Digital BW, The Print

At 09:46 AM 4/19/03 +1200, you wrote:
>Hi,
>I am shooting 35mm and am hoping to also start medium format shortly.
>
>The thing is, I only have an Epson 1660 - and no printer yet. Obviously, 
>my present scanner is of little use beyond my web site for 35mm and I'm 
>going to have to upgrade, prior to my next investments, hopefully a Mamiya 
>TLR and an Epson 1160 or 1290 printer.
>
>For financial reasons, I can't see any other option for a scanner that 
>will do everything (a Nikon is way out of my price-range) - but how 
>adequate have people found the 3200 for 35mm BW negs? What size can it 
>print to with sharpness?
>
>It's probably hobson's choice anyway, as I can't see any other machine 
>being in my price range.
>
>Just thought I'd ask, anyway - sorry it it's been discussed before.
>
>thanks,
>Richard
>
>    mailto:r.smallfield@...
>    http://photos.smallfield.vze.com
>    http://smallfield.vze.com
>
>    "Fall seven times, stand up eight."
>    --Japanese Proverb

Richard,

I have a review of the E2450 on my web page.  This is a draft of a review 
for the E3200.  Run, don't walk to buy one!

The Epson 3200 Photo scanner.

I scanned some of the same pictures I used to test the Epson 2450 scanner 
with the new Epson 3200 Photo scanner.  The scanner and Silverfast software 
combination are excellent and should compare favorably with dedicated film 
scanners. The objective for panoramic films, is of course, to achieve high 
resolution scans of long negatives.

At its claimed 3200 DPI optical scan it outputs a 6-1/4 in long 35mm image 
to 8-1/2 x 57 inches at 350DPI.without interpolation.  Quad-tone black and 
white prints which rendered quite well scanned with the E2450 are 
noticeably improved.   A notable improvement was that the higher resolution 
scan renders small, contrasty details better. Credit is due the bundled 
Silverfast 6.0 SE software which nails the exposure and color balance very 
well on "auto" mode and allows fine  adjustments when needed.  The auto 
sharpening is very good for pictures that require the same sharpness over-all.

Simply put, the improvement over the E2450 is similar to the difference 
between 35mm film prints and 120 film prints.  What a gift!


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The Lookaround Book.
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