I brought an epson 4490 a few months back, to scan my 35mm and medium format negatives that I could either home develop (b&w) or get developed externally (c41 and e6).
It was a lot cheaper than the 4990 which on paper at least looks a similar spec, i'm sure there are differences.. for sure one is that the 4990 can scan 5x4" film properly (can it even scan larger sizes?)
The 4490 however only has a height of the lightbox in the lid sufficient for medium format 120/220 film... not tall enough for 5x4", it is thankfully wide enough though, although the film holder for medium format stops at 12cm wide.
I plan to try and scan the large format negs i get with this scanner.. i have no film holder for that size so sadly i fear it wont be very sharp as i believe the scanner is focused at a mm or so off of the glass. I plan to scan it in two steps, or more and then use some stitching software to stitch it together.. has anyone tried this kind of thing before?
Long term i will plan to get a new scanner.. 4990, or V700 i guess are possibles, i would love to get a better one if there are ones out there, available in the UK.. with a budget that isn't astronomical.. i'll keep looking at the scanner comparison but a lot of the names of manufacturers on there are new to me.
Anyways thought i'd ask before i end up struggling with the negs and the scanner.. is it even going to be possible?
Cheers
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