Hello,

I've been reading through the archives but couldn't really come up with concrete answers to some of my questions. I have an Epson 4990 which I'm trying to use for large prints (30x40 being the largest) from 4x5 negatives/trannies. So my questions are:

1) Has anyone made 30x40 prints from this scanner? Some people in this forum believe that 16x20 is the largest acceptable print size. I'm wondering if anyone has made prints that are larger than that.

2) Is there any reason to scan above 3200dpi? or above 2700dpi? I guess what I'm asking here is, will a 4800dpi scan result in more detail/better quality than, let's say, a 2700dpi scan upsized to 4800? What's the 'optimal' resolution that I should be scanning at for the least noise and the most detail?

3) Does Silverfast's multisampling option actually work? I haven't purchased the Ai version yet (still using SE), but if noise is actually reduced by multisampling, I'll be willing to buy the professional version to make use of this feature.

4) Digital ICE - does it degrade image quality? I've heard this rumor somewhere, I'm not sure if it's true. I usually fix hairs, dust, scratches etc. in Photoshop, but if ICE will take care of it without degrading image quality, I should probably use it.

5) And finally, what's the best way to improve sharpness? I usually use USM or Focalblade in Photoshop after I scan. Since this scanner has fixed focus, there isn't really anything I can do physically to improve sharpness. Or is there? Aside from laying the film flat of course.

Any other tips or suggestions are highly appreciated.