Epson 4990 Preview Problem

[Kirk Gittings]

Here was the exact wording from Epson on a problem that I had. It may have some relevence.

1. Shut down your computer completely. Disconnect the USB cord from your
computer.
2. Remove the transparency option cable from the back of the scanner, then
unplug the scanner from power.
3. Reconnect the option cable back into the scanner and then connect the
scanner back into the electrical power.
4. Connect the USB cable back to your computer and turn your computer on.
5. Try to scan, and all should be well.

[M Brian Mills]

I hate to keep shooting down people's suggestions, but as I try them, nothing fixes it. I tried Kirk's sequence of events to no avail.

I've submitted it to Epson...let's hope their support people know a thing or two about scanners....one never knows the expertise of the support person who will attempt to help you.

[Marko]

Brian,

Here's another guess, since I don't use that scanner: it looks like a case of double profiling, so to speak. I had very similar thing happen to me a while back, while I was running Photoshop under Windows.

Since you are calibrating using EyeOne, make sure you're not also running Adobe Gamma (look in the startup folder). If it does run, for whatever reason, you are effectivelly double-profiling anything you do in Photoshop and therefore getting false colors.

Hope this helps.

[M Brian Mills]

Marko,

Thanks, I did have Adobe Gamma running so I removed it from startup. I also checked for any other process that appeared to be tied to display and either disabled or removed them. I then rebooted.

I tried scanning again and I got the same darn result.

It appears to be primarily a difference in they way the printer is scanning the color on different DPIs and that the rest of the image is as it should be. I suppose I could just change the color after I open it in PhotoShop, but what a pain! I just wish it were working as it used to.
Arg!

[Marko]

I suppose I could just change the color after I open it in PhotoShop, but what a pain! I just wish it were working as it used to. Arg!

You shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get your job done. Especially not in Photoshop. I know this won't help, but this is one of the reasons why I prefer Macs.

One more thing - after you remove Adobe Gamma from your startup folder and reboot, you need to recallibrate from scratch. This will - I take it back, this should refresh both your LUT and Photoshop preferences.

Regards,

[Brian Ellis]

Why don't you download the trial version of Vuescan, see if it does the same thing? That might assist in diagnosing the problem, especially if you don't have the problem with Vuescan. If Vuescan does the same thing then if it were me I'd bite the bullet and call Epson tech support. That can be agonizing but they've been helpful to me a couple times with oddball problems and yours certainly qualifies as that.

[Patrik Roseen]

Another longshot - From what you say the problem seems to be related to the scanning and not Photoshop. The difference depending on resolution could indicate that you might have a lack of memory when processing the produced file at scanning and hence some information might be lost. The effect of memory problems could be different for different types of file types, like TIFF or JPEG etc. Sometimes the image gets cropped - possibly color information could change as well? You could try to scan a smaller part of the image at higher resolution to see what happens - If the problem is still there it is related to the scanning ... if not it could be the memory. Good luck

[M Brian Mills]

FYI...

After about a month of testing, and many emails back and forth with Epson's technical support, they agreed that there is a bug in their scanning software.

This is when scanning larger (4x5) negatives (reversing color) at higher DPIs 2400+. Nothing negative happens when I scan chromes.

All works fine with SilverFast and VueScan, but EpsonScan cannot make the correct reversal.

Epson said that there is no update set for release and told me that any issue I have at this point would have to be taken up with Customer Care.

[Ted Harris]

Brian, if you have the full version of Silverfast why not run with that and stop fooling with the Epson software which is ok at best. Something else to consider, you really aren't gaining a thing by scanning at any resolution higher than 2400 spi as that is ~ the real optical esolution of the scanner. If you keep it at 2400 do you still have the problem?

[M Brian Mills]

Ted,

I don't have Silverfast AI because I bought the Photo version of the scanner and not the Pro version.

According to what I have read, the real optical resolution of the scanner is 4800...if you believe this to be untrue, please let me know your source.

The Epson software (be it "ok at best") should allow me to do everything as advertised, but it does not and the issue was accepted by Epson as a true bug in their software which means that they acknowledge that there is something wrong with it.

The problem exists at 2400 DPI.