Latest scanner reviews

[Ted Harris]

I just received my digital copy of the latest issue of MacWorld and it contains a review of 'midrange scanners.' The reviewers were not overjoyed with the transparancy performance of the Epson 4870. They were using 35mm and not LF chromes though. I reserve all comments an djudgement since I have no experience with ANY of the scanners reviewed but am in the market for a new scanner hence my interest in this review.



I would love to hear comments from those who use a Mac and any of the scanners reviewed after they hacve read the article.



Thanks

[Kirk Gittings]

I bought my 4870 to scan large and medium format. I had heard bad reports of using it for 35mm. Last week I had to scan some 35mm for a client to print 8x10's from velvia 100f and was very pleasently surprised by the results.

[Leonard Evens]

I don't see any significant reason why using a scanner with a Mac would be any different from using it with a PC.

From the reports so far, it appears that the Epson 4870 is still not up to the performance of comparable priced 35 mm film scanners, such as the Minolta SD IV. But it seems a good choice for the price for medium (particularly 6 x 7 or 6 x 9) and large (4 x 5) format. Roger Clark, whose opinion I respect, says he has gotten scans with it comparable to drum scans. Unfortunately, there may be some variation in the quality of individual units and of course the quality of the human scanner also plays a role.

[Lloyd Lim]

There is no difference in using a Mac or PC, I have used both with my 4870 and I've gotten comparable scans from both. However, I have managed to get 3200dpi 48bit scans from 4x5 film using the Mac, but only 2400 using the PC. (This seems to be more a software issue than anything else)

I agree, this is not the best scanner as compared to a dedicated film scanner, however, it is good enough to get 4x-6x enlargements for me.

[Eric Woodbury]

This is very timely. I'm about to get an Epson 4870, but I can't figure out whether I should get the "PRO" or not. I have no other scanners. Never used a scanner. I want to be able to archive some family photos (all black and white), scan some negatives (35mm to 5x7 --BW), and make some printing masks for the larger negatives (BW). It will see very little color work and some are saying that the extra cost of the PRO version is not worth it and that there are some problems using it with BW.

Can anyone sort this out for me?

Thanks

[Ted Harris]

Eric,



The difference is all in the software. IMHO definitely NOT worth it. The biggest ticket item is Silverfast Scanning software. I've used, don't like it, won't use it again. Some swae by it but I think you will find many more prrefer Ed Hamrick's VueScan which you can buy for 80 bucks with free upgrades forever and it works wit most scanners on the market (including the 4870). Silverfast is hardwre specific.