I am a graphic designer and have been using an Epson Perfection Photo 4870 for years now. 99% has been TWAIN'd through Photoshop. My main issue always was that, I would have to FILE > IMPORT > TWAIN over and over again, for everything I wanted to scan, and it wasted a lot of time relaunching the Epson scanning software.
Recently my 2007 MacBook died (two days ago) completely...so I had to purchase a new MacBook Pro with Lion pre-installed. After multiple failed atempts to TWAIN the scanner through Photoshop or even trying to launch the scanner through the Print / Fax settings (which would never launch)...I finally discovered that Image Capture was fully recognizing the scanner.
So I have ran a few tests scans, photos, artwork, office papers...etc. I haven't tried the transparency abilities yet, but so far, the software seems to retain all the abilities the Epson software did and actually has more features now. All the Image Sharpen, Unsharp Mask, Descreening, Backlight and Dust Removal are all there and seem to function normally. It's got all the DPI options, size, color and even file type options.
It may take a few more times to really tweek the software and figure out what are the best settings to use now, but I think overall it is going to be just fine. One new feature that I have seen from the get go, is the ability to ROTATE the scanning selection box! Which was NOT available in the Epson software, this is a huge plus which will save time having to readjust alignment in PS if the scanned items ***** on the scanner bed while closing the lid or something. Also, the fact that the software doesn't have to close and relaunch on every scan.
The main drawback I do see so far though, is that you cannot add the PS.app to the list of destinations to send a scanned file. So at the moment I am just sending scans to a select folder and then opening them in PS to edit. It has the option to send to iPhoto, Image.app and Mail, but not PS. I think if they enable that option, then this Image Capture software will be plenty suficient to use.
No one likes change...but sometimes it works out ot be better.
Oh yea, and it does seem to process, preview and scan much quicker than the old Epson Scan software...
Jeremy