SF Bay Area scanner rental

[donteatmemountainlion]

Hi, I'm just getting started with LF but am loving it so far. I have rented equipment so far but am looking to get my own soon. I've been scanning my negatives on an Epson 1680 but the quality has been disappointing and not what I'd expect. I'm wondering if anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area knows of a place I can rent time on a scanner to see what kind of quality another flatbed scanner would give me. I know Keeble and Shuchat rents time but it's $55/hr, minimum two hours, which is a bit pricey at this point.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!
David

[Bob Salomon]

have you checked with Looking Glass in Berkeley?

[Scott Davis]

Two other options to contact - RayKo Photo Center and Lightwaves. I don't know what digital imaging facilities RayKo has, but they have extensive wet darkroom options. It's been a year or two since I was in there, but memory has it that they had digital workstations, so I would think they have scanners along with. Call Lightwaves and ask if they have rental facilities. I used them for processing some C41 a while ago, so I wouldn't have to fly home with exposed but unprocessed film. I was not thrilled with their C-41 work but I do remember seeing some beautiful prints on the wall and hearing something about rental workspace. I could be completely up a tree on that one, but worth asking.

[richardman]

K&S only rent out the Imacon. Are you in the South Bay area? In any case, for 4x5 and up, an Epson V700/V750 is much better than the 1680 and stands up quite well even against an Imacon (I have done the test). Send me a PM with your email and I can send you a crop of the high res scan for you to see.

[donteatmemountainlion]

Thanks all, much appreciated!

Here is a crop of a sky from my scan. 1600dpi, 4x5 Ilford FP4 film...

119063

Seems super grainy. I don't think the negative is that bad. That's zoomed out 2x.

I actually took a LF class at Rayko, I should call them. I'll check out Lightwaves as well. (I am on the Peninsula, fwiw).

I'm pricing out all the equipment I'd need and I can swing a body, lens, holders, chemicals, etc. I have space in the house for a darkroom to develop the film, but not to print it. So going from the developed negative to digital (then print) is my best option. But all this is contingent on finding a good scanning solution.

[richardman]

Don't judge it by pixel peeping. A full image scan at 3200 DPI (which is what I use since the "true" resolution of the V700) prints at 40" across at 300 DPI printing so a 1:1 pixel peeping is misleading.

Here's a scan from FP4, processed in 777:

119064

The full pic is here:
http://richardmanphoto.com/PICS/20140727-Scanned-418.jpg

[richardman]

If you worry about sharpness, that pic is from a ~100 year Cooke. This is from the 300mm Nikkor:
119065

Full pic
http://richardmanphoto.com/PICS/20140526-Scanned-358.jpg

[richardman]

I typically print at 17x22 without breaking a sweat. When I find a good neg, I will try printing at 24x30 (biggest I can print)

[donteatmemountainlion]

Thanks again. It's not so much that I'm zooming in on the pixels, but that noise is very prevalent even when zoomed out. Here's a portion of the image when zoomed out 8x:

119066

I am playing with the levels after the preview scan is done...maybe that's a source of noise (if I'm not adjusting them properly)?

[richardman]

My guess is your development :-( Does the exposure look OK? What developer?

Possibly the 1620 is a lot worse than the V700, but that seems like it's inherent in the pic.

[richardman]

Anyway, my point is that if you process your film properly and other things being right, then a V700/V750 will give you excellent scans to work with and print. I would not hesitate to recommend going that route at all. You can spend a lot more money for an Imacon and the like, but the incremental improvements will be small.

[donteatmemountainlion]

Exposure seems okay, though I'm somewhat of a novice. I used HC110.

What in the developing might cause the grain?

...and thanks a ton for all the assistance.

[donteatmemountainlion]

re: v700

at this point I'm just looking for a scanning solution, any solution. Imacon isn't necessary, but my hope is that I can use the scanner I have (the 1680) and save the purchase of a 700 for down the road. At this point all available funds need to go in to the camera, not the scanner. :)

[Bob Salomon]

Exposure seems okay, though I'm somewhat of a novice. I used HC110.

What in the developing might cause the grain?

...and thanks a ton for all the assistance.

The longer the film is wet the greater the grain that can result. So over developing, over washing, over pre-rinse, over fixing, can all result in greater grain.

[donteatmemountainlion]

Is that it? :)

Is it possible to examine the negative to see if the grain is there? or will it only really show up when scanned in detail?

[richardman]

Just look at it with a loupe. At a pinch, use your 50mm for the 35mm camera :-)

Spend the money to get the V700. Eat ramen for a month :-)

[donteatmemountainlion]

Will do.

I have one negative which I'd messed up and exposed to light...so the negative is totally black (at a cursory glance). So if it is totally lightstruck then it should be all black. I'll scan that, theoretically it should have no grain less what the film inherently has.

[donteatmemountainlion]

...and I'D happily eat ramen for the month, but I'm not sure my wife and kids would be so happy with that.

...well maybe the kids would, but not my wife :)

[Roger Thoms]

Definitely contact Rayko, if I recall the have a Imacon. Also try the Harvey Milk Photo Center, they have Epson scanners available for members use. Their membership rates are very reasonable.

Roger

[angusparker]

Rayko has Imacon and I think are reasonable plus you can do PP and huge inkjet prints right from the same desk. Epson v750 does a good job with MF, not as good as a dedicated MF scanner but good, if you shoot 4x5 it's a no brainer. Vuescan software makes scanning easy and effective.

[Bill Burk]

Darin Boville, whose gallery is on 92 at Half-Moon Bay, may be willing to work with you, he'd offered scanning opportunities at one point though there were no takers...

[donteatmemountainlion]

I'll check this out, it's very convenient.

And Rayko's flatbed rental seems a good place to start, I've been there many times and it is a great facility.

Again I just need to see if there is anything technically wrong with the 1680. If not that is good news and I can use that while I gather my equipment over time. If not one of the above seems a good option.

I took a look at my negative, used my digital camera to photo it and it does seem to have some grain in it. Would excess stop or fix cause this? Or just overdevelopment

Thanks, blown away at how helpful people on this forum have been!

David

Darin Boville, whose gallery is on 92 at Half-Moon Bay, may be willing to work with you, he'd offered scanning opportunities at one point though there were no takers...