As with printing in the darkroom, there is skill involved. It's not all about the equipment.
I'll be the first one to agree with you, but shooting film and scanning it on an Epson V600/700/750 with the expectation of getting results that exhibit truly accurate reproduction is like trying to use a 3 element enlarging lens to print 20x24, corner-to-corner sharp, exhibition prints on an unaligned, rickety, old enlarger. I used one for 4 years at school, and it got to the point where I would just scan prints while I was there, and bring my film home during breaks to use the dedicated machine we have in the studio at home.
I don't ever ink jet print, only chemical prints with a light jet optical "printer" on RA4 paper.
I don't use Viewscan or SilverFast, just Epson scan software as it makes more sense to me.
I can't for the life of me get silverfast to make a good scan (when I can even get the program to function at all).
And then 8 or 16 bit B&W or 16 or 48 bit color.
I always choose the higher bit.
Anyway I think I'm just particular, possibly more than I need to be.
Unless your RA4 lightjets are being done on a Lambda, inkjets from a good Epson printer will nearly almost always be sharper, and always better paper, most likely (Museo Silver Rag...I've died and gone to heaven)...unless of course you're after the whole c-print look.
As for not using VueScan or Silverfast...scanning is hard, just like every other part of photography. Epson scan is a POS. Spend the 80 dollars on Vuescan and teach yourself to use it properly. The bits aren't important if you're not using them well.
And what's wrong with asking simple questions, you have to start somewhere.... I've never taken a class or learned anything in school about film or developing, they didn't have that option in my schools. So I don't have anyone to ask simple questions and learn from, this is my only place to come, if APUG didn't exist I probably would be shooting Digital... That's not even an exaggeration, I was about to give up on the pursuit of film when I found this place.
Sorry if that upsets you.
Never stop asking questions, especially the simple ones. But pedantically discussing the intricacies of a bunch of chemicals within a set of arbitrary limitations is not the best way to interact with the forum. I've never taken a class in photography technique, either. Essentially all of my BFA schooling was in effective studio practice and art history, and we were responsible for honing our techniques on our own time. I suppose the advantage to not taking a class is that you don't have a bunch of arbitrary rules floating around in your head (unless you impose them on yourself, in which case... just stop doing that).
It's always something new with you...and it always ends up with excuses for why you can't/won't do something.
Our professors at school confronted torrents of excuses and self-imposed limitations with:
Art is hard, if you're not willing to be invested in it, then
maybe this isn't for you.
That shit stings, I know, but breaking free of all this nonsense and just focusing on making a system (haha the broken record spins around once again) that is simple, consistent, and reliable is, and should be, the ONLY concern you have with your work right now. I have written this multiple times before to you, but STOP making excuses, to those whose opinions/advice you reject here, but more importantly TO YOURSELF. You've convinced yourself that you're a better photographer than you actually are, and you've convinced yourself that you're doing the right thing in going to large format and all this brouhaha about using 4x5 now and yaddayadda. I would hazard that everyone here is sick of hearing this tripe, and if you're going to spout off about things in the way you do, commit to your words. You're going LF? Sell your Mamiya and lenses, that way you can stop constantly bitching about not being able to afford photography stuff.
You spend
so much of your time wondering about technical variables and boring shit that you completely forget to think about the creative, and art practice side of things. You
need to visualize a concept of what you're interested in photographing (these trite poorly lit pictures of scantily clad women are really not the best you can do, is it?) and involve yourself in it.
It doesn't even matter if you're shooting film or digital. But if you shoot film...as I've said before (and will say again)...get RID of the variables, other than creative impulse.
Load the Toyo's holders up, and go photograph something for 3 hours. Then do it again the next day. and the next day, and the next day, and the next day. Shoot every day for 3 hours, leave your cellphone on silent. Shoot only TXT (I know that $300 box of Double X was a really great idea...), use one lens, shoot things you
want, shoot things you lust after, shoot things you hate, shoot things that make you want to throw yourself off a cliff, and then shoot things that make you feel like you're bathing in ambrosia... shoot things that make you feel strongly about something, but for the love of god...shoot as much as you post.
Or at least make a concerted effort to make pictures you actually care about, instead of being a masturbatory armchair expert that can only make half-assed excuses for why his pictures aren't up to snuff.