Epson V700 and scanning - where to start?

[Meekyman]

Hi Folks,

Well I have been using a large format camera for just on a year and decided I really have to get to grips with scanning and have bought an Epson V700 as well as betterscanning holder. I am scared though and would love some pointers as to where to start. I have been using B/W as well as colour negative (Portra 160) and transparency (provia 100f/velvia 50). I guess starting with scanning B/W would be easier as there's no colour issues? I am considering using Vuescan and using Nikon Capture NX2/photoshop elements 6 for porocessing. Other than that lots of questions:

1) Epsonscan vs VueScan? One for B/W, other for colour?

2) Profiling for transparencies: does it help? When to assign the profile - before scanning or after scanning? How to assign it?

3) Scanning negatives - the inversion and colour correction, best done in elements/NX2 (if possible?) or a plug-in like colorperfect?

Can anyone send a dummies guide for scanning so that I am not so scared?

Cheers

Graham

[Preston]

Graham,

Ken Lee has a nice scanning tutorial (http://www.kenleegallery.com/html/tech/scanning.php) that will be very helpful in getting started with Epson Scan and Vuescan.

--P

[Doug Fisher]

Yes, Ken Lee's tutorial has helped a lot of people improve their scans and one of the first places to start reading. Here are some others that people have found helpful.

www.scantips.com (the place to start for fundementals - work through all of the tutorials)

http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2009/10/quick-negative-scan-tutorial.html

http://chriscrawfordphoto.com/technical/scanning.php

http://www.photosig.com/articles/1449/article

http://photo-utopia.blogspot.com/2008/02/scanning-b-film.html

http://www.marginalsoftware.com/HowtoScan/tutorial_page_1.htm

http://oomz.net/bw_workflow/

Doug

[Light Guru]

Hi Folks,

Well I have been using a large format camera for just on a year and decided I really have to get to grips with scanning and have bought an Epson V700 as well as betterscanning holder. I am scared though and would love some pointers as to where to start. I have been using B/W as well as colour negative (Portra 160) and transparency (provia 100f/velvia 50). I guess starting with scanning B/W would be easier as there's no colour issues? I am considering using Vuescan and using Nikon Capture NX2/photoshop elements 6 for porocessing. Other than that lots of questions:

1) Epsonscan vs VueScan? One for B/W, other for colour?

2) Profiling for transparencies: does it help? When to assign the profile - before scanning or after scanning? How to assign it?

3) Scanning negatives - the inversion and colour correction, best done in elements/NX2 (if possible?) or a plug-in like colorperfect?

Can anyone send a dummies guide for scanning so that I am not so scared?

Cheers

Graham

1- Epson Scan is fine, but viewscan is also really good.
2- profiling a scanner is really only important if you are gong for perfect color accuracy. If your photos are "art" related perfect color reproduction is probably not critical as artists vision of the scene is more important then color perfect color accuracy. With color negative film your most likely going to get a color cast that will need to be corrected anyway.
3- I would do the color inversion in the scanning software.

You mentioned that you are using photoshop elements. I would recommend moving to the full photoshop. I scan my 4x5s at 4800 dpi and the files from my B&W scans are a little over 800mb. That's with no color information. My final edits files can be 2gb or more. To save a photoshop file that is more then 2gb in size you cannot use the standard psd file format you must use the psb file format, and from what I understand photoshop elements cannot do anything with psb files.

If your working with color images your file sizes will be even bigger. Or you can just scan at a lower resolution, but keep in mind that will limit you on how big you can print your scanned negatives.

[dave_whatever]

Some pointers I've picked up from a few years scanning with a 4990 and with a borrowed V700 before that:

- Vuescan is worth the money, bit of a learning curve but good online documentation, and for my money its better than silverfast or epson scan.
- Regardless of the desired output resolution (typically I go for 1600 for 4x5 and 2400 for 120) I always get Vuescan to scan at max resolution and then automatically downsize to the desired resolution for the output file. None of these epson scanners is capable of resolving to their full stated resolution, the real max is likely to be in the 1800-2200 area, so oversampling this way cuts down on chroma noose in the shadows a lot and saves you having huge bloated files.
- I don't bother with multipass or multisample scanning, I find the benefits are negligible compared to the oversampling benefits, especially given the increase in scan times.
- ICE on these scanners is crap, expect to have to spot scans manually.
- on mono scans, scan in colour then get Vuescan to output the green channel only to the final file. This gives you sharper scans.
- if you've got a BS holder then use it, otherwise you can rig a similar setup with antireflection glass and some spacers. i did this as a temporary measuer but was so impressed with how well it worked I never bothered buying a BS holder.
- The scans will have a lot of low contrast detail that you can't really see straight out of the can. Hence epson scans can take a hell of a lot of sharpening in post before they start to look oversharpened, like WAY more than you would ever apply to a digital shot. This sharpening is best left to whatever photo software you use rather than doing it at the time of the scan.
- If you can get hold of an IT8 target then its worth profiling the scanner for transparency film. This means essentially you won't have to colour correct any slide scans, unless its for creative purposes. This one thing on its own turns scanning into a doddle. Since then scanner has no hardware gain or exposure control available you can slim down the scanning workflow and no any lifting the exposure afterwards in whatever software you usually use. I have my workflow set up where Vuescan scans, applies the calibration profile, then outputs a tif file with no other adjustments. You can then import the file into lightroom, photoshop or aperture just as you would with any digital shot, and work on it without fiddling around at the scanning stage.
- Colour neg? good luck with that.

[photobymike]

My experience with scanning.... get consistent output results with your scanner then work on finding the right film.... i like Kodak Ektar for color.... your scanner will love this film..... then when i use BW i overexpose by a half a stop...... the shadows pop a little better.... your scanner is like printing paper.... you have to adjust to get the good print..... then there is post processing.... do not over sharpen......

just a few observations and opinions

[Meekyman]

Thanks everyone,

I guess I can try Vuescan for free initially with it's trial version and go from there. Profiling makes sense for provia/velvia.

Cheers

Graham

[Ari]

And don't forget to follow the instructions that were included with the Betterscanning holder; details, details! :)
Good luck!

[Heroique]

...If you’ve got a BetterScaning holder then use it, otherwise you can rig a similar setup with antireflection glass and some spacers. I did this as a temporary measure but was so impressed with how well it worked I never bothered buying a BS holder...

This was my experience too. I can say the same about the dry-mounting process. All my images here, every single one, are dry-mounted on a homemade (and height-calibrated) mounting station placed on an Epson 4990’s scanning bed. I usually use six or eight pieces of artist tape (to eliminate the risk of sticky residue that regular tapes can leave behind). Works so well, I’m sticking with this "keep-it-simple" process.

[snay1345]

The first thing I did when I got a V700 was to make sure my negatives were being scanned at the right height.

[Professional]

Here is a compressed file of scans i did of different color films with different cameras all medium formats [120], all scanned by V750, all with Epson Scan software and then little tweak with Photoshop, unsharpened, i just used the Epson default holder for all the scan images, dry mounted, i did scan with 48-bit color at 2400 DPI, so figure out if my scan is good or bad.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/8wtgrarbmbe34r4/Color_Scans.zip

If you want scans of B&W films just let me know.