Scanning

[radchad]

Hey everyone,
I am looking to purchase a film scanner. The most important thing is that it has the best 35mm scanning. I would like to have 4x5 scanning, but not at the cost of losing 35mm quality. I have an HP G4050 and it is horrible, I am looking at the Nikon Coolscan V. I have no idea what dpi is exactly, but i want the best image possible for 35mm. Time is not a huge deal, but i don't want it to take an hour. And dust, the HP has dust inside and it is a problem.
Thanks,
Chad Webb
www.chadwebbphotography.com

[Ron Marshall]

None of the consumer flatbeds will do as well as the Coolscan with 35mm. So if you want to do both you will need two scanners or will have to get someone to scan 35mm for you. There are lots of advertisements on the web for this at fair prices.

[Daniel_Buck]

yea, dedicated 35mm film scanners seem to do a better job than flat bed scanners.

[Peter De Smidt]

I have a Coolscan V. It works well, although it's better with fine-grained film than with larger grained film. My Canon 9950F flatbed does better with grainy film. In any case, neither of these options would be the best possible. That would be one of the small aperture drum scanners like an Aztek Premier.

[ignatiusjk]

I just purchased an Epson V700 scanner and it works great. It will set you back around $450-500, and I'm new to the digital age and I'm getting use to it

[Nathan Potter]

I do 35 mm to 8X10 film transparencies and have always printed on Ilfochrome. Recently I've transitioned to digital processing (scanning film, using Photoshop and printing). I'm just getting into it so don't have much experience yet. But I purchased a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ED about 3 months ago as a starter scanner for the 35 mm. stuff so I could start practicing. Ran a Toppan chrome resolution mask thru it a few weeks ago and found an initial resolution of about 3500 to 3700 spi - pretty darn good I thought. As people have mentioned this can produce a critically sharp 11 X 14 print at close up inspection but can't compare to my Ilfo prints at 16 X 20 size and above. There are ocassionally software problems with the Nikon 5000 though (Mine just stopped working - the Mac G4 stopped recognizing the scanner for some reason).

For 4X5 size film you need to buy a larger scanner such as V 750 or Artix M1 which will be suitable for doing about 16 X 20 in high quality. If you don't have very many 4X5 scans to do send them out to a quality scan house but watch out for the file sizes as they can get very large when using high rez scanners.

Nate Potter

[LargeFormatShooter]

I have no idea what dpi is exactly, but i want the best image possible for 35mm. Time is not a huge deal, but i don't want it to take an hour.

Thanks,
Chad Webb
www.chadwebbphotography.com

Mr RadChad,

It not sound like you are very RAD if you do not do some own homework on scanning.

You "have no idea what dpi is exctly....???"

You need do some studying on you own!!!

Many goot beginners books on scanning.

[Dave Jeffery]

Originally Posted by Ted Harris
To aviod confusing the masses the manufacturers and many writers use the term DPI to refer to all manner of digital resolution.

To be correct:Scanning resolution is measured in SPI = samples per inch
Screen resolution is measured in PPI = pixels per inch
Print resolution is measured in DPI = dots per inch

[Michael N. Meyer]

Nathan- the NikonScan software is buggy. If there is anything else attached to your computer via firewire it won't see the scanner, at least with Leopard or Tiger as the OS. Try disconnecting other peripherals and see if that allows your G4 to recognize the scanner.