Adri's Palette

Each year we sort of sit down with Mr. AP before Christmas and decide if we want to be involved in the selection of our Christmas gift or not. Usually both of us prefer to be surprised. This year, however Mr. AP proposed something pretty specific which I was so thrilled by, that I accepted his offer to know what I’ll receive. And this amazing gift is my new little baby, an Epson flatbed scanner. Now I know Christmas is a looong way away, but I thought I’d share my story and experience in case you have been thinking about a techy kind of gift for a loved one or for yourself before.

When I started blogging I had a laptop that by all standards can and must be considered ancient. I think it is enough to say that none of the versions of Windows could run on it and it weighed 3.7 kgs, a bit over 8 pounds! So I was the happiest camper out there when I bought my shiny new laptop. Until I realized that the Canon scanner I used pretty frequently is not compatible with Windows 10. No matter what the Canon website says, it just does not run on this OS. So I resorted to alternatives like scanning at the office, at my parents’ or taking a picture. But seriously…

I started researching and looking at the options and I found that many people kept recommending the Epson perfection V39. Now around these parts only its baby sister, the V19 is available, but as far as I can see and tell, they are pretty much identical. Mr. AP spotted me looking at it so frequently, that he suggested he’d get it for me for Christmas. Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to go into a full blown tech-review here (I scared you, didn’t I!?), because there are so many out there (e.g. this one) which will do a much better job than I ever could. But let me tell you my experience:  wow! I mean WOW!!!

When I scanned any of my drawings before I had to resort to (cough) some editing to make it look like the original. Now you can see why. The top one’s color, sharpness is not existent. It doesn’t even look like my drawing! In fact it looks like the ghost of my drawing.  The bottom one on the other hand looks exactly like it. The color is vibrant, each stroke of colored pencil is visible. The sharpness is spot on. And this was only a test scan with the most basic of settings right after we opened the box! I was amazed that such a thing could exist! Even if you are not looking to scan artwork, the difference for a black and white document is like looking at a newspaper photo from the 80’s or any glossy magazine on your coffee table today. So if you’ve been thinking about a scanner, I’d highly recommend this one. Its budget friendly, light, easy to use and runs on the energy that is fed through a USB cable. Its Windows 10 tested. With Mr. AP’s seal of approval!

P.S. Don’t worry, although I received my gift a bit early, this baby will be under the tree on Christmas!