Epsion 4990 best resolution?

[Rider]

I finally got my new refurbished 4990 scanner from Epson. Thanks to those who recommended it--so far it seems like a great buy (I used my epsonsettlement funds to really bring down the price!).

From the couple of scans that I've done so far, I see an improvement going from 600 dpi to 1200 dpi, but going higher seems to yield bigger files without much more detail. Is this anyone else's experience? What do you do to get the utmost out of this printer. So far, I've only used Epson Scan, haven't tried the Silverfast SE that comes with it.

I wish I could edit the title. Epsion. Sheesh.

[Ron Marshall]

That is pretty much what I have found as well. I only print at max 13x19 at 360 dpi so 1200 is all that I need. When I plan to crop I will scan at 1600.

Up to 3x enlargement the results are great for the price.

[Ted Harris]

You should be able to scan at around 2000 spi and still see improvements; that is the approximate actual optical resolution of the scanner. Any more than that is overkill.

[Bob Jones]

Have you tried playing with the spacing of the neg above the glass? The Epsons I've used seem to come to best focus a millimeter or two above the glass.

[Chris Strobel]

You should be able to scan at around 2000 spi and still see improvements; that is the approximate actual optical resolution of the scanner. Any more than that is overkill.

Does anymore than that hurt anything or just waste space?

[Ted Harris]

just wastes space and takes longer

[audioexcels]

What is the consensus on the best Epson for wet-mounting every scan? In other words, take the three scanners: 4990/V700/V750, use the same software, and scan them using the wetmount method. Would one see a difference between any of these scanners?

[Rider]

Have you tried playing with the spacing of the neg above the glass? The Epsons I've used seem to come to best focus a millimeter or two above the glass.

I have only used the supplied holder. How do you change the spacing of the neg above the glass? Does this flatbed scanner focus, the way a dedicated film scanner does?

[sanking]

What is the consensus on the best Epson for wet-mounting every scan? In other words, take the three scanners: 4990/V700/V750, use the same software, and scan them using the wetmount method. Would one see a difference between any of these scanners?

I believe the consensus is that the difference in results one would see between these three scanners using a good wet-mount system would be quite small, assuming care is taken to place the material to be scanned at the best plane of focus. The V750 and V700 scan faster than the 4990 and give slighly better results, but you probably would not see the difference in scans of LF negatives printed at 2X-4X.

The Epson consumer scanners (4870, 4990, V700 and V750) do not focus. For that reason it is important to test and find the plane of best focus, which varies slightly with different scanners. Some of the wet mounting stations provide a mechanism which allows one to adjust the height of the station above the scanner glass to obtain optimum focus. Doug Fisher's mounting station has small plastic screws which can be turned to vary the distance of the station over the glass by several millimeters. Most people find that the optimum distance is 1mm - 3mm above the scaner glass. One could obtain similar adjustments by gluing or taping spacers (small washers, for example), to the bottom of the glass wet-mounting station.

You will also get best results if the negative or transparence to be scanned is wet-mounted to the bottom of the mounting station so that the light from the negative to the CCD passes only through the glass of the scaner itself, not through the glass of the mounting station.

Sandy King

[Ted Harris]

One more point on Sandy post ... not only does the plane of best focus vary by model it varies from individual machine to individual machine .. they are not manufactured to terribly tight tolerances.