Imacon 848 scans - is this OK ??

[Matus Kalisky]

Hello,

I just got a few scans of my 4x5 negatives and chromes that were made with Imacon 848 at the highest resolution available for 4x5 : 2040 dpi.

The scans are so call raw scans - no adjustement - color or sharpness - as they were delivered. I jsut converted them to sRGB. Maybe an unnecesasry commet - they were really cheap of only ~ $10 each.

Bellow I include scans of one crome (E100VS) and negative (Pro160S) that were taken both at the same time and place and camera/lens settings (apart from the exposure) at fstop around f/22 with my Fujinon 125/5.6 CMW.

My question: - is the quality of the scans concerning the sharpness and nois waht one can expect or it can be done better with this scanner? The negative/chrome look sharp to me with 4x and 8x loupe but more magnification would be needed to decide.

Fist photo shows the whole frame and then there are two cutouts at full resolution.

1) E100VS

[Matus Kalisky]

2) Pro 160 S

[Don Hutton]

Matus

150kB jpegs are not going to give any insight into your scans. You really need to put them up elsewhere at full res and post a link.

[Ted Harris]

Waht Don said. However, I'll go a bi tou ton a limb and note that there should not be as much difference in the color values between the two films ... but that could be the way you shot them as opposed to the scan. Finally, at $10 a pop I would imagine you got a fairly or totally automated process with little or no human intervention for even the most minor adjustments .... just let the software do everything.

[Bruce Watson]

My question: - is the quality of the scans concerning the sharpness and noise what one can expect or it can be done better with this scanner?

IMHO, sharpness and noise are probably as good as this particular scanner is going to deliver. At this price, as Ted says, you are probably getting a mostly automated service with limited operator intervention. But if the scanner is running "flat out" at maximum resolution, an operator can't get any more resolution out of it.

You can get more out of a high-end flatbed scanner, and certainly more out of a drum scanner. But the real question you should ask yourself is: do you need more? If your output is going to be 50 x 40 cm prints from 5x4 film, even the Imacon is probably overkill. On the other hand, if your output is going to be 125 x 100 cm prints, then you might want to consider drum scans. It all depends on what you need.

[gr82bart]

You really need to put them up elsewhere at full res and post a link.

Matus,

I would not do this. I would seek out a couple people you trust here and send them the link via an e-mail or PM. Posting a link in public, if that's what Don meant, will only allow an unscrupulous copyright violator to download your hi-res image, make any PS corrections themselves (your scans are ideal for single image HDR techniques for example), and have a very nice print without you ever knowing it.

And I agree with Ted. At $10 a pop, you probably didn't get the 'best' scan, but I have seen deals, so I could be wrong.

Regards, Art.

[Helen Bach]

Here are some scans and unresampled, unsharpened (ie -120 sharpening setting) crops made with a 949 (or maybe an 848). The 848 and 949 should be the same quality. Pro 160S scanned at 2040 spi.

Image #1 (210 mm Symmar-S)

Crop from the above, converted to B&W

Image #2 (400 mm Apo-Tele-Xenar)

Crop from #2

For cost comparison, I can do about ten or eleven 4x5 16-bit 2040 spi scans an hour on an 848, including basic curves adjustments, and opening them in Photoshop to check the file integrity.

Best,
Helen

[jetcode]

Here are some scans and unresampled, unsharpened (ie -120 sharpening setting) crops made with a 949 (or maybe an 848). The 848 and 949 should be the same quality. Pro 160S scanned at 2040 spi.

Pretty amazing detail in these images, nice presentation too.

For cost comparison, I can do about ten or eleven 4x5 16-bit 2040 spi scans an hour on an 848, including basic curves adjustments, and opening them in Photoshop to check the file integrity.

That's fast! The best I could ever do on a 646 was about 32 images in a 4-5 hour period without PS analysis. Of course the 646 is not exactly a speed demon.

[Stephen Best]

My question: - is the quality of the scans concerning the sharpness and nois waht one can expect or it can be done better with this scanner? The negative/chrome look sharp to me with 4x and 8x loupe but more magnification would be needed to decide.

They've probably got Flex Touch wound all the way up to save time on dust busting. The results you've posted look pretty unremarkable to me. My 848 scans are considered pretty cheap but nowhere near the $10 you're being asked. Shop around.

Here's a "detail" from one of my scans at the same resolution taken from a 3F (raw) file at 100%:

Attachment 6695

[Matus Kalisky]

- Don -

The first photo shows the whole scan, the next two little crops are without resising (== full res) to show the detail and sharpness the scanner delivers. They are rather kindly compressed (level 10 in PS). Would you lear more from full size full res picture of 200 MB?

- Ted -

yes - you are probably right - but the guy does only Imacon 848 and Nikon Coolscan 9000 and Coolscan 5000 scans - he does not offer any other lab work or so. (http://www.digitalcopy24.de).

- Bruce -

you are right - I am not about to print 125 x100 cm as there is nobody to buy it :-) I will limit my print size to max A2 (cca 40 x 60 cm) by now, so the scans are then actuallly downsized to print at this size at 360dpi (thought not that much).

- gr82bart -

Hmmm, what is the Single image HDR technique ?

- Helen -

it seems to me that your scans are cleaner and sharper as well. May I ask about the other settings of the scanner ?

- Stephen -

That's definitely sharper that the hair/dust on my scans (I forgot to mention that I did remove dust before posting the photos and it was not this sharp).

I know nothing about Imacon 848 settings. May I ask you at least about the general settings for the Imacon scanner you use? The guy that makes the scans seems to be quite communicative and next time I may ask him to set some particular settings differently than he does normaly.

thanks