Epson 3170 vs Microtek I300, Any advice?

Looking digitize, repair, and archive old famely photos. Best buy carries
both at 199. Offering a $40 gift cirtificate with the Epson.
Found good reviews on the net for the Epson but no reviews of the Mikrotek
I300 (Must be new). They both have similar specks.
The Epson has color restoration, dust removal, Photoshop Elements 2.0, and
the $40 incentive while the Microtek boasts Digital Ice technology. Any
advice?
Thanks John

 

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 20:48:53 -0500, "zio" <>
wrote:

I have had the 3170 for about 3 weeks and am very impressed. I don't
know anything about the Mikrotek.

The scanner software is excellent. I've scanned 40 images in one
sitting and was stunned to note how quickly I was able finish my work.
It's fast and color accurate. Scans of slides and film are excellent
except there are some (3-5 on each scan) hot spots here and there that
I choose to fix in photoshop; and it only takes a couple of minutes.

I've been dreading moving to digital photography from 35mm, and now I
will be staying with 35mm and having my film developed but not
printed. The scanning resolution gives you unlimited choices that, in
my case, have exceeded to limits of my computer (Intel P4, 300mHz, 2
GB ram). I scanned a slide the other day that if I printed the image
would be 36 inches by (something?) at 300 dpi. Which is more than I
would expect or do with a 35mm slide.

You will have to have a place for the individual pieces that attach as
you switch from reflective scanning to transparent scanning of film
and slides. It's no big deal though and all pieces are flat but must
be kept somewhere dust free (like a dedicated shallow drawer).

I really didn't expect a scanner to do this well for $200.