Flatbed scanner

roy · Mar 3, 2004

Not possessing a scanner of my own but wishing to have one for a variety of purposes (not least for being able to post something in the galleries eventually) I have been looking at the adverts to see what is available. I see that Epson 4870 photo is being advertised and I was wondering if any members had any knowledge of the suitability of this for scanning MF and LF negatives for contact printing. Taking a different viewpoint, would any of the other and cheaper, Epson models produce equally good results. I do have access to a dedicated 35mm scanner from time to time but the flatbed scanner will be located at home. Any input will be appreciated.

philldresser · Mar 3, 2004

Roy

A lot of people are using the Epson 3200 scanner which can scan upto 5x4 negs. Retails around £220 and comes with Silverfast scanning software which is excellent.

Phill

Les McLean · Mar 3, 2004

Because I use 4 x 5 and cannot afford a Creo or Imacon I settled for an Epson 3200 and have been very pleased with the results. The price is very reasonable and I find the Epson software extremely user friendly.

Ole · Mar 3, 2004

I'm even cheaper than Les - I use an AGFA Duoscan T1200, which can scan film up to 8x10". Perfect for me, as I use all sizes up to 5x7"!

David A. Goldfarb · Mar 3, 2004

I must be even cheaper than Ole with my Duoscan Solo (1000 dpi), which I bought because it could handle 8x10" negs and transparencies. Maybe eventually I'll upgrade to a Duoscan HiD.

david b · Mar 3, 2004

My Epson 2450 can scan 4x5 and scans my MF negs just fine.

Jeremy · Mar 3, 2004

Since you're in England I am not sure how feasible shipping costs would be, but a refurbished Epson 3200 is $299 with free shipping in the US and the 2450 model is $199 with free ground shipping in the US at www.epson.com

These are in the clearance center.

I have the 2450 as I won't print over 13x19 here at home (Canon S9000) and any larger I can get either a Nikon 8000 (soon to be 9000), Imacon, or even Drum Scan in my local area.

Dave Miller · Mar 3, 2004

Take care when you are thinking of importing goods into the Uk from outside of the EU. You will have to pay around an extra 30% in import duty, VAT and customs clearance plus freight. If the deal still looks good go ahead, Ive imported quite a bit from the USA without problem, mainly Graphex bits and LF lenses. You would have course have a voltage problem with electrical goods from the USA, not insurmountable though. As for your question on flatbeds, any of those from the main manufactures that are fitted with transparency hoods will be fine. I have Canon D2400U that Im happy with.

KenM · Mar 3, 2004

Dan Anderson (of http://www.danielandersonphotography.com fame) takes digital photographs of his mounted prints - these digital images are 'matted' and 'framed' using something like Photoshop, and then uploaded to his website.

I tried it, and it works remarkably well. Once you've taken a photograph of the image (preferably using an compressed format such as TIFF), you still have to unsharp mask the image to get back the fuzziness of the digital image, but once you've done that, you're left with a pretty close facsimile of the original photograph.

I'm busy redoing my website, and I plan on re-taking all the website images using this image. It's quick, simple, and looks pretty darn good.

Dave Morrow · Mar 4, 2004

Roy,

Being a cheapskate I got a second hand Epson GT700 photo scanner for £50 (off ebay). The transparency adaptor is ideal for scanning my MF negatives for viewing on screen. I have tried printing results (12X8) via an online printing service - but it is in the post at the moment (a particularly difficult negative which I am also still trying to print in the darkroom - this was a last resort!).

I find it useful to be able to see large contact images of negs before hitting the darkroom (the reason I got the scanner).

Thomassauerwein · Mar 4, 2004

I have a 2470 I'm willing to let loose.

Robert Kennedy · Mar 6, 2004

The Epson 4870 has ONE and only ONE advantage over the 3200.

And that is the fact that it has Digital ICE built in. Otherwise go with a 3200.

Jeremy · Mar 6, 2004

Just a note on print size with these scanners.

On my Epson 2450 I can scan a 6x6 medium format negative at 2400dpi. This translates into ~14.25 x 14.25" at 360dpi printing. If you need larger than that then go for the 3200, if not do what I did and save some money with the Epson 2450. I usually shoot only black and white with my medium format (but also the occasional color roll) and Digital ICE only works on C-41 (including the C-41 b&w films) and E-6, it will NOT work on Kodachrome or traditional black and white film (not sure about Scala, but I think it does not--do not believe me on this if you shoot scala, definitely find out for yourself).

roy · Mar 8, 2004

Les McLean said:
I settled for an Epson 3200 and have been very pleased with the results.

Thanks Les and others who have contributed. I am drawn to that model too. Have you used it for MF and 35mm scanning at all ? As an aside, I know you have a 5x4 enlarger, do you use the scanner for 5x4 colour work ?

glbeas · Mar 8, 2004

I have one too, and I like the 35mm setup because you can put two 6 frame strips into it, individually adjust the frames in prescan then set it to scan and it will do all six without needing any other help. It does pretty good for medium format but I had to make my own carrier for the film from mat board to get multiple frame scanning. With that I can do 3 frames at a time. I haven't shot any color 4x5 yet so I can't comment, but it does an excellent job with 35mm and medium format color.

