microtek i800 or i800 pro

[Chuck Porter]

I did a forum search but did not find much on these two scanners, except a few words that the i800 was not well liked on a couple of occasions; what's the main difference between it and the i800 pro?. I need a scanner that will do 4x5 bw negatives and I have a budget of $360. Of course, I'm open to other suggestions for flatbeds that will do a good job with 4x5.

Thanks
Chuck

 

[Greg_E]

I'm betting the only difference is software.

 

[Doug Fisher]

I would suggest you wait a while and save your money so that you can buy another scanner model such as the M1, an Epson or a Canon. Do some research on the i800 and read posts by people who actually know how to use a scanner. Many have regretted buying the i800 for scanning film.

Doug

 

[Chuck Porter]

The reason I want a scanner is for uploading my 4x5 black and white images to the web and not for digital printing purposes. Does this make a difference in the need for a particular scanner. I've done some more researching and I could squeeze some more money for a Epson v700 if it means obtaining a quality scanned image for the web.

Thanks
Chuck

 

[Greg_E]

If the only thing you want to do is upload small images to the web, you could get away with any scanner that has a light source large enough to cover you films.

Images for the web (depending on the size you want) will be in the 72 to 150 ppi range for 4x5, so lot of scanners would do a decent job at this size. You can put up larger files, but most any browser is going to compress them to fit on screen, so you may not be gaining anything. At any rate under 1000ppi for just about anything you are going to put on the web for film as large as 4x5.