Scanning 8x10 B&W film

[John Henry]

I want to try my hand at scanning some B&W negatives I have and some I'll shoot in the future, but don't have a scanner for 8x10. I have an older Epson 2450 that I thought I'd try and make a light source for, but looking on the big auction site I see plenty of scanners that I think might work. Oh, and the price of some of those scanners is right in the ballpark of my wallet. I'll mainly be printing sizes 13x19, 16x20 and maybe up to 20x24. I see scanners like the Agfa T1200 and T2500 that seem like they would work just fine. Also, some of the Umax jobs(Powerlook III, Powerlook 1100, 1120) ought to work. I know the Epson V700 and V750 are great, but I don't want to spend that much to just play-around. If I like what I get I might just invest more, but for right now I'm staying "low" budget. John

[Kevin Crisp]

Are you asking for someone to offer to sell you one? Are you asking what people think of the many choices you think would work?

[Zaitz]

Could you do 3 scans for the 8x10 film with your current scanner and blend them back together in Photoshop? Or would the negative get damaged/folded/pinched?

Otherwise you may be able to find an Epson 4990 for cheap. I search craigslist throughout the country and found one in Georgia. They shipped it to me for $90 total. The 4990 works great for my 8x10s.

[John Henry]

Are you asking for someone to offer to sell you one? Are you asking what people think of the many choices you think would work?

Kevin,
No, I want to know what suggestions other folks, who might have been in my shoes at one time, might have. I just want very good result from 8x10 from a modest priced scanner. I know I won't get and don't expect drum scan quality from a $100-250.00 older flatbed scanner. I would like to get close to the quality of 6x7's off my Nikon Coolscan 8000ED if I could. John

[Peter De Smidt]

I doubt that any of the scanners mentioned will give the same quality as 6x7 with a Coolscan. (I used to own an Agfa T2500.) By any chance do you have a dslr?

[John Henry]

Could you do 3 scans for the 8x10 film with your current scanner and blend them back together in Photoshop? Or would the negative get damaged/folded/pinched?

Otherwise you may be able to find an Epson 4990 for cheap. I search craigslist throughout the country and found one in Georgia. They shipped it to me for $90 total. The 4990 works great for my 8x10s.
If I tried a triple scan on the Epson 2450 I might damage the neg as there are some clips that hold the foam panel in and those might ride on the neg. I thought about the Epson 4990, but it's still a little high. Not a lot, just a little. It's not like I need this scanner yesterday, which means I can lay in the weeds and wait for a fair deal to come by, but I do want to kinda know what to look for and what to stay away from. John

[John Henry]

I doubt that any of the scanners mentioned will give the same quality as 6x7 with a Coolscan. (I used to own an Agfa T2500.) By any chance do you have a dslr?

The Agfa Duoscan scanning 8x10 won't come close to a 6x7 off the Nikon? I would have thought it to be close, but I guess I don't know much. Yes, I have several DSLR's Canon, Sigma, and Fuji. John

[Brian C. Miller]

What about a custom holder to keep the lid off the negative and the negative squared to the scanner and light source? It doesn't have to be much.

[Peter De Smidt]

The agfa only does hi-res down a narrow strip in the middle of the platen.

A bunch of us are working on a DIY design using a dslr to scan film in small bits and stitch them together. So far the results are promising. See: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...=84769&page=11 Posts #105 and #108.

See also Rick's test at: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...=84769&page=17 post #170.
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[John Henry]

Could you do 3 scans for the 8x10 film with your current scanner and blend them back together in Photoshop? Or would the negative get damaged/folded/pinched?

Otherwise you may be able to find an Epson 4990 for cheap. I search craigslist throughout the country and found one in Georgia. They shipped it to me for $90 total. The 4990 works great for my 8x10s.

Didn't see you got a 4990 for $90.00!!!!! Now that's in my price range for a darn good scanner. John

[John Henry]

The agfa only does hi-res down a narrow strip in the middle of the platen.

A bunch of us are working on a DIY design using a dslr to scan film in small bits and stitch them together. So far the results are promising. See: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...=84769&page=11 Posts #105 and #108.

See also Rick's test at: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...=84769&page=17 post #170.
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Sounds interesting, but I couldn't open the links for some odd reason. I'll try to search it out after dinner. Thanks! John

[Peter De Smidt]

Hm. Sorry about that. I'll try again:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=84769&page=11

[John Henry]

Hm. Sorry about that. I'll try again:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=84769&page=11

Pete,
I'm impressed! This looks really good and I pretty much have everything I need. John

[Peter De Smidt]

That's great, John. Give it a try and let us know how well it works for you.

[Jim Noel]

My Microtek i900 does a great job. The i1800 does a superior job.
I have not seen an Epson which would hold a candle to either one.

[John Henry]

My Microtek i900 does a great job. The i1800 does a superior job.
I have not seen an Epson which would hold a candle to either one.

I had read that a "good" Microtek scanner can do some amazing things, but never ever thought I'd own or buy one. Well, I thought wrong! I contacted a friend that lives about 125mi away and ask him to be on the look out for a scanner that I could use for scanning some of my 8x10 film with. I figured he might have a lead on something since he's a camera/photo nut too. He emailed me a couple of days ago and said he had a Epson 1600 scanner he would give me, but it might need a little work. I said great and it's worth a try fixing it. He just emailed me again this morning and said he was giving me the Epson 1600 and he had a "like new" Artiscan M1 that he almost never used and I can have that one also. I'm still in shock, but extremely happy. Oh, he also said he'd drop it off at the middle of next week so I don't even have to go get it. You can't beat that with a stick! I'm sure I'll be back here getting some tips on how to run the thing. John:) :) :)

[Peter De Smidt]

Nice score, John!

[John Henry]

Nice score, John!

Yes, I certainly wasn't looking to get by this cheap. I suppose I should take him out for a bite to eat when he gets here. I've done a few favors for him so I think this might be just a little pay-back. Still darn nice of him and I really appreciate it. John

[Findingmyway4ever]

My Microtek i900 does a great job. The i1800 does a superior job.
I have not seen an Epson which would hold a candle to either one.

Not something I needed to hear...LOL:))!!! I donated my i1800 because it was sitting around too long with me thinking along the lines of the "pros" on this forum saying it's either drum or high end flatbed, or go home. I was thinking, I don't care to have a proofing scanner since I like KISS principle and do the scan, be done with it sort of thing.

I was going to say for the OP to send the film to the place across the boarder (West Coast?). It has been a long time, but no, it's not a scan, but what they do is use an enlarger to make very beautiful 16X20's at a very reasonable price. The person that referred me said the quality was the best he has seen from anything and I know that this same place does all sorts of high end drum-enlarging-even graphic arts, etc. stuff, but the main front man in charge knows his stuff when it comes to this very important area-printing, where, well, if 16X20 is all the OP needed for some of his negs, would be well worth seeking out.