Epson V750 error message

[Joe O'Hara]

Attempting to scan 4x5 color positive film using Epson Scan at 48 bpp, 2400 ppi, results in an error message that reads "Selected area is too large for this resolution...(etc)". An Epson support person today eventually conceded that this is an (apparently undocumented) issue with those scanning options. Has anyone else ever run into this? My scanner is connected to an IMac with 8 GB memory so that should not be an issue. Note, if I change the resolution to 1200 ppi or the color depth to 24-bits, there is no problem. FWIW, I did ask him to send a query to Epson engineering in Japan, but somehow I'm not so sure the message will get through. Does anyone know of a workaround or solution? (I'm using version 3.81 of the Epson driver SW.)

[Tom Monego]

I always scan at higher bit depths, I have scanned 4x5 at 2000ppi and at times this was using a Lenovo laptop and 1 gb of memory. With a V700 not a V750, I had one of the first V700 in the US, long story, and I have updated the sw once or twice but I am sure I don't have the latest. I just bought a V700 for home I could try a 4x5 on that and report back.
OK just did it, on a Dell with a low end quad 4 processor 8 gigs of RAM, Win 7, a 4x5 with 16 bit color, 2400ppi no problems 373mb file.

[jb7]

I've tried to make a similar scan-
But the output file size is limited to around 2Gb-
So a 48 bit scan at 8x10 isn't possible.

[Joe O'Hara]

Thanks much for your replies. This is very strange, especially since the Epson rep seemed to concede that this was expected behavior. The only difference I see here is that I am using a Mac instead of a PC. I think I'll try this with my Lenovo laptop and see if it happens then.

[Doug Fisher]

It sounds like you are exceeding the limitations (there have been other posts here about this before), but just to be sure, you have set your output size to original, right? Additionally, you are using the stand alone EpsonScan program, not the plug-in for Photoshop and you have closed all other running programs, right?

Doug
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www.BetterScanning.com

[Nathan Potter]

Joe, I think I have run into the same problem a few months ago with a Mac G5, 8 GB Ram. I'll try this again when I get a chance. I'm sure this would not be possible using 8X10 but you're using 4X5 - right?

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[douglas gove]

Hi...I'm a bit confused as to file sizes...A 4X5 transparency scan @2400, 48 bit, no sharpening and Ice turned off creates a file size of about 40MB with my Epson 750...Is this what others are getting?...Thanks...Doug

[Joe O'Hara]

Thanks again for the replies. To answer the questions:

Nathan, yes, I am scanning 4x5 not 8x10.

Doug, yes, the output size is set to "original" and I am using Epson Scan. I can't imagine that I need to shut down all the other applications on the Mac to do this. The Mac has 8 GB of RAM. Besides, the error comes from Epson Scan, not the Mac OS.

Douglas Gove, I would expect a file size closer to
4*5*2400^2*6 = 691.2 MB, unless it gets compressed somehow when output as a TIFF. (The factor of 6 comes from 48bpp = 6 bytes per pixel.) If the output file size is limited to 2 GB, I shouldn't be able to scan at 2400 ppi and 24 bpp (4*5*2400^2*24 = 2.765 Gb or 345.6 MB), but I do that routinely. What version of Epson Scan are you using? (BTW sharpening is off and I do not use ICE.)

[Ken Lee]

Joe is right.

At 2400 spi, each square inch gets 2400x2400 pixels, or 5.76 Megapixels.

4x5: 20 x 5.76 = 115.2 MegaPixels
5x7: 35 x 5.76 = 201.6 MegaPixels
8x10:80 x 5.76 = 460.8 MegaPixels

(This is one reason some amateurs don't get excited about a $30,000 digital back which gives 80 megapixels)

For 48-bit color, each pixel has 3 colors, at 16 bits each. 16 bits is 2 bytes. So each pixel requires 6 bytes.

So in 48-bit color, each square inch requires 6 x 5.76 megabytes. That's 34.56 MB per square inch.

4x5: 20 square inches x 34.56 MB per inch = 691.2 MB
5x7: 35 square inches x 34.56 MB per inch= 1,209.6 MB, or 1.209 GB
8x10: 80 square inches x 34.56 MB per inch = 2,764.8 MB or 2.7 GB

Scanning in only 24-bit color, the numbers are cut to 1/2.

Scanning in B&W at 16 bits per channel, the numbers are cut to 1/3.

At only 8 bits per channel, the numbers are cut to 1/6.

[Joe O'Hara]

Thanks, Ken.

I tried loading the Epson Scan drivers on my Windows XP laptop and got an ominous warning message from Windows during the process. Charging ahead with it anyway, Epson Scan wasn't able to communicate with the scanner, so I gave it up as a bad job.
I'm not interested in going down the rathole of Windows install problems.

I will await hearing from Epson Japan about this, or the opportunity to corner an Epson specialist at a trade show, whichever comes first.

Any smart ideas from the community would be gratefully accepted.