Scanners

[Lenny Eiger]

For the drum scanning, wouldn't the learning curve be rather steep for someone new to it? Given the prices they are tempting, but I am not sure if I can get the knowledge required to run it easily enough!

I don't think so. It's true there aren't any books I would point someone to, however, I do have a youtube video of how to mount - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APSzB0nX5Vo

The other part is how to set up a scan. This is just a matter of spreading out tones. Spend an hour with someone who knows what they are doing and you'll have it… It's really not hard.

Lenny

[Heroique]

The V750 is pretty good, there's a learning curve, and agree 4x5's holders are decently nice, but betterscanning holders and ANR glass for 120 definitely.

I do wish I could easily scan the whole image though including the frame lines, it's just not as sharp as the holders, more chance of Newton Rings etc if put right on the glass

Often I like the outer film edges too.

To get them, you can always build a homemade mounting station – easy and affordable to do!

Simply use a piece of store-bought, anti-glare glass (say 8x10, etched on one side), and use six or eight pieces of artist’s tape to tape your film to the etched surface. This eliminates Newton rings. You’d flip the glass so the film faces the scanner bed. You can use various things to support and adjust the height of the glass above the bed – for example, post-it note pads. The ideal height is different from scanner to scanner, typically in the realm of 2 or 3mm, but conveniently, the scanner lens provides a healthy amount of DOF.

You might even like it better than the Epson holders, as I do.

[StoneNYC]

Often I like the outer film edges too.

To get them, you can always build a homemade mounting station – easy and affordable to do!

Simply use a piece of store-bought, anti-glare glass (say 8x10, etched on one side), and use six or eight pieces of artist’s tape to tape your film to the etched surface. This eliminates Newton rings. You’d flip the glass so the film faces the scanner bed. You can use various things to support and adjust the height of the glass above the bed – for example, post-it note pads. The ideal height is different from scanner to scanner, typically in the realm of 2 or 3mm, but conveniently, the scanner lens provides a healthy amount of DOF.

You might even like it better than the Epson holders, as I do.

So I can just wet mount it ok the Epson wet mounting glass then? I was trying to avoid wet mounting :/

[Heroique]

So I can just wet mount it ok the Epson wet mounting glass then? I was trying to avoid wet mounting :/

The tape method above is a dry mounting process.

No wetness involved.

(But you can wet mount on a homemade station too.)

[Peter De Smidt]

Heroique didn't say anything about wet-mounting. I did what he suggests for a couple of years. It worked fine. You can certainly wet-mount if you want to, but it's not required. If you shoot a lot of high density slides, say Velvia 50, then a drum scanner would be a much better option because of their greater dynamic range.

Using high resolution chrome-on-glass test targets, Epson scanners max out at about 2400 spi. My dslr scanner maxes out with my D600 at 2900 spi in one direction and 3700 spi in the other with a Rodagon D f4 lens at 1x magnification. Daniel Moore's version with a D800e gets 3700 spi in both directions. My Cezanne tops out at 5800 spi. None of that's to say that resolution is the only thing that matters.

[Regular Rod]

Often I like the outer film edges too.

To get them, you can always build a homemade mounting station – easy and affordable to do!

Simply use a piece of store-bought, anti-glare glass (say 8x10, etched on one side), and use six or eight pieces of artist’s tape to tape your film to the etched surface. This eliminates Newton rings. You’d flip the glass so the film faces the scanner bed. You can use various things to support and adjust the height of the glass above the bed – for example, post-it note pads. The ideal height is different from scanner to scanner, typically in the realm of 2 or 3mm, but conveniently, the scanner lens provides a healthy amount of DOF.

You might even like it better than the Epson holders, as I do.

The snag is that for 8x10 the negative or transparency has to be on the platen glass. The V700 and V750 don't scan 8x10 in any other way. 5x7 is about the biggest that they can scan with the film mounted on or in a holder spaced up from the platen glass.

RR

[analoguey]

I don't think so. It's true there aren't any books I would point someone to, however, I do have a youtube video of how to mount - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APSzB0nX5Vo

The other part is how to set up a scan. This is just a matter of spreading out tones. Spend an hour with someone who knows what they are doing and you'll have it… It's really not hard.

Lenny

Thanks, I'll look up the video.
The second part is a bit tough. The film market is almost non-existent, and scanners even more scarce out here. (I'm looking at importing a drum scanner -not really sure how wise that is)

[analoguey]

Heroique didn't say anything about wet-mounting. I did what he suggests for a couple of years. It worked fine. You can certainly wet-mount if you want to, but it's not required. If you shoot a lot of high density slides, say Velvia 50, then a drum scanner would be a much better option because of their greater dynamic range.

Using high resolution chrome-on-glass test targets, Epson scanners max out at about 2400 spi. My dslr scanner maxes out with my D600 at 2900 spi in one direction and 3700 spi in the other with a Rodagon D f4 lens at 1x magnification. Daniel Moore's version with a D800e gets 3700 spi in both directions. My Cezanne tops out at 5800 spi. None of that's to say that resolution is the only thing that matters.

I know part of your build is documented here. Is the scanning process documented too?

[Heroique]

The snag is that for 8x10 the negative or transparency has to be on the platen glass. The V700 and V750 don't scan 8x10 in any other way. 5x7 is about the biggest that they can scan with the film mounted on or in a holder spaced up from the platen glass.

No snag for the OP who's scanning 4x5 film – not 5x7 or 8x10.

-----
However, you've raised an important point that not every user, or prospective purchaser, knows about the V700/V750 and 8x10 film, so how about a few more tangential comments:

Selecting “Film (w/ Film Area Guide)” activates the lower resolution lens. The so-called “film area guide” is a cheap piece of plastic Epson wants you to lay on the glass, so you can position the negative on the glass in the right place. You must select this option for 8x10 film – that is, unless you want to scan just a portion of it with the higher resolution lens (below).

Selecting “Film (w/ Film Holder)” activates the higher resolution (SHR) lens, which, just as RR suggests, scans a smaller area than 8x10. (BTW, I understand this lens scans at a wider aperture than the lower resolution lens.) So you can indeed scan 8x10 film with a homemade mounting station, just not the entire 8x10 image area. This might be the way to go under some circumstances.

[pasiasty]

Selecting “Film (w/ Film Area Guide)” activates the lower resolution lens. The so-called “film area guide” is a cheap piece of plastic Epson wants you to lay on the glass, so you can position the negative on the glass in the right place. You must select this option for 8x10 film – that is, unless you want to scan just a portion of it with the higher resolution lens (below).

It is like that, but I personally would not stress on 'cheap, plastic, low-resolution'. At 1200 dpi you can print 32x40", with all details visible if one inspect the image with one's nose stuck into it; practically - as much as twice larger. If you have a superior, modern lens giving much over 50 lpm on 8x10, and you need even bigger, fine-detailed printouts - well, this cheap flat-bed is worth perhaps as low, as your lens-caps; you should consider something that matches your lens value.