XPan Scans

[rnwhalley]

I am looking for help in scanning my XPan slides (and a few B&W negs). Currently I use an Epson V700 (can't believe I sold a Minolta Scan Elite 5400 to buy the V700 this) with the better scanning holder and Vuscansoftware. As you can image the scans are soft and it's hard to get detail from the shadows.

What I need is a cheap solution to getting better scans. My budget won't run to an Imacon nor the Nikon 9000 so what can I do?

My current line of thinking is to get an old Minolta or Nikon 35mm scanner and then cut out the bars (film supports) from the film carrier. I think I could then use Vuescan to select my XPan slide without the film support bars getting in the way. Does anyone have a view if this is likely to work or not?

Second question, does anyone have a view about how results from the cheap Plustek 7300 film scanners would compare to the Epson v700? I might consider getting one of these to experiment with.

Thanks
Robin

 

[donbga]

What I need is a cheap solution to getting better scans.

Mutually exclusive goals, IMO, if you really need top quality scans. Why not sell the V700 and find another Minolta. The Plusteks are poor performers in the shadows.

Don Bryant

 

[donbga]

I am looking for help in scanning my XPan slides (and a few B&W negs). Currently I use an Epson V700 (can't believe I sold a Minolta Scan Elite 5400 to buy the V700 this) with the better scanning holder and Vuscansoftware. As you can image the scans are soft and it's hard to get detail from the shadows.

What I need is a cheap solution to getting better scans. My budget won't run to an Imacon nor the Nikon 9000 so what can I do?

My current line of thinking is to get an old Minolta or Nikon 35mm scanner and then cut out the bars (film supports) from the film carrier. I think I could then use Vuescan to select my XPan slide without the film support bars getting in the way. Does anyone have a view if this is likely to work or not?

Second question, does anyone have a view about how results from the cheap Plustek 7300 film scanners would compare to the Epson v700? I might consider getting one of these to experiment with.

Thanks
Robin

BTW, Your link is broken.

Don Bryant

 

[rnwhalley]

Thanks for the advice. The minolta was much better than the V700 but not sure if cutting up the film carrier will let me scan the XPan slides. I don't shoot very much 35mm other than XPan and would hang on to the V700 for my MF scans.

Thanks for pointing out about my link (fixed now)

 

[bobwysiwyg]

In browsing your site, on this page http://www.michael-mccarthy.com/homeframe.html I found all the image links in the second row point to the last photo on the right in the first row. Just and FYI.

 

[GREGGAN]

Article How to scan Xpan
xpan-scanning with a 35mm film scanner