Epson V700 won't scan over 2400 dpi

[Bob McCarthy]

I don't have an answer for why the scanner would default to a lower resolution scan other than sometimes inadvertently a smaller scanning frame (marquis) is drawn when you are setting up the scan, and that is the scan frame that is active when the scan is made. A teeny, tiny, frame, with a teeny, tiny, resulting scan. Look to see if you are getting the entire image in your small scans, or just a part.

But, in response to Greg, she should be scanning at the highest optical resolution the scanner is capable of capturing. That would be 6400 SPI, which translates to a measured output resolution of 2000-2400 dpi by most people's reckoning. Those two terms are often used interchangeably, but are very different critters.

Scott (Rosenberg) and I did some scan tests comparing the output of an Epson scanner (4990 in this case) and his Screen Cezanne,

What we found was a flattening of the resolution curve with the Epson at about 2000 dpi whereas the cezanne continued to show improvement as requested resolution went up.

It effect it meant that at 600, 1200, and 1800 dpi the "resolution" of the scanners were very close - basically equivalent. Above that the cezanne started pulling away.

At the lower dpi settings there was no advantage to the Cezanne when it came to the resolution question. Above 2400 dpi there was no comparison.

What it meant to me, was scanning really large negatives (ie 8x10) was a totally viable process on the consumer scanner. Smaller negatives especially 35mm and medium format require a more capable scanner. 4x5 was on the cusp, the determinant was the final output (print) size

bob

[Paul Kierstead]

I don't think I've ever used Epson scan (and definitely not for trannies/negs), but my V700 happily scans at 6400 in vuescan. However

I know this, because at 2400 dpi, it takes about 2 hours to scan my 16 negatives

Sounds really wrong. My V700 isn't speedy, but is much, much faster then that. I strong suspect you machine has much too little RAM or the like, and it just woofing its cookies at higher dpi.

[venchka]

My most recent scanning adventure:

Epson Scan, 6 6x7 scans, 48 bits, 2400 whatever Y'all want to call them, 200Mb files. 20-30 minutes total. I was watching the Tour and didn't care how long it took. Absoulutely not 2 hours. Oh, an ancient Epson 1680 scanner.

It seems to me that 2 hours for less than 200Mb total (16 negs @ 9-13Mb ea.) is a really long time.

[Bob McCarthy]

I have just purchased an Epson V700 scanner, and I have successfully scanned in negatives and slides up to 2400 dpi ("color negatives" for negatives and "positive film" for slides, 24 bit), using the Epson Scan software in the Home mode. When I try to scan above 2400, it scans, but it is not at the dpi I choose. I know this, because at 2400 dpi, it takes about 2 hours to scan my 16 negatives, and the resulting images are between 9 and 13 Mb; however, when I scan at 3000 or above, it takes just 15 to 20 minutes to scan the same 16, and resulting images are only 1.5 to 3 Mb. Can you tell me what I need to do in order to successfully scan negatives / slides in 3000 or higher (anything higher than 2400) dpi ? I have tried both the Home mode and the Professional Mode, both with and without thumbnail preview. Thank you for your help !

Elizabeth,

can you give more of the particulars, I'm assuming 35mm, but even at 8 bit those are tiny files.

Based on file size, you might be outputting jpegs.

You numbers are not making sense!

Other issues, are you scanning with ICE on? any other processing?

bob

[Keith S. Walklet]

As Paul said, an underpowered computer would slow things down, or a bottleneck in the path to or type of storage device. All my scanners operate more efficiently when hooked up to my faster machines.

[jim kitchen]

Dear Elizabeth,

Your computer needs more RAM...

Epson defaults to a lower file size if the RAM is not present.

jim k

[PenGun]

Try Vuescan it is quite a different approach and may work better with your machine.

https://www.hamrick.com/

The ability to scan to .jpg may help a marginal machine.

I have used nothing else since I acquired it. Great program.

[Elizabeth Cox]

Thank you all for your input here !!
I am scanning 35 mm and outputing to jpeg format.
I am not turning on ICE or any of those kinds of options - just asking for a straight scan.
I have checked the marquee to make sure it is picking up the whole slide..
I've tried Vuescan, and I wasn't sure about it either - Here's what I got: For one particular slide, when I scanned with Epson scan at 1600 dpi the resulting image was 2.9 Mg, at 2000 dpi the resulting image was 4.03 Mg, at 2400 dpi the resulting image was 5.35 Mg, and at 3000 dpi the resulting image was 713 Kb (which is over 2400 and is the part that I don't think is working right). When I scanned this same image in using Vuescan, at 1600 dpi the resulting image was 456 Kb, and at 3200 dpi the resulting image was 1.36 Mg. Those resulting image sizes using Vuescan didn't sound right... Am I missing something, though ?
It could be a memory issue. Do you know how I can confirm how much memory is on this computer without just knowing that fact ? And how much do you think I need here to go over 2400 dpi ?
Thanks again for all of your help here !!
Elizabeth

[Elizabeth Cox]

Oh ! I just found in the System Information that this PC seems to have 768 Mg of RAM.... Should that be enough, or is that potentially my problem ? By the way, on the weekend, I got my husband to bring home his work laptop, and we tried all this connected to his, with all the same results. I don't know what his RAM is. I'll have to find out. But with that in mind, I still wonder how much RAM we need...
One thing I have failed to mention is this: When I scan at 1600 or 2400 dpi (or a high resolution such as these, up to and including the 2400), Epson scan gives me the following warning: "When you scan with high resolution, the image size may be large or a long time may be required for scanning. Therefore, choose an appropriate resolution setting." I do not get that message when I kick off a scan at a higher resolution than 2400, so it's as if it is not planning to scan at high resolution when I kick off the scan...
Thanks again for brainstorming with me on this !!
Elizabeth

[PenGun]

That's not a lot of RAM. Should work though.

Lets see what ya got:

Hit the start button and type 'cmd' (no quotes) into the Run box.

You should get a command prompt, a window with a black background and white writing.

Type 'systeminfo' (no quotes) into that window. It will cogitate a bit then give you a bunch of stuff about your computer.

Right click on the command prompt window and select 'select all'. Do a Ctrl-c to copy that and paste it into the reply window here.