Film Scanners

"MWS" wrote in message

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

No, they are not good.

Stephan
..

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives, transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.

-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives, transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.

-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives, transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.

-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives, transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.

-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives, transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.

-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives, transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.

-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

Take a look at the BenQ 2720S new on Ebay. As the name implies, it’s a 2700dpi 35mm film/slide scanner that does an excellent job. I have one. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=27699 93749&category=3751

You should be able to pick one up for around $200.

Heres a review:
http://www.photoscientia.co.uk/Review.htm

A better performer, the 2740S, includes "Digital Ice" which removes scatches for about $100 more. I wish I had gone that route.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=27722 20052&category=3751

Both are excellent scanners for the money.

"theartist" wrote in message

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives, transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.
-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD)

and

up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional

output

if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

Me dear lad/lass… you’ve got something wrong somewhere.. so many duplicates… ?

Cheers…

JJ

theartist wrote in
news::

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives,
transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.

-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards
professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

You do go on so about it.

"Jay Jhabrix" wrote in message

"theartist" wrote in message

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives, transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.
-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD)

and

up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional

output

if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

Me dear lad/lass… you’ve got something wrong somewhere.. so many duplicates… ?

Not nice to make fun of sick people 😉
Parkinson makes your hands shake,you end up clicking "send" 7 times where you just wanted to click once!

I would not expect much from a scanner at under $200. If you are serious but still at the experimental stage, I would suggest looking on the www.ebay.com site for a used FILM scanner and see if there is something a generation or so old that you can use. If your system has a SCSI adapter, you can probably find a good Canon or Nikon for much cheaper than USB models sell for.

"MWS" wrote in message

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

theartist wrote:

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

OK if you don’t need more than 1800 ppi resolution.

TH

Excellent. I shall look into all of the suggestions made.

Thank you everyone.

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 10:59:05 GMT, (Tony H)
wrote:

theartist wrote:

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

OK if you don’t need more than 1800 ppi resolution.

TH

OK, just how do you get from a 3200 dpi scanner to 1800? 😉

—

Hecate

veni, vidi, relinqui

Hecate wrote:

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 10:59:05 GMT, (Tony H)
wrote:

theartist wrote:

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

OK if you don’t need more than 1800 ppi resolution.

TH

OK, just how do you get from a 3200 dpi scanner to 1800? 😉
—

The Epson 3200 CCD array gives a theoretical resolution of 3200 ppi, but the 3200 has fixed focus and has a diffuse lightsource (whereas proper film scanners have autofocus and collimated lightsources). The result is that the 3200 can’t achieve it’s full nominal resolution. Various users have measured it’s resolution and come up with results averaging around 1800 ppi.

The file produced by the 3200 is the right size for 3200 ppi, but the actual "optical" resolution achieved is significantly less than this. As a result 3200 scans from 35mm are much poorer than those achieved by quite modest spec film scanners. However, the 3200 (and its precursor, the 2450) gives good results from medium and large format films, and is very popular with MF & LF shooters for that reason.

There’s a very good Yahoo forum on the Epson 3200 and various web-sites which discuss the issue in great depth.

TH

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 13:13:31 GMT, (Tony H)
wrote:

Hecate wrote:

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 10:59:05 GMT, (Tony H)
wrote:

theartist wrote:

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

OK if you don’t need more than 1800 ppi resolution.

TH

OK, just how do you get from a 3200 dpi scanner to 1800? 😉
—

The Epson 3200 CCD array gives a theoretical resolution of 3200 ppi, but the 3200 has fixed focus and has a diffuse lightsource (whereas proper film scanners have autofocus and collimated lightsources). The result is that the 3200 can’t achieve it’s full nominal resolution. Various users have measured it’s resolution and come up with results averaging around 1800 ppi.

The file produced by the 3200 is the right size for 3200 ppi, but the actual "optical" resolution achieved is significantly less than this. As a result 3200 scans from 35mm are much poorer than those achieved by quite modest spec film scanners. However, the 3200 (and its precursor, the 2450) gives good results from medium and large format films, and is very popular with MF & LF shooters for that reason.
There’s a very good Yahoo forum on the Epson 3200 and various web-sites which discuss the issue in great depth.

Thanks. A lot of good information which is actually useful to me as in the New Year I’ll be in a position to either buy a digital camera or a film scanner. I was considering the Epson because it was cheaper and would allow me to purchase the digital camera as well. How3vcer, now I know better 🙂

—

Hecate

veni, vidi, relinqui

Slightly off-topic here but shouldn’t it be possible to use a slide projector and a digital camera to capture slides? The biggest obstacle I see is finding a clean surface to project onto.

Paul Furman wrote:

Slightly off-topic here but shouldn’t it be possible to use a slide projector and a digital camera to capture slides? The biggest obstacle I see is finding a clean surface to project onto.

Well I don’t know if this is definitive but one web site says no: http://www.rideau-info.com/genealogy/digital/copying.html "Slides – slides are a problem in that you cannot use most digital cameras effectively to take digital photographs of slides. Part of the problem is the quality of slide copying equipment required for use with a digital camera, and the general lack of dynamic range that most digital cameras offers (which increases contrast in the digital copy of the slide). The best method is to use a high resolution film/slide scanner."

Here’s a cheap add-on for a Nikkon Coolpix:
< http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:1KfQ_UMPW_YJ:www.camera hobby.com/Digital-CheapScan.htm+capture+slides+with+digital+ camera&hl=en&ie=UTF-8>

And another "better" one that may need various parts to work depending on your camera, maybe around $100:
http://www.photosolve.com/main/product/xtendaslide/index.htm l They say 1000dpi depending on the camera. If a slide is about an inch across, that’s 1/2 the resolution of my 3MP Olympus that takes a 2048-pixel wide photo so it’s not very good.

