I think from Ted's point of view (and my own), he is looking at the question from a large format standard of quality and how to maintain that standard of quality in scans through to large prints.
For instance one of the issues with prosumer flatbeds is shadow noise. With the new version of MultiScan in Silverfast it is possible to significantly increase shadow detail, dynamic range and depth and virtually curtail noise. HOWEVER on scanners like the Epson 750, 4990 etc. the tracking mechanisim is so sloppy that multi passes with these scanners create scan layers that are so far out of shape that the alignment program cannot quite bring them back into alignment full alignment. The result is some blurring in the direction of the scan. IE there is a trade off. A good drum scan has it all, great sharpness, dmax and dynamic range without the trade
offs. To maintain the Large Format quality that I have become accustomed to, I don't print above 16x20 with even a wet scan from a prosumer flatbed. Larger requires a drum scan. Others' standards may differ.
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