Pere,

I used to always get my stuff drum scanned if it was used for a commercial project (brochure).
It was the gold standard. Now there are so many options.
I started to shoot more 5x7 since I had the back & it's so much fun to scan.
The bigger the neg, the easier I find it is.
The larger negs sit better & flatter for me also.
120 film is harder on the epson.
I tried dslr scanning but like the workflow better with the epson

Quote Originally Posted by Pere Casals View Post
Serge, in general a expensive drum (or other Pro systems) does an image optimization than even removes some blur from the capture itself, you may see the scan sharper than it is in the negative itself, seen with a magnifier, also it manages amazing contrast and color enhancings.

The EPSONs are not Pro, they are prosumer perhaps. They lack that automation level.

Automatic sharpening has to be made with very intelligent algorithms, because depending on the gray level (and etc) there is a need to adjust the settings (strength, radious, etc...) locally to shapen a lot without producing overshots (and etc...).

An EPSON is not as smart, it always delivers a rawer output. This is not necessarily a practical shortcoming: if we want to do our own job in the edition then we may prefer the rawest possible image.

Absolutely there is no doubt than a drum is an amazingly superior machine than any Flatbed, but if we can only pay a 2000dpi drum scan for a 8x10 sheet (see price for higher dpi !!!), and the medium has no extreme densities...

Drum scanners have a tought competition, in one side dedicated roll film scanners make a good job, in the other side flatbed scanners do a good enough job for LF, remarkably the V850 for 8x10, with no wet mounting need...

This places the drums in a narrow niche, they are spared for cases with extreme high densities, and when we have a technically perfect shot and wanting to extract all information from it.

As (member) Ken Lee noted several times, it's cheaper, higher Q and faster to shot 5x7 and scanning with an EPSON than shooting 4x5 and drum scanning, (if no dense velvia in the middle, of course...)

In the scanning/edition the weakest link is the operator...