Larry1948 · Nov 11, 2004

I have a newly aquired rb67. I am told the negs are 6X7 (cm i suppose) will epson 4870 scan negs that size? will the 2450? 3200? i keep hearing mf then see 4X5 what about 6X7?
or will i have to have one print done at developing and scan the print?

rbarker · Nov 11, 2004

I also have an Epson 3200, and feel it does a fine job on prints, pretty well with 4x5, and OK on MF and 35mm. For MF and 35mm, I get much better scans from the Polaroid Sprintscan 120 (now, Microtek) that sits next to the 3200. For 8x10 and "contact sheets" of PrintFile pages, I use a clunky old Epson Expression 800.

Since joining APUG, however, I've converted them all to run off a robust rat in a squirrel cage, so they are quasi-analog devices.

Art Vandalay · Nov 11, 2004

I have a Canon 9900F which will take up to 4x5 negs and I'm not overly impressed with it. The price was right and colour negs are fine but for some reason BW negs have added grain. I even have to use a soft grain filter when scanning, which decreases the quality. Prints scan just fine but if I could do it over again I would go for an Epson.

Nige · Nov 11, 2004

Larry1948 said:
I have a newly aquired rb67. I am told the negs are 6X7 (cm i suppose) will epson 4870 scan negs that size? will the 2450? 3200? i keep hearing mf then see 4X5 what about 6X7?
or will i have to have one print done at developing and scan the print?

I have a 1640, which is these guys great grand daddy, but I'm sure the same applies in that the max size neg/slide that can be scanned is what's quoted and you can scan anything smaller. Mine has a seperate cover with a light in it (which alows the negs to be scanned with light shining through it rather than reflected light like a flatbed document scan). No idea if the latter model Epsons have the same arangement but the concept will be the same.

BTW, a RB67 creates (usually) a "6x7cm" neg, which in reality will be 56mmx68mm or something like that.

rbarker · Nov 11, 2004

Art Vandalay said:
. . . but for some reason BW negs have added grain.

Art - you might try scanning B&W negs as positives, and then invert in your photo editor. I'm not sure which software came with your Canon, but I sometimes need to do that with the Epson and Silverfast.

Art Vandalay · Nov 11, 2004

rbarker said:
Art - you might try scanning B&W negs as positives, and then invert in your photo editor. I'm not sure which software came with your Canon, but I sometimes need to do that with the Epson and Silverfast.

It's worth a shot! Otherwise I have no idea what to do about it. The Canon editing software that came with the scanner is poor and is primarily concerned with e-mailing your snaps to Grandma. The actual scanning software is 'Scan Gear CS' and it's very basic. Fortunately they also bundled PhotoShop Elements 2.0 with it and that's what I use for editing.

ian_greant · Nov 11, 2004

If you are getting increased grain when scanning film over prints you need to fiddle with your settings.

In simple terms you are probably under or overexposing your scan..

A few posts above someone asked if the Epson 3200 will scan a 6x7 neg.
Yes, the 3200 comes with a Neg holder for 6x7.

Art Vandalay · Nov 11, 2004

ian_greant said:
If you are getting increased grain when scanning film over prints you need to fiddle with your settings.

In simple terms you are probably under or overexposing your scan.

I generally spend a fair amount of time setting the exposure in the scan so that I don't have to adjust the brightness very much and at a slightly lower contrast. However, this is doesn't mean anything since I'm adjusting for it's appearance on the monitor, which has shown itself to be way out of whack with the printer. So you might be right!!!

rbarker · Nov 12, 2004

Some scanner/software combos just don't deal well with B&W film. I'm no scanner expert, but my assumption is that the software is designed for dyes, not grain. Scanning as a positive, adjusting the settings in the preview to give a good negative image, and then inverting in Photoshop usually solves that problem.

If your original software is the pits, Art, you might try Viewscan by Hamrick Software (www.hamrick.com). It's relatively inexpensive and gets rave reviews. Silverfast seems to be considered the best for desktop scanners. But, if it doesn't come with the scanner, it's expensive.

gr82bart · Nov 12, 2004

The best results can be had with an IT8 target and then an ICC scanner profile created through a calibration software tool like those offered by Monaco or Gretag-Macbeth

I'd suggest you get a print target and a transparency target and setup at least two different ICC profiles. I'd also recommend you use the Adobe RGB gamut as your working space. I have an ICC profile for colour transparencies, SCALA transparencies, colour negatives, B&W negatives, colour prints and B&W prints. Each profile tweaks something just a bit to ensure the proper rendition of the media I am scanning.

Regards, Art.

Flatbed scanner

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