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Thread: SF Bay Area scanner rental

  1. #1

    SF Bay Area scanner rental

    Hi, I'm just getting started with LF but am loving it so far. I have rented equipment so far but am looking to get my own soon. I've been scanning my negatives on an Epson 1680 but the quality has been disappointing and not what I'd expect. I'm wondering if anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area knows of a place I can rent time on a scanner to see what kind of quality another flatbed scanner would give me. I know Keeble and Shuchat rents time but it's $55/hr, minimum two hours, which is a bit pricey at this point.

    Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!
    David

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Sep 1998
    Location
    Loganville , GA
    Posts
    14,409

    Re: SF Bay Area scanner rental

    have you checked with Looking Glass in Berkeley?

  3. #3
    Scott Davis
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Washington DC
    Posts
    1,875

    Re: SF Bay Area scanner rental

    Two other options to contact - RayKo Photo Center and Lightwaves. I don't know what digital imaging facilities RayKo has, but they have extensive wet darkroom options. It's been a year or two since I was in there, but memory has it that they had digital workstations, so I would think they have scanners along with. Call Lightwaves and ask if they have rental facilities. I used them for processing some C41 a while ago, so I wouldn't have to fly home with exposed but unprocessed film. I was not thrilled with their C-41 work but I do remember seeing some beautiful prints on the wall and hearing something about rental workspace. I could be completely up a tree on that one, but worth asking.

  4. #4

    Re: SF Bay Area scanner rental

    K&S only rent out the Imacon. Are you in the South Bay area? In any case, for 4x5 and up, an Epson V700/V750 is much better than the 1680 and stands up quite well even against an Imacon (I have done the test). Send me a PM with your email and I can send you a crop of the high res scan for you to see.

  5. #5

    Re: SF Bay Area scanner rental

    Thanks all, much appreciated!

    Here is a crop of a sky from my scan. 1600dpi, 4x5 Ilford FP4 film...

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Seems super grainy. I don't think the negative is that bad. That's zoomed out 2x.

    I actually took a LF class at Rayko, I should call them. I'll check out Lightwaves as well. (I am on the Peninsula, fwiw).

    I'm pricing out all the equipment I'd need and I can swing a body, lens, holders, chemicals, etc. I have space in the house for a darkroom to develop the film, but not to print it. So going from the developed negative to digital (then print) is my best option. But all this is contingent on finding a good scanning solution.

  6. #6

    Re: SF Bay Area scanner rental

    Don't judge it by pixel peeping. A full image scan at 3200 DPI (which is what I use since the "true" resolution of the V700) prints at 40" across at 300 DPI printing so a 1:1 pixel peeping is misleading.

    Here's a scan from FP4, processed in 777:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    The full pic is here:
    http://richardmanphoto.com/PICS/2014...canned-418.jpg

  7. #7

    Re: SF Bay Area scanner rental

    If you worry about sharpness, that pic is from a ~100 year Cooke. This is from the 300mm Nikkor:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Full pic
    http://richardmanphoto.com/PICS/2014...canned-358.jpg

  8. #8

    Re: SF Bay Area scanner rental

    I typically print at 17x22 without breaking a sweat. When I find a good neg, I will try printing at 24x30 (biggest I can print)

  9. #9

    Re: SF Bay Area scanner rental

    Thanks again. It's not so much that I'm zooming in on the pixels, but that noise is very prevalent even when zoomed out. Here's a portion of the image when zoomed out 8x:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    I am playing with the levels after the preview scan is done...maybe that's a source of noise (if I'm not adjusting them properly)?

  10. #10

    Re: SF Bay Area scanner rental

    My guess is your development :-( Does the exposure look OK? What developer?

    Possibly the 1620 is a lot worse than the V700, but that seems like it's inherent in the pic.

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