Digital BW, The Print

FYI ­ Calumet in Drummond St, London, has a workstation you can rent by the
hour with an Imacon 848 and Nikon 8000 attached.  I did not get the chance
to try the 8000 but did do some 120 film scans at 4000ppi on the 848.  I can
only say that the 1 hour session restored my faith in the notion of scanning
film.  The scans were amazing, sharp and plenty of depth in the shadows!  I
can further say that anyone who thinks the Epson 2450 (and perhaps the 3200)
is a great scanner is indeed seriously misinformed.  That does not mean that
it isn¹t GOOD VALUE FOR THE MONEY but in assessing a piece of equipment I
believe that one should score it technically first ­ without regard to its
cost ­ to determine its ³quality level² and then, and only then, compare it
to other LIKE QUALITY equipment with regard to price.  Anyone, with
reference to their own budget etc, can then determine whether they are
prepared to pay x more for y more quality.  Too often, however, this is
muddled into an answer when someone asks ³how good is equipment x?².   If,
say, the best drum scanner scores 100/100, the 848 scores 95/100, the Nikon
8000 75/100 and the 2450/3200 20/100, I at least know on a relative basis
what I get in terms of quality for the cost difference between each and can
decide accordingly.

Cheers

Steve


From: "jsinger986" <jhsinger@...>
Reply-To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 17:33:08 -0000
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@jeffsingerphotography.com
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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