Epson 4990 or 700/750 ??

[Neil Genower]

I have just aquired a Wista SP. I have an Epson 4990 scanner but feel the 700/750 is quite a bit better. I'm not fanatical about quality but I will want to enlarge pictures to a maximum of 100cm x 70cm. Are either of these scanners able to scan 5x4 to achieve
that size (with acceptable quality) ??
thanks. Neil

[Armin Seeholzer]

Hi
There are people here they say no way!
But if you are very good in scanning und PS you would come very close to thad size, if you are not overcritically, you should still get a better quality then a printed poster!
But I would work with a 8x10 neg for thad size, then it could work!
But it depends on your skills and if you have also a tack sharp neg or slide!

If you really want pictures with high quality you have to get a drumscan for it!
Good luck, Armin Seeholzer

[Ted Harris]

What Armin says, underscoring his statement: " if you are not overcritically, you should still get a better quality then a printed poster!" meaning that, at that size your print will not sand up to close viewing. For a print to look sharp at arm's length or a bit further you can go to 11x14, some will say 16x20 but for me that is pushing the envelope too far. Finally, the tack sharp negative or transparency is a must ... that means tack sharp when viewed with a loupe on a light table!

As for improvements with the 700/750, you will get the most with the 750 but, while absolutely noticable, it is not a huge improvement over what you get with the 4990. You might want to think about saving the $750 for high end scans of your best.

[Walter Calahan]

Neil

Spend the money, it helps the economy. Grin.

Your 4990 is a great machine.

[Ron Marshall]

I concur with 11x14 or so being about the limit for prints from 4x5 scans on a consumer grade scanner, if you want it critically sharp.