Hecate …
..

Thanks. A lot of good information which is actually useful to me as in the New Year I’ll be in a position to either buy a digital camera or a film scanner. I was considering the Epson because it was cheaper and would allow me to purchase the digital camera as well. How3vcer, now I know better 🙂

But the New Year also brings the latest Epson flatbed the 4870 which is advertised as a 4800dpi scanner. Who knows it may be the equivalent of a 2400dpi or better film scanner, which makes it very interesting for medium format scans. I still wouldn’t use one for 35mm in preference to a film scanner though. It has 3.8dmax which Epson say, in fact stress, is actual. No price as yet but it’s touted as being less than £400, available from February. I’m buying one …. but not the first one 🙂
see http://www.photo-i.co.uk/index.html
Which digital camera has caught your eye? ALL the DSLRs keep catching my damned eye, I’m so confused, so confused in fact that I keep buying film cameras. (Two this month plus an extra film back and I’m also looking at a new freezer**)

Brian
(the other one)
** To store the film in so I at least get to use the cameras for a year or two!

(mono) wrote:

But the New Year also brings the latest Epson flatbed the 4870 which is advertised as a 4800dpi scanner. Who knows it may be the equivalent of a 2400dpi or better film scanner, which makes it very interesting for medium format scans.

There have been some reports from Japan that suggest that the 4870 resolution improvements over the 3200 are marginal, suggesting they haven’t improved the optics. But, as you say, still of great interest to MF users.

TH

On 14 Dec 2003 03:41:41 -0800, (mono) wrote:

Which digital camera has caught your eye? ALL the DSLRs keep catching my damned eye, I’m so confused, so confused in fact that I keep buying film cameras. (Two this month plus an extra film back and I’m also looking at a new freezer**)

Well, given that film still has a larger pixel count than anything that’s affordable 😉 I’,m still in two minds about it. However, as I don’t want to have to change systems the two I’m looking at are the Canon 300D and the 10D. Of course, what I’d really like is the 1Ds, but like I say, they do have to be affordable. 😉

—

Hecate

veni, vidi, relinqui

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 20:08:05 -0800, Paul Furman
wrote:

They say 1000dpi depending on the camera. If a slide is about an inch across, that’s 1/2 the resolution of my 3MP Olympus that takes a 2048-pixel wide photo so it’s not very good.

I think you just answered your original question … 😉

—

Hecate

veni, vidi, relinqui

Shooting a slide projector image oughta work though. Except what they said about increasing contrast.

Hecate wrote:

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 20:08:05 -0800, Paul Furman
wrote:

They say 1000dpi depending on the camera. If a slide is about an inch across, that’s 1/2 the resolution of my 3MP Olympus that takes a 2048-pixel wide photo so it’s not very good.

I think you just answered your original question … 😉
—

Hecate

veni, vidi, relinqui

On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 17:46:15 -0800, Paul Furman
wrote:

Shooting a slide projector image oughta work though. Except what they said about increasing contrast.

It’ll work. Most things will work. It just won’t be very good. 🙂

—

Hecate

veni, vidi, relinqui

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:13:55 -0600, theartist
wrote:

I’d look into an Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Pro.

I’ve got one at home, and at work. It scans negatives, transparencies, and slides. Depending on what you’re doing, it might be just the thing. Ask for a demo at your local store that’s what impressed me.
-theartist

MWS wrote:

I’ve seen film scanners (Visioneer & HP) at warehouse stores for around $80(USD). Are these any good? I assumed they sold for around $300(USD) and up.

Initially, usage would be personal with an eye towards professional output if I like what I’m doing with it.

Thanks.

I’ve had too much bad luck with Epson "Perfection" scanners to recommend them, at least unless you’re willing to buy a 3-year extended warranty (not such a bad idea for scanners IMHO). Mine have had a tendancy to develop bad CCD elements over time, and once that 1-year mfr warranty runs out, that’s it for the scanner.

I’ve played with scanning negatives a bit, and just from what I foun the amount of scratches are incredible, granted I didnt develop th film by hand and was the only person to handle the negs but it sur seems like anything you take out of the front of a picture pack ha been rubbed all over the floor!

I thought it was my scanner… a friend of mine bought some $50 scanner (this was about a year ago) so I don know what level of scanne it is by todays standards, but the results with his weren’t much bette than what I was already seeing with mine.

I suppose I was maybe scanning at too high of a resolution and pickin up too much garbage. At any rate, for my hobby purposes, that novelt wore off pretty quick

supchak
———————————————————— ———– Posted via http://www.forum4designers.co
———————————————————— ———– View this thread: http://www.forum4designers.com/message19835.htm

"supchaka" wrote>

I’ve played with scanning negatives a bit, and just from what I found the amount of scratches are incredible, granted I didnt develop the film by hand and was the only person to handle the negs but it sure seems like anything you take out of the front of a picture pack has been rubbed all over the floor!

I thought it was my scanner… a friend of mine bought some $500 scanner (this was about a year ago) so I don know what level of scanner it is by todays standards, but the results with his weren’t much better than what I was already seeing with mine.

I suppose I was maybe scanning at too high of a resolution and picking up too much garbage. At any rate, for my hobby purposes, that novelty wore off pretty quick.

I have an old Nikon 2000 with digital ICE that does a rather nice job of removing most artifacts. If I were to turn it off (ICE) I’d been repairing said artifacts for an hour or more. To me it would seem worth the extra dollars if you do any kind of volume at all.

~Dr.J