Epson 10000XL and silverfast

[false_Aesthetic]

Hey,

I've tried a few things but haven't been able to get a decently focused scan on a 10000XL.

Wetmounting, anti-newton sandwich, holders, home-made holders, auto-focus, manual focus (starting at 0.0 and going - and + in .1 increments up to ±2.0), focus on a focus target thingy, etc.

Then, for shits and giggles I tried it with Epson scan. Auto and manual as per directions.

The film just doesn't look sharp (bw, e6 and the focus target).

Anyone have a suggestion?

[false_Aesthetic]

Really? No one?

[percepts]

try scan at 1200 dpi. No more. Its really a document scanner and not a film scanner.

[Oren Grad]

That doesn't sound right. The version of the scanner marketed explicitly for photography use ships with a transparency adapter and Silverfast Ai and costs $2500-$3000, so it stands to reason film use wasn't entirely an afterthought, even if it's not going to match a drum scanner.

Afraid I don't have any specific ideas, but it does sound as though a call to Epson technical support is in order.

[percepts]

That doesn't sound right. The version of the scanner marketed explicitly for photography use ships with a transparency adapter and Silverfast Ai and costs $2500-$3000, so it stands to reason film use wasn't entirely an afterthought, even if it's not going to match a drum scanner.

Afraid I don't have any specific ideas, but it does sound as though a call to Epson technical support is in order.

Well its a 6 line ccd which usually means you will only get half claimed optical just like a V700 etc. That puts it at 1200 dpi which is very low for scanning film. Maybe not for big film but it tells you how far apart/big the sensors are. They were designed for graphic arts copying and the tranny adapter is an optional extra and not built in. You could get a tranny adapter for my old Scanjet 4C. Does that make it a film scanner? No, it makes it a document scanner which can scan transparencies too but I wouldn't expect great results from it.

[Oren Grad]

Fair enough, its value as a film scanner is obviously greatest for ULF negatives. But we don't have enough information to know whether the OP's problem is that the scanner is recording only 1200 dpi or that it's recording only 100 dpi. The latter would still bear troubleshooting.

So... false_Aesthetic, can you give a bit more information about how you're judging sharpness and/or a sample image?

[false_Aesthetic]

I'll post a sample scan when I get to work today.

Thanks
TFT