Epson V750, Digital ICE, and film larger than 5x7

[DolphinDan]

Hi all,

I am wondering if my Epson scanner is going bad or not. I have a PERFECTION V750 PRO running the latest version of EpsonScan and SilverFast 8.8 on a MAC PRO with OS X 10.11. I observed what I consider strange behavior while trying to scan a sheet of film larger than 5x7. Namely, EpsonScan grays out the Digital ICE option for Dust Removal when scanning film larger than 5x7 (I am scanning LF 6x7-inches, not cm, EKTAR 100 film).

SilverFast 8.8 also does not offer their version of Infrared Dust Removal, iSRD, when scanning in the Wide Transparency mode (iSRD does show up when scanning in regular Transparency mode). I have not seen anything in their respective manuals or online specifically stating that EpsonScan and SilverFast will not use Digital ICE or iSRD when scanning film larger than 5x7, so that is why I ask this question. What is your experience? Can you scan a sheet of film larger than 5x7 (8x10 or whole plate or whatever) on your Epson V700/750 using Digital ICE or iSRD? Is my scanner going bad (it is 10 years old this year)?

Namaste
Daniel

[DrTang]

were you able to use digital ice before with that size scan?

[DolphinDan]

Unfortunately I cannot recall. For the past few years I have mainly been scanning my negative film at low resolution (300-600DPI) to make a simple print. I did this since most photo labs no longer make contact prints. So I was not concerned with fine tuning my scans. I just got on a kick to start scanning more seriously with my Epson scanner a couple of days ago after watching several YouTube videos on scanning with the Epson V700/750 and SilverFast. And that's when I noticed this issue.

Daniel

[DolphinDan]

Just to follow up: I got a response from LaserSoft (makers of the SilverFast software): the Epson V750 only supports the IR Channel for the smaller Transparency Mode.

Hopefully Epson will add this info to their user guide/manual on their 700/750 and 800/850 scanners...

Namaste
Daniel

[Jim Andrada]

Scan in "narrow" mode twice and stitch???

[DolphinDan]

Thanks for the suggestion Jim.

It turns out that the "narrow" mode covers 5.9", and my 6x7 film is 5.925". So today I tried scanning a sheet of film in the "narrow" mode. The "narrow" mode just covered it, cropping a little bit of the film rebates. Took a while to position the film just right, but I am happy to report that I can scan my 6x7 film using Digital ICE and/or iSRD... just barely!

Namaste
Daniel

[Jim Andrada]

I was hoping you might be in luck - I sort of remembered that my 750 center scanning area was a bit over 5 1/2" but it's not in a place where I could get at it easily to check.

[Doug Fisher]

FWIW, I have found the usable area for the high resolution lens is approximately 225 mm x 145 mm (8.85" x 5.71").

Doug

[Jim Andrada]

Just right for 5 x 7 (or even 5 x 8)

[DolphinDan]

Thanks Doug and Jim.

After I crop out the film rebates, it ends up being closer to 5.7". So all is well.

These shots (all color negs) were slightly off: not bad, just not "money" shots worthy of a drum scan. So while I do not need the perfect scan, I would like to optimize my scanning skills and get as good of a scan from my Epson as possible.

I tried SRDx, the software dust removal tool, on 1 neg and found that the tool missed a lot of dust specks. And that was after going into expert mode in SilverFast Ai Studio and fine tuning the parameters and even highlighting some obvious dust and hair. So I was hoping to use iSRD, and it worked.

On the minus side, my neg drooped a little on 1 side in the BetterScanning holder (I taped it to the ANR Glass on the 4 corners), and the droopy part of the neg produced a (to my eyes) softer scan than the tighter/firmer held part of the neg. So more work to do! Or more tape to apply to all of the film edges.

Namaste
Daniel

[Jim Andrada]

Or...Wet Mount!

I wet mounted everything on my 750. It's quick and easy and great results. Somewhere on this site I once posted a video of wet mounting a 4 x 5 in 23 seconds start to finish. Now that I'm using an IQsmart instead of the Epson I haven't wet mounted for a while, but am thinking of doing so again.