Digital BW, The Print

Hi Jeff,
 
it is obviously correct that you give us unsharpened scans, yet I think the final evaluation should be done with the best you can get from each scan, and that involves sharpening.
The epson scans can take heavy sharpening, as this scanner's lack of sharpness almost eliminates grain, whereas both for Nikon and, to a lesser extent, drum scans grain becomes way too evident very soon.
Caveats:
1) I'm in no way saying that the final result is the same, but sure the Epson gets much nearer. Depending on how small a section this is of the actual image, the difference on the final print - for not too large prints - may be negligible.
2) Film is definitely an issue: if you shoot grainless film, the difference between the Epson and the other scanners can't probably be reduced that much through sharpening.
3) Advanced sharpening techniques are necessary. For example, a brutal USM of 400-1.2-0 on the epsonvsnikon image works for the girl's face, not for the sky, so you'd have to mask it or use edge sharpening or other techniques.
 
Alessandro
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: jsinger986 [mailto:jhsinger@...]
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 19:33
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] MF Scanners -- off topic


Another view thrown in the pot...

I have the Epson 3200 and I just bought the Minolta Dual Scan Pro.  For prints with 
my Epson 2200 I am happy with the Epson 3200 scanning 120 film (not for 35mm 
though).  But, my use is for stock where I want the best quality and OPTICAL 
sharpness for my scans.  Even though it may not make a difference in the final useage 
of the image, buyers look at sharpness as a factor when looking at scans of 
comporable images.  Most scans in quality stock agencies are done by professionals 
using drum scanners and film scanners at the least.

Here is a scan with a Nikon 8000 versus the Epson 3200.  This is a scan of a 120 neg 
and it is a 100% crop of the image as it came out of the scanner.  No sharpening on 
either.  I'll let you decide which is which, but to me its a clear difference:
http://www.jeffsingerphotography.com/quickview/nikonvsepson.jpg


I decided to buy the 3200 based on the review  at photo-i.co.uk.  I was impressed 
that there was not a significant difference between the 3200 and a drum scan ( a 
difference but not a huge one).  Well, i don't know where he got his drum scan done 
and on what scanner, but here is my drum scan versus 3200 scan and I see a huge 
difference (although as I said the difference will not show on a Epson 2200 print with 
a good application of sharpening).
http://www.jeffsingerphotography.com/quickview/drumvsepson.jpg

Of course, I wouldn't expect a $500 flatbed scanner to match a drum scan or even a 
film scan.  But, if sharpness is something that matters and your going beyond a 
13x13 print, this is something you may want to consider.  For me, I'm going to sell 
my 3200 and my Minolta should be here any day.

Jeff

----------------------------------------------------
Jeff Singer Photography
jeff@...
http://www.jeffsingerphotography.com


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, mfaphoto@o... wrote:
> The Epson 3200 delivers nice results. Probably not as good as film scanners, but 
good. Since there is probably a huge price difference, so get the 3200 and see how it 
works for your purposes. If you don't like it, sell it for almost what you paid and get 
the film scanner.
> 
> Russ
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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