A review on the Epson Perfection V39 scanner

The Epson Perfection V39 scanner is a simple budget light weight scanner that can transfer your pictures, illustrations or documents into digital files.

What is the scan quality like on the Epson V39 scanner?

Being an artist, image quality is important to me and the Epson Perfection V39 scanner does not fail on that front. It can go up to 4800dpi optical resolution scan, that is really more than enough for most artist. I find it to be quick and easy to use. Just plug the USB cable into your computer and launch the software to scan. However, I do wish there is an on-off switch so I can have it constantly connected to my desktop machine withdrawing standby power, even though its a bare minimum.

Is the Epson V39 scanner built well?

The Epson V39 casing is made out of plastic apart from its mechanics and glass top. The plastic is sturdy and should be able to hold most thick heavyweight books if you do decide to remove the mounted lid. It has a solid kickstand which locks into position but I don’t find any reason to use it.

What is the scanning software like?

The software which comes with it has an outdated UI but it’s easy enough to do the scan. There is a simplified auto option but I generally switch it to advance and manually control my scan resolution and crop size. There isn’t much to it really. If you know how to use Photoshop then this isn’t going to be a problem for you.

Do I really need a flatbed scanner or should I use my mobile camera?

The tools that I have in my studio room is a flatbed scanner. I purchased it specifically to scan my illustrated sketches or drawings. Why I prefer to use my scanner than my mobile camera is that you get better image quality. Sure phone cameras have come along way with the ability to capture ridiculous high resolution and apps that can help straighten or stitch your image. However, I still think a reasonable flatbed scanner still do a better job in transfer an image into digital data. Especially for my line drawings, it’s looking more crispy and sharper.

Positive Points:

Does the job of scanning high quality images.

Light weight and portable.

Simple to use, either press the scan button or go into the software to scan.

Fast to scan, about 10 seconds on a 300dpi A4 scan. A real time saver if you have lots of images or photos to scan.

Scan resolution is more than what you need.

Colours reasonably matches to the original reference scan. Dark tones are slightly light but can easily be adjusted in Photoshop. For illustration work, scanned lines are crispy and sharp.

Has one USB cable that powers the unit up and transfer the images. Which means no more power brick.

Negative Points:

Uses USB 2 and not USB C. Has no Bluetooth connectivity for data transfer. (However data transfer is still fast)

Software looks old and dated.

No integrated option to scan in Photoshop.

A budget scanner but not as ridiculously cheaper than the ones that comes with an ink printer.

Places to purchase the Epson Perfection V39 in Australia:

Amazon Australia
Bing Lee
Ebay
Harris Technology
Epson Online Store
Umart Online

RRP: $149.95 AUD

Official Website:
Epson.com.au

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