Bought new Epson F-3200 transparent scanner...

[Bernard Languillier]

Dear all,

I have just purchased a new Epson F-3200 4*5 scanner as a (at least) temporary scanning solution.

The F-3200 is not available in the US/Europe yet, but should be very soon. It is completely different from the Epson 3200 flatbed scanner available for overseas markets.

It is a slide in type scanner able to scan up to 4*5.

The price in Japan is 52.000 Yen (less than 400 Euros), but it was annouced at more double the price in Europe.

I'll keep you updated regarding the quality of the scans vs the Coolscan 9000ED that I have been using for half a year for 6*45 scans.

Best regards,
Bernard

[Scott Rosenberg]

bernard...

i'm sure i'm not alone in saying that i'm anxiously awaiting your impressions of this new scanner.

[Ken Lee]

Does this scanner have glass holders, or do you scan right through the film directly ? Are there reviews of the output ? Does anyone know about the actual delivered resolution ?

[Kevin M Bourque]

Very hard to find info on this gadget....all the Epson sites I looked at are mum on the subject. Here's one link, anyway....


http://www.buy-n-shoot.com/newsroom/epson-04-10-19.asp

[Brian Kennedy]

I really want this scanner to be a good performer, but the fact that they are relying on Silverfast AI 6 to eliminate dust and scratches (rather than Digital ICE) is not a good sign. Still, if it smokes the 3200 flatbed, an F-3200 may be in my future. I am very interested to hear thoughts as people try these new scanners out.

[Bernard Languillier]

Gentlemen,

Some very first feedback:

- A glass holder is provided for 4*5. It has anti-newton glass on the bottom side, and just a plastic piece of the upper side that prevents the slide from moving. The holder is light compared to those of my Coolscan 9000, but seems rigid enough,

- The max theoretical resolution is 3200 DPI, but I could only select up to 2400 DPI at 24 bits, or 1200 DPI at 48 bits for 4*5 slides. Above those settings, an error message is displayed that the data is too large. I hope that this will be fixed in later versions of Epson scanning software. I intend to contact them asap on this issue (current version is 1.41J).

- I compared these 2 options, and the 24 bits 2400 DPI output didn't seem to have much higher definition but displayed clear posterization in near blown out areas. I ended up using the 48 bit 1200 DPI mode.

- The dust removal function seems to work decently from my first tests, but I will need to check more in depth.

- The pilot does currently not enable direct control on analog gain from what I could see. The scans came out overall more contrasty and darker than I expected. This is probably the sign of a low actual DMax. I found it difficult to both prevent highlight burn out and to keep details in the shadows. Overlap 2 scans with different luminosity settings in PS allowed me to extract quite a lot of information out of the image.

- The scanning of one 4*5 slide at 1200 DPI 48 bits is quite fast, I didn't really time it, but I would say around 2 minutes including post-processing.

- The pilot offers ICM support, but the TIFF images when opened in PS appear not to have any embedded profile. I will also contact Epson on this... In the worst case I'll create one with Monaco EZ color later on this week and will associate them in PS after opening the image. The default color appeared a bit washed out on my calibrated TFT screen.

- I put a small size sample of my first scan (of what happens to be the very first image I shot with my new Ebony by the way) online at http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/view?id=1372034

I know that the image is not that great.

I could email 100% crop samples to those interested later on this week.

My overall first impression is that the F-3200 has potential, but that this potential appears to be currently limited by a pilot which is not really fully ready yet. I hope that they can work on this to solve these issues.

Currently, the 4*5 images scanned at 1200 DPI appear to have a quality slightly inferior to those produced by my Kodak SLR/n... which is not really what I was expecting.

More news on this in the coming days.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Bernard Languillier]

Dear all,

I kept playing with the F-3200.

Everything I wrote above still holds except for the dark scans. I am now getting much better results by using the Driver colors instead or ICM + default Epson.

The colors seem resonnably accurate.

Overall, I feel that it is a very usable tool if you intent not to print larger than A3 or A3+.

Best regards,
Bernard

[Willem Numan]

Hello Bernard,

You seem to be the only resource on the world-wide-web who can tell us about the Epson F-3200.
Have you got any new results. Would it be possible to post a 100% image-part on your Photosig page so we can all see how sharp this scanner really is?

Greatings, Willem

[Bernard Languillier]

Hi Willem,

Wow, I wasn't aware of the achievement when I bought the scanner a few weeks ago... :-)

A few people contacted me that were also interested in seeing 100% crops of the scanner.

I will do my very best to send them some time next week (things have been a bit busy recently). Since I do also own a Coolscan 9000ED, I intend to also scan a few 6*45 Velvia with both scanners to provide a basis for comparison.

My current feeling about the F-3200 is that it is a capable machine which should provide scans usable up to A3 or A3+. I feel though that the Coolscan is ahead by a significant margin, and that the interest of shooting 4*5 for max image quality is kind of reduced if the scan becomes the limiting factor...

Anyway, that is just my call, and I am sure that you would prefer to be able to make up your own opinion, which is why I intend to make 100% crops available soon.

Best regards,
Bernard

[stefan_4883]

hallo bernhard, hallo all of you,

be patient with my poor english, but i will do my very best to let at least understand you what i'm looking for!
herre in munic nobody can give me detailed information on this film scanner f-3200!
what i urgently have to know is, if the machine is capable to scan 4 x 5 inches slides or negs without cropping to much.
some people here say, that it only works up to 9 x 12 centimeter, which would be a ko criterium for me.
please help me and the best wishes from the old world

stefan