PlusTek ePhoto Z300 - Five Tips + Tricks for Quick High Quality Photo Scans

[@MergeDroid]

View on Amazon in your region: amzn.to/3l7EFs5 (my affiliate link) For my original video see: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmeZh6dpasmGjsU ✨ Find/follow/support the channel: linktr.ee/mergedroid ✨

[@debolson3387]

Thank you for you wonderful tutorial!! totally helpful!! easy to understand !! what a lifesaver it was for me tonight!!

[@MergeDroid]

I'm so pleaded to hear it's helped you out, that's great! Thank you for leaving this comment. Happy scanning!

[@elizabethdearazoza5511]

Thank you for the video, mainly the last tip. I have a problem where the scanner does not recognize the photo size and no matter what I have to crop the pictures. They come out with a nice quality but they have black all around them. Thanks in advance for your help.

[@MergeDroid]

Glad the video has helped. With regards to the issue you're seeing, have you been able to clean the scanner at all? Opening the front bar and just use a clean microfibre cloth or glasses cloth to remove any dirt or dust from the sensor?

[@berniegilbert9442]

Very helpful, thanks! I've been using it for a couple of days and thought I was pretty good already, but I didn't know about updating the driver. I have my own method for storage - creating folders and subfolders in Windows file manager and saving as necessary.

[@MergeDroid]

That's great to hear, glad it was helpful. I can understand what you mean with your method too, sounds good. I hope you might check out some of the other content on my channel too and see if subscribing is worth while. Cheers.

[@m.muroya9339]

Thanks for the useful tips.

[@MergeDroid]

I'm glad you found this one useful too, thanks for taking the time to comment. In particular once you're familiar with using the scanner combining tips 1-4 with 5 can really pay off in terms of speeds and quality. I hope the scanning goes well for you.

[@lesleyphillipbiggerstaff4107]

thanks for the tips, very useful

[@MergeDroid]

Hi, you're very welcome. Glad they are of use. If you have time please do consider taking a look at some of my other content to see if it's of interest and/or worth subscribing 👍

[@danielcates7942]

Great video. Watched and bought myself a scanner as saw some great reviews. Has anyone had their images coming through with lines going through all the colours? I have calibrated with the paper provided, but I am not having any success whatsoever. Have a lot of photos to scan, but looks like I may have to return the printer. Any help would be much appreciated.

[@MergeDroid]

Hi, glad the video helped but sorry to hear about the issue. One quick check, I think there may have been a protective strip over the scanner light bar (as in the bit that actually scans the photo). Maybe just double check there's nothing like that on yours?

[@phillhoxie7689]

Very informative videos. Thank you. I have read that it is better to save photos in PNG as there is less loss each time they are reprocessed. I notive that this is an available selection with this software. What is your opinion on using PNG vs Jpeg?

[@MergeDroid]

Hi Phill, I'm glad the tips and tricks follow up to my tutorial/overview video of the Z300 (here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmeZh6dpasmGjsU) was useful. I'm no expert on photo formats, but my understanding is a lower compressed JPEG is still more suitable for a photo than a PNG (more suited to images/logos). If you Google PNG vs JPEG you'll get lost in information, but again my general take form that is JPEG is more suitable for photos. Very happy to hear other's opinions on this though. I guess some direct comparison testing may also help. You mention about less loss each time they are reprocessed, perhaps if you plan to edit/process your photos after initially saving this is an extra consideration.

[@robertgreer4156]

Thanks .. very clear and helpful :)

[@MergeDroid]

Great to hear.

[@aleksandarbrzic8351]

Very useful, thanks!

[@MergeDroid]

That's great to hear, thanks Aleksandar. Please do check out the other channel content too and consider subscribing for more if you like the style 👍

[@aaronbell9135]

What should you do if you don't have that "magic sheet" for calibrating the scanner?

[@MergeDroid]

Hmmm, you can buy spares on Amazon I believe, but I think I saw them going for silly money (for what it is). I'm not sure if you can 'emulate' them otherwise.

[@rpwoodjr]

Very helpful tutorial! One feature I find lacking (unless I'm missing something) is that there is no way to set the starting sequential number. For example...let's say that I scan 15 photos in one batch. When saved, the photos will be filename-0001 thru filename-0015. If I come back later and want to scan more from the same group of photos, I would like it to pick up where I left off - with 0016 as the first assigned sequential number. Am I correct that there is no way to specify the starting number? (The software I use with my Epson scanner does allow this feature). Again...thanks for the helpful tips.

[@MergeDroid]

Hi - I'm glad it's of use. I can understand your requirement, but sadly I don't think it's possible to start at a defined number. What I do tend to do is set a "batch" or "album" number in the customised file naming convention. Sorry if that seems obvious, but it might be a step toward what you're looking to achieve. E.g. "Holiday.A01.0001.jpg" and then set the next to be "A02" in place of "A01" etc. I hope you might be able to check out some of my other videos too and consider a subscribe if you like the content 👍

[@rpwoodjr]

@@MergeDroid Thanks for the really quick response. Yep...the "batch" number is the next best thing. Thanks for suggesting it. I have a file renaming utility that I can use if I want to combine batches. Looking forward to having my three adult daughters over soon to help me go through boxes and boxes of old photos going back to the early 70s. This scanner is going to help speed the process along.

