Scanning 4x5: Buying an Epson Flatbed VS my current DSLR (5DII) VS Lab Scans

[Peter De Smidt]

Tom, my system, which is updated a bit from the video, gets about 3200 spi. Daniel has a D810. He gets over 4000 spi. Both figures are significantly more than an Epson, and they get about 1 stop more dynamic range. Using a pixel shift camera might cut down on the number of pictures needed. The best way to look at this is to think about the largest print you might make, and then work backwards to the needed resolution. There might also be a noise/dynamic range advantage to a pixel shift camera.

Alignment and vibration characteristics are extremely important at high magnifications. I cringe a bit when I see some copy stand setups.

What I like most about a digital camera system is the ability to fine-tune exposure.

[Tom Kershaw]

There are some comments in the article below that discuss possible problems with correct exposure with a camera system, eg. balance of red, green, blue etc. I'm not familiar with the author however and I suspect your system is more sophisticated.

https://smashandgrabphoto.wordpress....not-dslr-scan/

[sperdynamite]

Tom, my system, which is updated a bit from the video, gets about 3200 spi. Daniel has a D810. He gets over 4000 spi. Both figures are significantly more than an Epson, and they get about 1 stop more dynamic range. Using a pixel shift camera might cut down on the number of pictures needed. The best way to look at this is to think about the largest print you might make, and then work backwards to the needed resolution. There might also be a noise/dynamic range advantage to a pixel shift camera.

Alignment and vibration characteristics are extremely important at high magnifications. I cringe a bit when I see some copy stand setups.

What I like most about a digital camera system is the ability to fine-tune exposure.

This is a really great point that I agree with. Users should target their needed print size and shoot for that. I scan for 24" in the short dimension because I have a 24" printer. This means I can downsample from the 155mp files my S1R makes from 4x5 dimension images, which further cleans up the file, reduces the size, just basically makes everything a bit better. Sometime I'll send off some scans to a friend with a Tango and compare the two. I suspect the drum scan will be a bit better, but when matched to size I have my doubts that the differences will be significant.

[Peter De Smidt]

There are some comments in the article below that discuss possible problems with correct exposure with a camera system, eg. balance of red, green, blue etc. I'm not familiar with the author however and I suspect your system is more sophisticated.

https://smashandgrabphoto.wordpress....not-dslr-scan/

I just read through it quickly. It's not all that good. Most of the problems he mentions aren't that hard to solve, and some of them apply to many scanners, including dedicated film scanners. I had a Nikon Coolscan V. It was impossible to keep the film perfectly flat. I do that with no problem with my digital camera scanner. Light sources....we're at a huge advantage, as our sources don't have to be incredibly cheap and easy to make, and they don't have to resort to "calibration" for usability. My first scanner had an RGB controllable light source. So much for not being able to control the red, green and blue channels independently.

[europanorama]

Thanks everyone.

I already own a v500 for scanning 120 film. I used to own a Nikon Coolscan 8000ED but it broke and repair cost was too high. I sold it "as is" years ago to someone who was going to try a painstaking DIY fix.

I'm going to go Epson 4990 route w/ Betterscanning 4x5 film holder. Thanks again!

get 850 altogether. have 4990.

[Tom Kershaw]

I just read through it quickly. It's not all that good. Most of the problems he mentions aren't that hard to solve, and some of them apply to many scanners, including dedicated film scanners. I had a Nikon Coolscan V. It was impossible to keep the film perfectly flat. I do that with no problem with my digital camera scanner. Light sources....we're at a huge advantage, as our sources don't have to be incredibly cheap and easy to make, and they don't have to resort to "calibration" for usability. My first scanner had an RGB controllable light source. So much for not being able to control the red, green and blue channels independently.

Peter, those are some good points. He doesn't seem to back up the assertions made - although from a quick read through I thought he was discussing exposure more than light source.

[Peter De Smidt]

Peter, those are some good points. He doesn't seem to back up the assertions made - although from a quick read through I thought he was discussing exposure more than light source.

You can affect exposure through varying the intensity of the light source. With an RGB light source, you can do that for each channel. The idea is similar to the old Philips PCS2000 and PCS150 additive rgb light sources.

[Tom Kershaw]

I'm not sure how the approach of using something like the Kaiser Panolight compares as a light source - these seem to have adjustable intensity. http://www.kaiser-fototechnik.de/en/.../1_1_plano.asp

Thanks for the info re the additive rgb enlargers, I've never seen one in 'real life'

Tom

[Peter De Smidt]

I scan 99% black and white. For my latest scanner, an 8x10 version, I use an LED panel, a Pixel P50. It is adjustable on the blue/yellow axis, but that's not something I change when scanning.

[sanking]

I am using a Kaiser light panel with the Sony a7r iv, scanning in 16 shot pixel shift mode. Just completed a project of digitizing some 90-100 5X7 Tr-X negatives I made in 1994 in a two week stay in the region of the "pueblos blancos" of Spain, in Andalucia south of Sevilla. Before beginning the scanning project I compared image quality in comparison scans with the Epson V700 and Howtek 7500. The scans with the Sony a7r iv were much better than with the V700, but quite a bit below the image quality of the drum scanner. But even with image processing the work with the a7r iv took only about 1/20 of the time I would have needed to drum scan this many 5X7 negatives.

Attached is a sample image. I have 12-15 similar images of which I plan to make a small portfolio, first with carbon inkjet, later perhaps in carbon transfer. Long in coming, but still exciting after all this time.
I have calculated the image files from the 5X7 negatives with 16 shot pixel shift are giving me approximately 2000 dpi of useful information.

Sandy