The Good Nice build quality. Easy to set up. Automated front buttons. OCR and photo editing software included. Can use any scanning software. The Bad EPSON Scan does not yield the best scans. Must spend money on better scan software for best results.

Nice build quality; Easy to set up; Automated front buttons; OCR and photo editing software included; Can use any scanning software

EPSON Scan does not yield the best scans; Must spend money on better scan software for best results

I 've just retired and I've got a lot of old slides and negatives I want to digitize," this frequent request starts. "What scanner do you recommend?" Frankly, we don't recommend a scanner at all.

With the Perfection V600 Photo, in December 2009, Epson introduced a flat bed scanner with a transparency unit into the market replacing the previous model Epson Perfection V500 Photo . The scanner is of a successful and modern design that also looks good in a stylish office or at home.

There are several classes of flatbed scanner, from cheap and cheerful top-of-an-all-in-one class to multi-thousand pound professional art capture devices. Epson's Perfection V600 Photo is aimed at the photo enthusiast, either keen amateur or semi-pro.

Digital ICE dust removal; Excellent OCR results; Good range of transparency holders

Substantial footprint; External power supply; Noisy head drive motors

This scanner is the latest from Epson to combine flat bed scanning of opaque materials with film scanning, positive and negative, 35mm and 6 x 6 cm. It has scanning resolutions up to 6400 x 9600 dpi at 48 bit colour depth.

Let's deal with the big question: can a flat bed scanner really produce film scans to compare with a dedicated 35mm scanner? In our opinion most users will be well satisfied with the Epson output; Scanned Kodachrome slides retained colour, detail and subtlety.

There is no printed instruction manual and the unit, by default, is set to Automatic mode; In this mode it will not scan negative strips correctly; The scan mode must be set to Professional (even if you think that doesn't mean you) to get proper control of scanning

As there's no option to calibrate or profile the scanner using the included software, the V600 is limited in its applications to professional photographers or keen hobbyists looking to convert a large quantity of slides or negatives.

Film holders for 35mm; medium format and transparency (slide; Good OCR recognition; Excellent quality flatbed scans

No support for film larger than 120; No calibration or profiling options

The Epson Perfection V600 Photo slots in just above the V500 model but has a lower bit depth than the V700, which we reviewed in March 2006 and which remains as the premium model in Epson's range.

Wish I could give this two rankings, one for the size and packaging and the other for picture quality. Let's do the pic quality first. Scanning chromes, and black and white negs is a joy. It's a nice scanner, great detail even when upsampling to 2400 dpi. Crisp and sharp with good range and tone.

Good value (scanning quality and included software). Though the slide and film holders are flimsy, they are good enough for occasional use.

Nice software bundle; All cables included; Scanning old photos seem to render better contrast using included ICE software

Not as fast as I hoped; Negative and slide holders a bit flimsy

I am working on saving over 1,000 slides digitally. These slides are over 40 years old and the scanner is doing a great job. Color is great also. I have tried other scanners in the past and this one is so easy to do.