[@MergeDroid]

@@rpwoodjr I hope that goes well and they realise their visit will involve working 😂 The rewards are worth it though.

[@MergeDroid]

@@rpwoodjr How's the scanning been going? If you're uploading them after into Google Photos, you might be interested in my recent video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hompi36hlJyjbLs

[@terrypallin9706]

@@MergeDroid If you save them into the same file with the exact same name it'll pick up where it left off. It's why that have so many zeros in front of it like 0001 when it can only do 50-so photos at a time

[@sharyngrone7762]

Can I save directly to Google photos on my Mac as well?

[@MergeDroid]

I haven't tested on a Mac I'm afraid so couldn't say 100 percent. Perhaps someone else will know.

[@marksparco3133]

Can photo's be saved in Tiff format for high quality printing ?

[@MergeDroid]

Hi Mark, yes TIFF as well as JPEG, PNG, BitMap, PDF and Multi-Page PDF are offered as formats to use when scanning with the PlusTek Z300. I hope that helps.

[@FroMan753]

Is this compatible with Vuescan? I'm wondering if Vuescan would make a significant improvement in quality.

[@MergeDroid]

Hi - thanks for the comment. I don't have first hand experience, but take a read of this article - www.ephotozine.com/article/plustek-ephoto-z300-scanner-review-31116 Seems to suggest it is. I hope you might consider joining the channel as a subscriber, please see if my other videos are of interest 👍

[@crazydave2825]

I'm wondering what the best ICloud storage is for digitized photos. Any suggestions?

[@MergeDroid]

Hi, won't iCloud just recognise the files as images(?)

[@crazydave2825]

@@MergeDroid I don't have an ICloud paid account so storage is limited. Are there free options with unlimited storage that you know of?

[@MergeDroid]

@@crazydave2825 Sadly not that I am aware of, not since the 'good old days' - kzbin.info/www/bejne/hompi36hlJyjbLs

[@CruisingFleet]

have you had an experience where everything comes out dark....as if the scan leds are not lighting up? i cannot see them light ....checked the connections on the leds and power supply....all is connected...and the scan function works....just no light???

[@MergeDroid]

Hi, sorry to hear about that, I haven't experienced it myself but maybe someone else will have. Have you previously been using the scanner without issue or is this brand new?

[@MrDRTK]

how do you fix vertical lines?

[@MergeDroid]

Are you on the latest version of the software? Have you tried to recalibrate the scanner with the white sheet?

[@shereenlerner8709]

there are differences if you use a Mac. For example-there is no auto update in preferences. Just an FYI-your video is best for Windows users.

[@MergeDroid]

Thanks. Is there any way to prompt the update on a Mac or you just have to manually check and download a new version?

[@shereenlerner8709]

@@MergeDroid No prompt on a Mac and after I wrote I discovered that most of the information you provide about preferences are only for Windows. Just want you to know-you might change the title to note it is for Windows users.

[@MergeDroid]

Thanks, I think in general it's generic enough and I do clarify I'm using Windows.

[@jinanerpio4535]

How about whenever I scan photos it appears blank/black images only appears on the screen.?

[@MergeDroid]

Hi, was it working correctly before?

[@doloresseames5067]

Does it also scan black and white photos?

[@MergeDroid]

Yes, it'll just scan what it sees if you like, where colour or black and white.

[@warmgun]

The orange light won't come off on my z300. I have to uninstall it and reinstall it to make it work. This is very annoying. If I click on the z300 icon nothing happens. I have to run it as administrator for it to come up.

[@MergeDroid]

Oh right. So you have to uninstall and reinstall and then run the program itself under an admin account (?)

[@warmgun]

@@MergeDroid yes. Every time I turn the scanner on. I’ve only had it 3 days. Should i just leave the scanner on? Support isn’t available until Monday

[@MergeDroid]

Is it working at all to scan?

[@warmgun]

@@MergeDroid once i uninstall and reinstall it scans but I have to do this every time if I shut the machine off so I'm just going to leave it on

[@MergeDroid]

Windows 10 / 11 (?) When you do the initial install of the software, from memory there's a certain point when you're meant to connect the scanner. Maybe double check that step. Perhaps uninstall the software, power off and disconnect the scanner, restart your PC and give it a fresh install (naturally running the executable for the install as an admin).

[@gjr1974]

Bought this machine based on thousands of great Amazon reviews only to find that it horribly underexposes darker photos, which makes it difficult or impossible to go in and modify each one after the fact to correct them. I guess you get what you pay for and unfortunately this scanner isn’t good enough.

[@MergeDroid]

Sorry to hear. The built in editor is no help? I'm not sure if you can tweak defaults.

[@richheinrich6165]

This guy talks way too fast and the slides are shown way to fast and WAY too small. Pretty useless as it is presented

[@MergeDroid]

Rich, if you ever find a YT video too fast you can use the controls to slow it down, click on the cog toward the bottom right. Also, try watching on a desktop monitor and/or full screen the video if you're having issues.