Best scanner for 4x5 negatives

[Darron Spohn]

900 dpi is fine is all you want is a 4x5 print. You need higher resolutions to make larger prints, hence the popularity of the Tango drum scanner at service bureaus. The Imacon is a good scanner for the price but will not give you as good a scan as the Tango. You do get what you pay for here.

The reason you need more than 900 dpi on the original scan is so you can resize the image in PhotoShop. This in itself will get rid of some problems such as dust, and also improves the grain. The Tango also has the advantage of higher dMax, giving you better highlight and shadow detail. Another advantage is that the oils used to coat the negative or slide effectively remove scratches when scanning.

For serious work you need to start with the best possible scan. As much as I like my Umax PowerLook III it is only a proofing device. My best images go to West Coast Imaging for drum scanning. They know what they're doing.

[Carlos Co]

J Normal, yes, the Microtek Scanmaker 5 sells for $2200 at B&H, however, the ScanMaker 4 sells for only $700 and has 600x1200 optical resolution and DMax of 3.4 which is probably adequate for John's needs.

[John Sarsgard]

Many thanks to everyone for the great input. As to output...I am going to try Dan Burkholder's approach of sending a Photoshop EPS file to a service bureau with an imagesetter...normally used for making negs to burn plates for printing. Using this process, the results I have seen at 300dpi at the final neg size look great. You can't tell the neg is digital without a loupe. If you've seen Brooks Jensen's prints sold via Lenswork (lenswork.com) this is how he does it...contact print from imagesetter negative. Now...can anyone help me understand a little better why I need a scan on a much more expensive machine as long as a basic flatbed will scan a 4x5 neg at the required resolution? I surely don't want to buy a scanner that will not be good enough. Aiming for quality as good as wet darkroom here. Thanks!

[Darron Spohn]

Garbage-in-garbage-out.

Even the LightJet 500 prints at only 300 dpi. You need to scan for the final output size. (11x300)x(14x300)=3300x4200 pixels for an 11x14 print. Now divide the output pixels by the original size (4x5) to determine your scanning requirement: 825x840.

However, counting pixels is sort of like looking at a car's engine to determine its horsepower. Not all engines are created equal. A Ferrari with a 3.5 liter engine may have more power than a Corvette with a 6 liter engine.

A drum scan at 5,000 dpi would be overkill for an 11x14 print from a 4x5 original. However, if you scan your 4x5 at 900 dpi on a Tango and scan the same original on the Flextight Imacon at 900 dpi you will see differences between the two when you open them in PhotoShop.

The drum scanner will give you better highlight and shadow detail, and have less noise in the scanned image. You start with a better scan and you get better output. If you are after darkroom quality you need to start with a drum scan. Nothing else will match it, especially not a flatbed scanner.

If you want 11x14 output you should start with a minimum 1800 dpi scan of your 4x5 so you can scale it down in Photoshop. Starting with a larger scan and scaling it down will sharpen the image and remove some artifacts. (Always work on a copy of the original scan so you can go back if you ruin it.)

If your requirements were not as stringent a cheaper scanner would do.

[Jon Miller]

Hi

The duoscan 2500 can scan a 4x5 positive or negative at 2500 x 2500 dpi (optical). You should be able to get a 10000 x 12500 pixel (48bit) image from a scan. The price is around $3,800.00 at www.precision-camera.com (No I dont work there)

Bye

[John Maitland Graves, Pest & Gadfly]

I have had a Scanmaker 4 for a while and I must say that it has been an excellent performer. It is used for B&W 4x5 negatives scanned in RGB than concerted to B&W. The results are quite fine for making large coffee table sized portfolio/books. (Images up 16x20 are pretty big for something you hold!) Beautiful imagery printed with a good printer on fine paper like arches is as lovely if not more so than the finest publications (a 24" HP 800PS, as soon as they have archival UV inks for it) Too many people get all hung up on technical things and often confuse the possession of expensive doodads with talent. Scanning a 4x5 at 1200 dpi will give you a lovely 16x20 at 300 dpi (28.8 mega- pixels!) You could a great scan and a rotten printer. I'm putting my money into the printer! As the originator I have license to fiddle with the file!

I is easy to solve a problem with lots of money. The trick is to do it with economy.