Wolverine F2D 20 Super Scanner Review

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I got this thing because my new darkroom is about to be up and running, and 35mm negs are too small for me to figure out which ones to print.

Below are comparison scans from an Epson 2450 using negs from a Nikon (Tri-X in D76). There's been little attempt to edit these. Mostly they're sized down for my needs, but you could definitely print the Wolverine scans. They can be a little noisy, but any free noise reduction program will fix most of that.

All in all, this scanner was a pleasant surprise. It works well for what it is and the negative carriers and overall build quality are pretty good. Who knew? This was much easier than fiddling around w/ a smartphone scan.

Here's what you get for $50-$70 US, depending on the deal you find.

When you turn it off, it tells you goodbye.

Here's a scan from an Epson 2450

And now the Wolverine

One more from the Epson

And the Wolverine

The scans are this big.

 

[Jonno85uk]

Looks like it's struggling with those highlights (low Dmax most likely) so that's probably the source of noise.

Seems ok for small web use.

 

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It's good for what it is, and a lot better than I expected it to be.

What you see above has been radically downsized for the web, and they started looking weirder as they got smaller. It's only purpose is to be able to see which neg to print, which one has issues to be addressed in the darkroom, etc. Beats making a contact sheet, and makes life on the enlarger much more orderly. When I do a print session, all the negs that will be printed are keepers that were checked out ahead of time.

It also takes only a few seconds to do it's thing. My Nikon and Epson scanners seemed to take forever. Doesn't tie up much desk space either :]