Microtek 1800f...how is it with 120 film?

[Jay W]

As mentioned by Brian, you can get rid of the metamerism easy enough by using B&W inks. If you don't like ink prints on matt paper, you can look into making a digital internegative and printing on photographic paper. (I haven't done that, but the concept if very interesting to me.)

Jay Wenner

[tim atherton]

"As mentioned by Brian, you can get rid of the metamerism easy enough by using B&W inks"

Not entirely true - you can still get a certain metamerism with black/grey inks interacting with the paper base and also the optical brightening agents in either the paper or the coating.

(you can often get metamerism with traditional silver prints, but it's rarely of visually "unpleasant" nature, so we tend not to notice it)

In different lighting conditions this can give metamerism towards and unpleasant magenta especially, or alternatively towards a greenish/cyan - even using black/grey pigment inks. This varies a lot from almost none to quite noticeable from paper to paper using the same inkset

[tim atherton]

"If you add QTR (free download at www.harrington .com, pay $50 if you like it and keep it) you won't have any metamerism even with color inks on matte paper (assuming you own a printer that QTR supports, of which there are quite a few). "

QTR is great for making B&W pritns from standard epson printers - I understand many of the curves only use black and grey inks - especially if you chose to print on the warm side (as opposed to the introduction of colour i.e. cyan - inks to make prints on the cooler side or the introduction of yellow etc if you chose "sepia")

[Mike Derr]

I get superb scans of 120 images with the 1800f using Microtek's software. I calibrated the scanner using Kodak's color test targets. I tried Vuescan, but it caused my 1800f to literally knock and eventually shut down (I never got more than 4 scans before this happened, and the results weren't any better than using Microtek's software). I use Photoshop for any minor tweaking. Of course, 4x5s scan well, too.

[Teresa Valenz]

You're going to get different opinions on if the 1800f is suitable for scanning 120 based on expectations that differ. I personally use the 1800f as a combination flatbed reflective print scanner along with the ability to quickly scan large batch scans of 35mm slides instead of a Artixscan 120tf or a 4000tf. The image quality is going to be better with a dedicated slide scanner rather than a general purpose scanner without question. It just comes down to the need that you have for scanning reflective as well as other material. As I said, I have an 1800f and have had nothing but positive results with it in the 14 months that I've been using it.

Teresa