Hello, all.
I would just like to say that this forum has moved me forward leaps and bounds (I hope) towards learning about large format image taking. I've been searching the archives six hours a day for the last week, while waiting for the first batch of film to arrive for my new (to me) Orbit 4x5.
While sitting at my desk and sighing over the fact that now I will have to buy a new scanner for all the 4x5 positives I will have, I noticed something odd. This is a bit of a story, so let me explain:
Three years ago I was shooting mainly 35mm slide so I bought the Epson 2450 scanner because it was inexpensive and I had heard good reviews about it. It performed admirably for the last three years until November, when I bought a Seagull TLR (I can hear the snickers out there...) because I wanted to experiment with 6x6 sizes.
being a little more financially solvent, I went out and bought a new Epson 4180 because it seemed the reviews were good and I still couldn't afford anything more. It has done a wonderful job with both 35mm and 6x6, so I gave the old scanner to my girlfriend.
Here's the kicker, and the question.
I just found in my desk drawer the black plastic masks that come with the scanners that you would place 35mm negative strips in(which I never used), and with that plastic carrier was another: with openings for what looks like 6x7 and 4x5in films. *duh
So my question I pose to anyone who has read through all this nonsense is this:
Did I waste $250 on a new scanner when the 2450 could have scanned MF if I had only looked around for the masks; and, does the 2450 indeed scan 4x5in positives; and, do I now have to go to my girlfriend begging for my old scanner back? I tried looking at the software for the 4180 scanner, and the largest I can select is 6x9cm, so I know the masks have to be from the older 2450.
Or, should I just say 'scr*w it' and build a dark room? (Like I have the space or the money for that...) Any responses to the capabilities of either of these scanners to work with LF film would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for all the free advice I've gleaned from all of you!
Paul
By the way, my first LF camera showed up three days ago and I still don't have any film for it! It's killing me, sitting and waiting for UPS. I feel all giddy as a school girl when I think about the size of the slides I'm gonna have!
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