better than they are. Vuescan is a modest investment — I would start there, and see if you are happy with the results before investing in a new flatbed.

Rolleiflexible said:

FWIW I use an Epson 4990 with Vuescan and a new MacBook Air and it all works great together. The 4870 and 4990 are close cousins. More modern scanners are not appreciably better than they are. Vuescan is a modest investment — I would start there, and see if you are happy with the results before investing in a new flatbed.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I am now working with VueScan and trying to figure out settings, etc. But I think this is going to make me happy. Much appreciated!