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Thread: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

  1. #31

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    Feb 2005
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    2,955

    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    David, my 4990 came with Silverfast Ai, which after a few practice scans I found simple to use and fairly easy to get a good scan with. I mostly scan b/w and don't print larger than 11x14, so the 4990 is fine. Anything larger I will rent time on an Imacon or send out for drum.

  2. #32

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    Nov 2006
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    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Marshall View Post
    David, my 4990 came with Silverfast Ai, which after a few practice scans I found simple to use and fairly easy to get a good scan with. I mostly scan b/w and don't print larger than 11x14, so the 4990 is fine. Anything larger I will rent time on an Imacon or send out for drum.
    I find that with proper sharpening I can print up to 6 times enlargement (i.e. 24x30) with the 4990 or basically a 2400 dpi scan printed at 360 dpi without much loss in print quality. Sharpening with multiple passes at various pixel widths and strengths depending on the image content using PS smart sharpening filter. The negative must be bang on focus and the defraction of f45 and smaller will probably not work out well. It takes quite a bit of sharpening and has to be done with care. No predefined sharpening workflow will do. You must adjust sharpening for each image and may require multiple printing attempts to get just right, but it can be done.

  3. #33

    Join Date
    May 2009
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    20

    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    Answer to QT Luong


    Solution could be:
    Imacon with rodenstock lens is a point for scanning.
    The more you go out of center of the scan line (direction borders) the more the lens point is distant (line is horizontal).
    Hence the mask of all formats is always longitudinal (panoramas) to avoid decentration.
    But on the borders (left & right) with their greater distance you are leaving the DOF of rodenstock (or you must produce an Imacon with some little curvature in the third dimension like an "u" and insert the film not plan but little u. (because the DOF is just -under 1 mm thickness- leaved).

  4. #34

    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    Thank you for resurecting this thread from 2007 40 Moses. I'm very interested in curvature in the third dimension so please keep us posted.

  5. #35

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    May 2009
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    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    I am not sure if my guess is right.

    But when it is right, it exist absolut no remedies !
    Because the imacon rolls the film just like a drum; hence you could not curb the horizontal line on the drum like a little "u" in the direction of right-lift.
    Ths would distort the film (it would be mechanically impossible).

    Anther guess could be:
    with the distance of rodenstock short or long , the DOF is different and hence...
    We must know the design of lens, motion of lens and photo element to understand the very cause.

  6. #36

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    May 2009
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    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    It is the same problem as flatness:
    when the film is not flat on every scanner you have immeditely bad results. 1mm is sufficient.
    This avoids the Imacon and is his principle.
    But because the rodenstock is fixed during a scan (a point), you have the mentioned DOF problem with extended formats.

  7. #37

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    Oct 2005
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    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    The best way to get rid of dust is to wet mount. For 4x5 you can't beat the Howtek 4500. I'm with Bruce Watson on this one... As an Aztek fellow pointed out to me recently, the drum scanner knows where it is within about 1-2 microns. With flatbeds, this number is about 30. It's the difference between starting with a blurry image and sharpening it or starting with a sharper image.

    Of course, my real problem with Imacons has to do with the claims they made about some of their specs, huge dynamic range, etc. They aren't the only ones that play this game, use number of pixels as resolution and call it optical resolution, etc.

    Howtek's go for less than 5K these days. Can't beat it with a stick. You get 20,000 good pixels off a 4x5, that's enough to do just about anything (a 40 inch print at 500 dpi, etc.)

    Lenny
    EigerStudios
    Museum Quality Drum Scanning and Printing

  8. #38

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    May 2006
    Location
    Coimbra, Portugal
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    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    I own an Epson 4990, and last week I did several scans with one Imacon 848 and a Kodak iQSmart3. I was thinking buying the Hasselblad X5 because of promotional conditions valid until May, 31, 2009. My conclusion is that iQSmart3 scans excels 848 and 4990 ones. And 848 excels 4990 too.
    I don't know if Howtek sells its scanner in Europe, it would be interesting compare it with the IQSmart3.

  9. #39

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    Sep 2005
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    Germany, Aalen
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    849

    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    Well just my two cents on this topic - some time ago I asked the lab to san for me a 35mm slide with both Imacon 848 and Epson 4990. The difference was so large and obvious that I decided not to get a cheap flat-bed scanner only if the time would bring a significant improvement (well, that did not happen up to now). In the mean time I moved and changed the lab (the old one closed ) and the guy has Imacon X5 - the resolution is the same, but the noise is much less. I had a drum scan (OK, it was a "dry scan", but no Newton rings appeared) done elsewhere but the slight difference (mostly in shadows) would not justify the cost difference for me (hobby only) now.

    I may post the results if interested (4990 - v - 848).
    Matus

  10. #40

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    Apr 2009
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    Re: Imacon 949 vs. Epson 4990

    I second your feelings about the Imacon. A great piece of kit!

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