4 x5 scanner recommendations.

[stradibarrius]

I have an Epson V500 that does a good job with 35mm and MF but I have started shoting LF and need a scanner that will scan 4 x5?
What are my choices on the less expensive end of the spectrum?

 

[Pinholemaster]

If you like the V500, then get the Epson V750.

 

[cooltouch]

If you don't have the pocket depth for a V750, see if you can locate an Epson 4990. They pop up on feeBay from time to time. I found mine in Chicago, after doing a nationwide search on Craigslist. It too will handle 4x5. Resolution and D Max are just a tad below the V750, but for a 4x5, you probably won't be able to tell much of a difference at all. I have a couple of friends who shoot 4x5 and have digital darkrooms, and the 4990 is what they use to digitize their images. I've seen prints done on archival quality paper from some high-end Epson printer, and they looked great. And if you can't find a 4990, a 4870 is just about the same thing, but one generation older.

 

[TareqPhoto]

I highly recommend V750 as well, it is great for 120, but when i scanned 4x5 for first time my mind blowing away of the quality, it was better for 4x5 over 120 for sure, of course can't beat drum scanners that scan 4x5 but the quality is no slouch! V700 is a bit cheaper than V750 but almost same quality.

 

[pellicle]

another vote for the epson ... if scanning to 2000dpi you will not be able to identify significant differences. 2000 dpi of a 5 inch bit of sheet is 10,000 pixels ... how big do you need?

 

[OldBikerPete]

I'm quite happy with my Artixscan M1 for 5x4 negatives. Tests (on Hybrid.org) have shown that it has a real resolution of 2400DPI.
To see the full performance one needs to scan at 4800DPI (Nyquist theorum) and 16bits per pixel then reduce the image size by 50% in Photoshop or similar. The initial file size is in excess of 2Gb so you will need a 64-bit operating system for the initial operations.
That produces a 100Mp image which, yes, is almost big enough.

Peter.