Howtek 8000 Drum vs. Epson V850 flatbed scanners

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Originally Posted by Pali K

Are we there yet? :)

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Nope

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Originally Posted by Corran

Yes, that was precisely what I was pointing out. The statement earlier was "identical tonality" etc.
The "crop" was from the un-enlarged sample so not much to make out in resolution differences.

Anyway, I'll just point out here that none of the folks on the forum like me, Peter, Ari, etc. are getting rid of our high-end scanners...wonder why? Most users of the Epson here on the forum agree a 4x enlargement being about optimal. Alan has said he would "pay for a drum scan" if he wanted "the best" out of his negative. And Pali has said, he's not getting rid of his drum scanners (speaking of which, LOL Pali!). Meanwhile the person who has never used any of these devices wants to go round and round and round trying to justify the results as being "identical" after sharpening the ever living crap out of the scan. If he thinks it's "as good" then good for him. If its good enough for others, great. Some folks scan their film and never even print it, which is fine if that's what they are into. Personally I don't even print from scans often since about 2014, instead making silver gelatin prints.

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I am not gonna dump my drum scanner. Used v850 for long time now. It is good, but I don't want good, I want nirvana. Lol

I’ll continue my scanner comparison effort again as well when I know it’s safe to live life on the edge again :)

Alan, do want to thank you posting these examples. Very helpful images.

Pali

Your welcome. Glad they helped. When I get to it, I'll scan some 4x5 Velvia 50 chromes.

A similar picture taken nearby by with Velvia 50 4x5. Scanned with the Epson V850. No Howtek comparison - sorry.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c9f5de22_h.jpg
Craig House 3 by Alan Klein, on Flickr

Bumping this to say that in all of the threads I've gone through in forums near and wide while researching a potential V series purchase, this was one of the most illuminating. While I'd happily take a drum scanner if I had the pockets for it, I do think the sharpened drum images rival the base Epson scans for least desirable images in the thread, and I'm surprised no one pointed out that in sharpening methods #2 and #3 the images show clear color artifacts. The base scan obliterates the Epson equivalent, obviously, but I appreciate Pere's enthusiastic defense of the Epson's, and theirs is really the only voice I've come across that champions the operator's skill as not just being of great importance, but of an importance that, when executed correctly, can actually break the principles of visual reality. (Referring to the hard science Lachlan posted upthread.) Such enthusiasm needs to be taken with many grains of salt and weighed against the facts, but as annoying as it may have been for the drum scanners was as refreshing as it was for me.

It would seem likely to me that a venn diagram of those who could discern the differences between a drum scan and a thoughtfully edited Epson scan at smaller sizes, and those who own/operate drum scans, is a perfect circle. (One I wouldn't mind being in mind you!)

This is why I switched to macro+DSLR scanning ;)

Negafix in Silverfast is amazing, it has dedicated color inversions for each particular negative Brand/film mapping the scanned colors to a suposedly very good RA-4 interpretation. vidmate.app saveinsta