Issues with Epson Scan 2

[Duceman]

I've now been working with Epson Scan 2 (as opposed to the original Epson Scan) for the past 2 months or so, and to be quite frank, I'm not very happy with it. Long story short, I had been using Epson Scan as the interface between my iMac and Epson Perfection V750 Pro for the past ten years. However, in early September, my iMac crashed, and I needed to get a new one. Unfortunately, with the newer 64-bit iMacs running iOS 11 (Big Sur), this meant that my old Epson Scan software would no longer be working. So, I switched to Epson Scan 2.

Right off the bat, as an interface, Epson Scan 2 had a lot to be desired over the original Epson Scan. Epson Scan 2 was nowhere near as intuitive, and seemed quite clunky. But I could get by with it. However, a couple of days ago I upgraded to iOS 12 (Monterey) and right off the bat, I noticed that Epson Scan 2 was having problems. Every action I do now results in a "pinwheel" as the program is "thinking". I get this, for example, whenever I try to resize a box around an image, play with levels in the histogram, etc. It's gotten quite annoying.

I did some research on this issue, and it seems that since I downloaded Epson Scan 2 in mid-September, there was an updated driver/program made available in October. So I uninstalled the older version of Epson Scan 2 and downloaded/installed the newer version. Unfortunately, this did not at all resolve my issues. Further, I've run into a new problem: After adjusting the histogram in preview, the resulting scanned image is coming out totally out of whack. (sigh)

At the moment, I'm scanning some of my grandmother's old negatives from the 50's. These were most likely taken on a Kodak Brownie (or the like), and to be clear I'm not expecting to get Hasselblad-quality scans. The film is either 126 or 127 (I haven't measured) and I am scanning via wet-mount method with the supplied Epson wet-mount tray.

This image was done with the older version of Epson Scan 2 after I adjusted the levels in the preview:

The next image was done with the newly downloaded Epson Scan 2 after I adjusted the levels in the preview to be quite similar to what I did in the previous image, which, as you can see, did not come out very well.

I then scanned the same image a third time, this time cropping it so that there was no black border (when scanning via wet-mount, I like to capture the unexposed edges of the negative so as to get as much of the original image as possible, which can then be edited out later if necessary), and not playing with the levels at all (i.e., letting Epson Scan 2 do the work of the manipulation).

This image is acceptable, but will most likely have to played with a bit in post to make it better.

 

[Duceman]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've about had it with Epson Scan 2 and wondering what are the better alternatives. For a short period of time about a decade or so ago I did use Silverfast, but if I recall correctly, I wasn't really impressed with it (which may have been the interface which was more difficult to use as compared to the original Epson Scan). I know that Vuescan is an alternative, but I don't have much experience with that program. If, however, that's the better (best?) one to use, then I suppose I can bite the bullet and get it. For as I see it, I think my days with Epson Scan 2 are numbered. I don't necessarily blame Epson for this, as they offer these drivers/software for free. And on top of that, keeping up with the ever-changing Mac iOS is a task in and of itself.

 

[ced]

Which post scan soft do you have available?

 

[Duceman]

Which post scan soft do you have available?

Currently using Affinity Photo.

 

[ced]

That doesn't offer an "acquire" feature like PShop?

 

[Duceman]

That doesn't offer an "acquire" feature like PShop?

I don't even know what that is.

 

[ced]

It was known as a plugin "Acquire" now called "Import" that connects with the scanner...

 

[Pieter12]

Image Capture comes with the Mac system. It should work with the Epson scanner.

 

[Duceman]

It was known as a plugin "Acquire" now called "Import" that connects with the scanner... View attachment 292012

Checking Affinity Photo, there is an "acquire" function. I've never used this type of function, even with all my time with PS, as I've never really had a problem with Epson Scan software. I'll check it out. Thanks.

 

[ced]

Just checked what Pieter12 mentioned it works but really rudimentary (better than nothing).

 

[winger]

Does Epson Scan 2 allow you to adjust the levels prior to scanning? In EpsonScan, you could. I haven't messed with Epson Scan 2 (I don't know if it will run my 4870) so I can't really help more than that.

 

[Duceman]

Just checked what Pieter12 mentioned it works but really rudimentary (better than nothing).

I downloaded a driver for my scanner, and got it "recognized" as a scanner for my iMac. Using the "acquire" function in Affinity Photo, I was able to produce a scan. However, as you mentioned in connection with Image Capture, the controls are quite rudimentary. Also, the output file was RGB, even for a B/W image, which in and of itself is not detrimental, but at least requires an extra step of either desaturating the image or converting to Greyscale. On top of all of that, on the second capture it crashed Affinity Photo.

So, yes, it is better than nothing, but given the number of negatives ahead of me--I literally have 50+ years of photos--it would be rather time consuming (not that this project isn't consuming enough! ).

 

[Duceman]

Does Epson Scan 2 allow you to adjust the levels prior to scanning? In EpsonScan, you could. I haven't messed with Epson Scan 2 (I don't know if it will run my 4870) so I can't really help more than that.

Yes, one can adjust levels prior to scanning, but the preview in Epson Scan 2 is much smaller than before, so it's hard to nail it properly. On top of that, one of the problems that has recently popped up with the upgraded Mac OS 12 is that there is a lag when moving the level arrows, so this just adds to the annoyance.

 

[DMJ]

Affinity does have an "Acquire" option. but I had problems using it so I usually scan with the Epson driver and check "none" at the image correction prompt. I do all the corrections inside Affinity or Photoshop.

 

[Duceman]

...I usually scan with the Epson driver and check "none" at the image correction prompt. I do all the corrections inside Affinity or Photoshop.

