A little help on Epson scanners

[Anupam]

I am trying to decide on an Epson flatbed scanner to buy. But unlike most folks in the threads I could find, I do not want to print from scans, at least for now - the scanning will be done to post 800 pixel wide photos to my website gallery (http://decisivemomentum.blogspot.com/) and flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/primelens/). Maybe 1500 pixels at the most would be my target resolution.

While pretty much any flatbed will be good enough for that size with 4x5 or even MF, 35mm remains a large part of my work (my gallery will give you an idea - largely BW, handheld RF work). As I understand it, my choice in the Epson lineup - if I want a 4x5 transparency unit - is from among the following: v750/700, 4990, 4870, 3200. The v750/700 and 4990 both have trasparency units of 8x10 and a dmax of 4.0, the 4870 has 6"x9" and a dmax of 3.8 while the 3200 has a 4"x9" unit and a dmax of 3.4. I have been using a Nikon Coolscan IV for 35mm so far and so I should just buy the v700 to get something close, I suppose.

But my concern is that perhaps at the small sizes I am talking about differences in quality won't matter at all - that is, the superior results of the v700 would be indistinguishable from those of the 3200. Am I right in this assumption? Please note that I am NOT looking for good enough results - I want the results to be as great as possible, but am concerned that at my sizes really really good and okay would amount to the same thing. I don't want to spend money on the v700 and then throw away all the extra data that it produces. Any advice from people who have used these scanners, especially for 35mm would be much appreciated. If there is no difference in results at my intended sizes, I would rather put the money I have earmarked for the v700 towards a good ballhead.

Many thanks for any help and advice.
-Anupam

[Jon Shiu]

Hi, I have a V700 and had a Epson 3200. For your application, the 3200 should do fine. In my experience there is not a huge difference in scan quality between the two scanners, although I mostly do 4x5 and medium format.

Jon

[Doug Fisher]

The big difference to me would be the dmax ability. The V700 with the moving light source is going to be able to see farther into your dense negatives compared to a 3200 and thus pull out more detail. I would at least go for a 4870 or 4990 because their light source in the scanner lid is definitely a step up.

Doug
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www.Betterscanning.com

[Brian Ellis]

I haven't used the 3200 but in my experience, and also from some reading, the limiting factor with photographs on the web is the resolution of monitors, not the scanner. Almost any scanner that has a light and a motor will do fine for the web because monitors aren't very sharp compared to a good print.

[PBimages]

Sorry to Hi-jack this thread, but it seemed appropriat instead of starting a new thread on a very similar discussion!

I am rather new to the large format scene, but currently I own an Epson 4490, but I do not know if it will allow me to scan in the 4" x 5" Negatives, I have used it for scanning in my Bronica Images so I know it will do 6cm x 6cm negatives with ease and at a suitable quality for my needs!

But I am unsure if I even have a Large Format carrier for it, I presume not as it's not exactly a common format or I presume it's not!

So does anyone have any experiance of using the Epson 4490, do I need to make an adapter to allow me to scan in the negatives to stop the appearance of Newton Rings, or is there a better method?

I did find this discussion from a while back, on preventing newton rings!

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=8537&page=2

[Anupam]

4x5 is a common enough format, but the 4490's transparency unit is just not large enough, AFAIK. You'll have to scan it in sections and then stitch.

[Michael T. Murphy]

I don't know anything about it, but Epson has the V500 Photo refurb on sale at $150. Sounds like a good price:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=63076139

I have the V700. Nice scanner.

A flatbed will always suck for 35mm, but may be enough for teh web. Buy a dedicated 35mm scanner later if you need one, they are more reasonably priced than the medium format ones.

Scan your 4x5 at a decent ppi, even if you are going to downsample. Automate teh processing in Lightroom or Photoshop. Then you will have the scans, save you a lot of work in the future.

Good luck!

[Ash]

From my experience of cheap and 'expensive' scanners (up to A3 size flatbed scanners), you still want to be scanning a higher resolution then downsizing in an editing program.

Avoid stitching at all costs. I have done it on many occasions, resorting to plain old leaving negs un-scanned thanks to the effort involved.

I'd recommend you go for a scanner better than you need, and reduce quality/filesize later.