What Scanner Are You Using

Ian-Barber

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I am using the Epson V800 and better Scanning Holder for my Medium Format negatives and for the few 5x4 negatives I have, I use a combination of the film holder supplied with the scanner and also use the wet mounting process.

For the software, I alternate between Vue Scan and Silverfast AI Studio.

Just curious as to what combination others use.
 
I use an Epson V550 and the standard software to scan each sheet in halves, and then use photoshop CS5 to stitch the halves together. Works well for me!
 
Do you use this method just for proofing or do you use the hybrid workflow right after the developing through to print

I use this method of scanning to get the final image. Basically, my usual workflow is to develop the sheets, then scan each sheet in two halves with the negative flat against the glass. I then use PS CS5 to stitch the two halves (seamlessly) together into a final image, which I then use for web use on my website/Flickr/Facebook/forums etc etc. I have yet to print any LF photos but I would use this same file to digitally print from, as Photoshop does such a good job of matching the two halves.
 
I've worked my way up through the Epson flatbeds, and now have a V850 with the fluid mount adapter - although I haven't done any scanning since getting the adapter. The vast majority of my scans are from the Epson 3200 (I think) and V700 scanners. I also have a Plustek 120 film scanner which makes a better job of 120 film than the Epsons. Even so, one of the earliest Epson scanners gave me a scan from a 6x7 negative that prints well at A3 and reveals extra detail under a lens on the print, which is good enough for me.

Tucked away is a Nikon Coolscan scanner, a very early SCSI model which didn't give very good results in my hands at least with 35mm Kodachrome.

I tried the EpsonScan and Silverfast software that came with my earlier scanners, but switched to VueScan as both easier to use and allowing me to save the raw film from the scanner, which is a great time saver if I want to try different scan settings without having to rescan. At the time I made the switch, my 512 mb RAM Windows 2000 computer took 4 hours to scan a 5x4 negative; and if after 4 hours I found that the settings gave an abysmal scan... Well, I wasn't happy. VueScan cut the four hours retry to more like 10 seconds.
 
Basically, my usual workflow is to develop the sheets, then scan each sheet in two halves with the negative flat against the glass.

Why do you scan in 2 halves, is this some form of restriction in the V550
 
Would this be the Nikon 9000ED model

Nothing so grand - if I recall correctly what the 9000ED is. It's 35mm only, maximum resolution about 2000 dpi; an LSII I think from memory, but I couldn't quickly spot it.

The restriction with the V550 as I recall is that the width of the scanning "strip" is designed to cover roll film and isn't large enough to get in a whole 5x4 sheet. The length is there, but not the width, requiring a two part scan.
 
I was wondering if it was something to do with a limitation of the size of negative it would allow.

Out of interest, have you ever had a 5x4 negative scanned in a drum scanner to see what detail they can extract
 
As Stephen has said it's because the V550 is designed to scan 35mm and 120 film, so it can't cover an entire 5x4 negative in one go.

I guess if you *really* wanted to, you could scan 8x10's on it as well but it would take you ages to scan it in multiple sections and it would be like trying to Photoshop a jigsaw together afterwards haha :D
 
Out of interest, have you ever had a 5x4 negative scanned in a drum scanner to see what detail they can extract

I haven't no, but then I don't think I've ever taken a LF photo where it's worth the cost of a dum scan! I'd be interested in seeing a comparrison between a flatbed and a drum scan mind, so I would get one done, but I need to take a photo which is worth it first :)
 
I've never had a large format scan done for me, so I can't comment from personal experience. There was an interesting article in Professional Imagemaker a long time ago where Paul Gallagher (black and white 5x4 landscape photographer - at the time) and Mike McNamee made comparisions between the Epson V750 and a Flextite scanner. The conclusion was that the Flextite did give sharper scans (but software could compensate) and did find a little more detail. The downside of the upside was that grain became visible in the skies, and Paul preferred the V750 scans for that reason.

I do have some negatives that it would be worth getting scanned - but as a pessimist the thought at the back of my mind is that this implies putting my most valuable negatives at the mercy of the postal system twice.
 
Indeed he does; and I spoke to him at The Photography Show about it. If I take the plunge, that's where I'll go.
 
For large and medium format I use an Epson V700 and Silverfast albeit I have been using the Epson software to experiment with scanning B&W in color at 48bit. Is gives a use file but quite some latitude.

Most of my work is done with 35mm and for that I use a Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 with Silverfast software.
 
I have been using the Epson software to experiment with scanning B&W in color at 48bit

Although I haven't done any comparison testing, I have read that scanning in this mode and then using the Green channel does yield the best choice
 
I use the Epson V700 with the supplied film holder and software. I find that this combination gives me the required results to then murder the image in photoshop, lol.
 
I use an old Epson 1680 Pro with Better Scanning holder for medium format or wet mount directly on bed glass for LF, Silverfast Ai Studio to scan 16-bit linear, ColorPerfect plugin to convert linear scan to GG 2.2.
 
What advantages have you seen from using ColorPerfect Alan

The biggest advantage that I've seen is how much easier it is to retain a full dynamic range in the scan; basically, it works kind of like a raw converter. I always found normal scans from Silverfast Ai to reveal too much contrast--using the neg profiles produced even worse results--and Vuescan always provided a relatively flat scan. I had the additional problem with Vuescan in that my scanner has two distinct focus positions which Vuescan doesn't recognize. Therefore, Vuescan scans of MF film in holders were softer than they should be because the scanner wasn't focused properly at the film plane.

You can think of a linear scan as a raw file; it's a 1.0 gamma file with no TRC (tone response curve) applied. Since Silverfast Ai generates a linear TIFF file, I suppose you might be able to use something like Lightroom to process it. I've never tried it so cannot confirm.
 
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