I've got an Epson Stylus SX435W all in one. It's working with Image Scan! for Linux 2.30.4, but is not being detected by Epson Scan 2. I've checked everything I can find, it just looks like my scanner is too old for the software.

Simple Scan seems to be too simple, but I don't want to have to launch something like GIMP and manually tweak everything.

I ideally want something with a built in colour enhancement tool like the Epson Windows software, and something that will remember the directory and name of the scan e.g. if I set it to ~/Pictures/Scans/Scan001.jpg, the next scan will automatically be ~/Pictures/Scans/Scan002.jpg etc. Descreening and Backlight Correction are both tools that I use fairly regularly too, as I mostly scan old photos. There's a screenshot of the Windows Epson software on this page if it helps:

https://files.support.epson.com/htmldocs/wfp4520/wfp4520ug/source/scanners/source/scanning_software/tasks/starting_scan_icon.html

Does anyone know of anything that might be a good alternative please?

EDIT: I'm just trying out XSane now. XSane and Image Scan! both give a slight colour cast, purple on this particular photo, but XSane seems to have more control over the settings.

I'm currently avoiding VueScan due to the price. While it does look like it's great software, I can't currently justify paying £50 when I've already got working software under Windows.

  • VHS [he/him]
    ·
    10 months ago

    I use XSane for scanning photos and I get good results. It has plenty of options and auto-names files like you said. I'm not sure what Descreening and Backlight Correction are for, though.

    • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      ·
      10 months ago

      Thanks for replying :)

      It looks like it does pretty much everything I need, but I'm having some trouble getting the colours correct. I'm getting a slight purple tinge on the sample photo I'm using. It might just be that I need to learn how to do it through XSane, so I'm having a play with the settings.

      Descreening helps to get rid of the old newspaper effect that newspapers and some old documents had. It's not usually needed for photos, but I've got some clippings from newspapers, and some very old documents with the effect.

      Backlight Correction basically just brings up the brightness in a photo, but rather than just cranking up the exposure or brightness, it seems to do the equivalent of bringing the detail from shadows in Photoshop. It's not great, but now and then it does a good enough job that I don't have to open a photo editor.

      • VHS [he/him]
        ·
        10 months ago

        but rather than just cranking up the exposure or brightness, it seems to do the equivalent of bringing the detail from shadows in Photoshop.

        Maybe the levels slider? If you place the black point pointer further to the left shoulder of the curve, the shadows won't be as dark.

        • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          ·
          10 months ago

          I've tried that, but it adjusts the whole image rather than focusing on the shadows. It might just be something I'm getting wrong, but in the Epson scan software, it seems to only affect the shadows and dark areas. More often than not though, it affects the whole photo and screws it up, but when it does get it right, it's great.

          Because it screws it up so often, I can live without it, but I'm still struggling with the colour cast.