Which wouldn't be much of an issue if I were scanning a few images here and there, especially where I'm looking for high quality and would be playing with them in post regardless. But in my present situation, I have a ton of negatives to scan (this project is going to take me weeks, if not months), and it is for the primary purpose of sharing JPEGs with relatives for quick viewing on computer screen/smartphone/tablet/etc. In that regard, I would prefer a usable image straight from the scan (like the first example in my OP), and not have to fuss in post all that much.

 

[Kino]

Did you see this?
Epson Scan or Epson Scan 2 does not work since I upgraded to macOS 11. What should I do?

• Update or reinstall Epson Scan 2. To update the software, use Epson Software Updater. To reinstall the software, do the following:
  
  1. Go to the Epson Support page and select your product.
  2. Select macOS 11 in the Operating System drop-down box, if necessary.
  3. Download and install the Scanner Driver and Epson Scan 2 Utility for your product.
  Note: Epson Scan is not supported in macOS 11. You can use Apple's Image Capture software instead. To use Image Capture, install Epson's ICA Scanner Driver for Image Capture. Go to the Downloads tab on your product's support page, and download and install the ICA Scanner Driver for Image Capture.
  

https://epson.com/faq/SPT_BIGSUR-NS~faq-0000cf7-macos_11?faq_cat=faq-topFaqs

 

[Pieter12]

Did you see this?
Epson Scan or Epson Scan 2 does not work since I upgraded to macOS 11. What should I do?

• Update or reinstall Epson Scan 2. To update the software, use Epson Software Updater. To reinstall the software, do the following:
  1. Go to the Epson Support page and select your product.
  2. Select macOS 11 in the Operating System drop-down box, if necessary.
  3. Download and install the Scanner Driver and Epson Scan 2 Utility for your product.
  Note: Epson Scan is not supported in macOS 11. You can use Apple's Image Capture software instead. To use Image Capture, install Epson's ICA Scanner Driver for Image Capture. Go to the Downloads tab on your product's support page, and download and install the ICA Scanner Driver for Image Capture.

https://epson.com/faq/SPT_BIGSUR-NS~faq-0000cf7-macos_11?faq_cat=faq-topFaqs

The OP has upgraded to OS12, but probably the same situation.

 

[DMJ]

@Duceman Affinity does have a batch processor. There are some default things, such as jpeg conversion, but you can record your own macro. There are videos on Youtube on how to do it.

 

[Duceman]

Did you see this?
Epson Scan or Epson Scan 2 does not work since I upgraded to macOS 11. What should I dos

My OP indicated that I already reinstalled the updated software, per the Epson recommendation with respect to macOS 12.

Further, it's not that Epson Scan 2 does not work at all, it's just that some features either don't work or I keep on getting a pinwheel icon as the program is "thinking." More important, what put me over the edge was how after installing the updated software, when I adjusted my levels in preview, the resulting scan looked nothing like what I had selected (see second image in OP wherein prior to scanning the levels were adjusted so that the preview looked like the first image).

 

[Duceman]

Another thing I should add.... after updating to macOS 12, Epson Scan 2 no longer produces thumbnail previews for me.

 

[Duceman]

@Duceman Affinity does have a batch processor. There are some default things, such as jpeg conversion, but you can record your own macro. There are videos on Youtube on how to do it.

Batch conversion is not really a good work-around, if even at all practical in this project, as the exposure on these negatives is all over the board (none of grandma's cameras had any built-in light meters, and I doubt she carried one with her). That's why being able to quickly fudge the levels prior to scanning each image is highly preferable here. Otherwise, I'm already outputting all the files to JPEG, so that's not really an issue.

 

[Wallendo]

I use VueScan, EpsonScan2 never really worked well on my Mac. The interface is very basic, but once you learn it, it is quite powerful. It’s interface, however, is much more intuitive than that of SilverFast.

 

[Duceman]

So, I stepped away from the computer a bit and muddled the issue around in my head. One thing that occurred to me was that I hadn't restarted my computer in the past couple of days, especially since reinstalling Epson Scan 2 (with Macs, restarting the computer when installing new software is rarely required). Maybe this lead to some caching issues with Epson Scan 2? So, after dinner, I restarted my computer and set up some more negatives to scan. Well, whaddya know... the pinwheel and slowness issues went away, as did the errant scans after playing wit the preview levels. The program appears to essentially be the same it was prior to the OS 12 upgrade. (However, I haven't tried to gather thumbnail previews yet, so that issue is still with the jury.)

Now, all that being said... I seem to recall trying a free trial of Vuescan way back when, but decided its price tag wasn't worth it in comparison to (the original) Epson Scan. Since Epson Scan 2 is, IMO, a shell of its former self, maybe it's worth looking into again.

 

[winger]

So, I stepped away from the computer a bit and muddled the issue around in my head. One thing that occurred to me was that I hadn't restarted my computer in the past couple of days, especially since reinstalling Epson Scan 2 (with Macs, restarting the computer when installing new software is rarely required). Maybe this lead to some caching issues with Epson Scan 2? So, after dinner, I restarted my computer and set up some more negatives to scan. Well, whaddya know... the pinwheel and slowness issues went away, as did the errant scans after playing wit the preview levels. The program appears to essentially be the same it was prior to the OS 12 upgrade. (However, I haven't tried to gather thumbnail previews yet, so that issue is still with the jury.)

Now, all that being said... I seem to recall trying a free trial of Vuescan way back when, but decided its price tag wasn't worth it in comparison to (the original) Epson Scan. Since Epson Scan 2 is, IMO, a shell of its former self, maybe it's worth looking into again.

That's good to hear! Yeah, I rarely restart mine unless it tells me to (one of the many things I like about Macs).

 

[Pieter12]

The IT manager where I used to work always said, if you have a problem with your Mac, restart it. That will solve most issues.