Artist Review: Epson Perfection V370 scanner

I used this scanner nearly every day for almost 10 years! It was a tough workhorse that scanned beautifully (until it finally died). Worth every penny several times over.

Hello! I'm the author of the original post. If anybody has questions about this scanner please go ahead and ask, I will try to answer you the best I can

This is great news to hear. With all this technology that is forced to become obsolete in a couple of year, it's good to know that scanners have a longer lifespan!

Hello Giacomo, thank you for reviewing and writing detailed review for the same. I usually paint on watercolor paper 14*20. I wanted to read something like this before deciding on investing amount this big. I have a most basic inkjet printer Canon pixma with inbuilt scanner and I used it for scanning my artwork. it was really disappointing. The I did some research on converting an artwork to electronic image and found lot of people use cameras DSLR/mirrorless even point and shoot which give excellent images.
After reading your review I think this scanner is worth considering because it still cost a fraction of money I will be spending on entry level DSLR.

Can you please help me to make decision.

Thanks
Manish

Hello Manish. Are we talking about cm or inches? If you work with 14x20 cm I would totally reccomend the scanner. The quality is definitely better and you can scan at much higher resolution than you would get with any DSLR. I already own a mirrorless but I bought the scanner because it's very hard to photograph the artwork with decent light. If you were talking about 14x20 inches, well, you should try to do some stitching using the scanner you already have and see how the workflow is for you. Cameras are used when the artwork is very big or when the media is "3D" such as oil paintings where the paint can be some mm thick.
But for watercolors up to A4 size, scanner is the way to go, in my opinion.

For those willing to dive into a little bit of tech, I use an opensource tool called Hugin to stich oversized scans together. With a little bit of learning, it's actually very easy to use!

hello Giacomo, so I have this scanner and its ok for small formats, but I wondering which its the best option if I want some one bigger.

thanks for your time

Giacomo: Many, many thanks!! I desperately (and quickly) needed a scanner specifically for water color illustrations and I was having such trouble making a decision. So many choices, at such a big range of prices. I read your detailed post, and ordered this model overnight. I am on a huge deadline! I just set it up and it is such a good scanner compared my old one which did not make scans good enough for work. It helped me so much to understand the “CCD” aspect that makes such a difference. I did not know that, I thought only dpi mattered. Thank you so much for helping another artist!! You really provided such helpful info plus the comparison scans of watercolor work. I am grateful to you!

Thank you! I'm happy to know that my review was useful! Hope you will be happy with your new scanner!

I can't afford a monthly subscription for a scanner. Am I missing something or is there a way to use this scanner without paying $10 per month like the Driver Support One is seemingly forcing me to do? Thanks in advance.

Are there third party softwares available to scan in 16 bits per pixel mode?

I can't seem to find the V370 anywhere to purchase. Do you know if it has been replaced with another version? There are so many... a bit confusing!
Thank you! Diane

Great scanner as you see for watercolor drawing, A4 pages in B&W and Color but be prepared a very long learning curve for anything else eg. Passports or anything else with mat reflective or glossy finish. Everything can be done but do you have the time and effort when it can easily be done with a cheap all in one Scanner inkjet printer fax.
Epson website supply plenty of drivers but again if you have the time to find out what the programs do as there is information like this is used for that but you need this.

Hi Teoh Yi Chie (and Giacomo Sardelli) thank you for your work! I've been following your blog a long time now (from tips on refilling my pentel pocketbrush, to scanners - you're doing an awesome work!)

Recently, I've been trying to get a hold on a scanner that I could use to digitize my art (very often watercolor and pastel paintings up to 100x70cm); so far I had been doing it with a camera, but flattening the innumerable bulges on a large watercolor paintings to have it photographed in a dozen small tiles under a cloudy sky and then stitching them together to get a 300dpi image file is too much work!

I've been thinking of a scanner with a removable (or at least a 180degress lid) so that I could scan the watercolor paintings flat in tiles and get the lighting, pain-stalking flattening and camera distortions out of the equation. I was sold on the V370, but it seems both Epson V39 and V370 can't be found in the eu market any longer.

Now I'm considering Canon scanners, but I have two concerns; your thoughts are much appreciated:
a) you can't remove the lid on the canon scanners - how would I be able to scan my large pieces?
b) Canon scanners have a CIS sensor and I am worried that it won't focus properly on wavey/bulged paper - I have an hp scanner/printer/fax with a CIS sensor, and horrible image quality aside, no matter how hard I press the watercolor paper on the glass, parts of it are always out of focus - Don't you have a similar experience with the canon ones?

Thank you!

What is the size of the glass scanner bed? What is the largest size document that can be scanned?

Thanks!

thank you Teoh Yi Chie! All very valid remarks! You're verifying my fears that I'm stuck with photography then :/

Thus far I've been photographing the artworks and stitching the pieces (sometimes up to 20 photos per painting to produce a single 1:1-sized 300dpi reproduction). It's been very satisfying result-wise (I use a program called Hugin for the stitchings and while it's very fiddly, it's also extremely capable). But setting up the camera and the painting, shooting it in tiles, and then stitching them, are very tedious processes and very error-prone. I was hoping that a scanner would speed up and simplify the process by taking away inconsistencies (ie cameral misalignments, bad focus, paper buckling and (worse) having to wait for the perfect cloudy sky for the photoshoot)

Hi Doug, at this point I think what you need to do is to reduce variables in your workflow. It doesn't make much sense to wait for a cloudy sky to take the pictures, because that means variable lighting every time, that can even differ between each photo of the same artwork!

I would suggest to study a way to setup a space with studio lights to have a reliable lighting source, constant distance between the artwork and lights, a tripod with a manual DSLR camera with fixed aperture. This way you'll have way more control on your shootings, and it will be easier to stitch everything together.

You're absolutely right; photographing with natural light is a very hit or miss experience - I'm currently exploring cheap tricks for diffused highCRI lighting for a tight budget.. we'll see what comes of this! thanks!

PS. apologies to both Doug and you Giacomo, I accidentally hijacked Doug's thread

Hello! This review was so helpful. My question: I work with acrylics. And I use a lot of metallic silvers and golds. So you think the Metallica would scan well with this scanner?

Thanks for the review. I am interested in knowing how much time does it take to scan a sheet of paper at a normal resolution. This is an important information for me in order to choose the scanner, but I have not been able to find it anywhere.

Could you please explain it a little?

Hello, at 300 DPI it will take around 10 seconds or less for a full A4 paper

Good morning,

Thank you for your review. I’ve been contemplating buying this scanner for awhile. Read other reviews about it and some say it’s good for scanning large artwork. I’m an inspiring painter and some of my paintings range from 18 by 20 cm and smaller and I wanted to know if this scanner can scan large pieces like that. Thank you in advance!

hi there. this has been helpful. thanks..
my question is about the whites and off whites.. i need to scan antique prints/paper and i have a hard time finding a scanner that does not whiten or yellow the look of the old paper..
because i sell online i need my scans to look exactly like the print i a, selling so the buyers can see exactly what they are getting..
i have an epson v600 and i think i have a lemon as i need to adjust every single scan to look proper. i don’t have the time to go thru every scan to do this when i am scanning 100+ prints to sell.
so, i guess i am asking about the colour matching including the neutrals/whites as well.
let me know what you thank. and many thanks for your blog!