Digital BW, The Print

> >One warning regarding XP: if you use an Agfa parallel port device be
> >prepared to chuck it in the garbage bin, Agfa has made the corporate
> >decission to abandon all support for its parallel port devices so
> >there are never going to be any new drivers... I have vowed never to
> >ever buy another Agfa digital device, but am using it as an excuse to
> >purchase the very cool new Epson Perfection 2450 (transparencies up
> >to 4x9" at 2400 dpi for under $400!).
> >
> >mark
>
>FYI:
>
>At 3:47 PM +0000 10/30/01, Steven Chambers wrote: [snip]

Since I posted Steven Chambers' e-mail I've seen Colin Conway's 
e-mail (quoted below) on the Epson scanners.


At 3:19 PM +0200 12/17/01, Colin Conway wrote:
>Delivered-To: samcc@...
>Subject: RE: Epson 2450 Scanner
>Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 15:19:11 +0200
>Thread-Topic: RE: Epson 2450 Scanner
>Thread-Index: AcGG+VjV4/Um+Z1uRke9b8T0ceR06wAA/jJg
>From: "Colin Conway" <cconway@...>
>To: <scan@...>
>Sender: owner-scan@...
>Reply-To: scan@...
>
>
>		Hi,
>
>		Through contacts made on this list and others I had a
>645 XP2 negative scanned for me, using Vuescan in each case, on a
>1680Pro and on an Epson 2450 Photo and digital files sent to me on CD.
>This was a portrait of a young woman wearing a black flock dress - lots
>of shadow detail.  I have 5"x4" wet darkroom experience but am new to
>digital photography and struggling up the learning mountain.  I have the
>Nikon 4000 film scanner and need a flatbed for MF and LF.  (I didn't
>know the Minolta was on its way when I bought the Nikon!)
>		I have printed selected enlargements of these
>unmanipulated scans on A4 paper equivalent to A3 size.  I could discern
>no difference in sharpness on Epson Premium Photo Glossy but there were
>ugly artifacts in the shadows on both..
>		I manipulated the scans using PS curves to make them as
>close to each other as I could and printed on Epson heavy weight matt.
>Again no sharpness difference that I could see.  Tonality in the shadows
>may be about the same - I did not get the same characteristics exactly
>(I'm a beginner remember) but it is a bit like trying to get an image of
>a subject on the same film type, one for printing in a diffuser and the
>other on a condenser enlarger using the same paper and grade, which I
>believe can be done.
>		I sharpened both to different extents using auto modes
>with EdgeSharpener Pro from www.fredmiranda.com on HWM and, to me at A3,
>they are acceptably sharp, but not bitingly so as I would expect from a
>silver print on glossy, without going over the top.
>		My new found friend from the 'Piezo' group sent me an
>unsharpened piezo image about 10' by 8 "from a slightly manipulated
>print on Photorag.  There were no artifacts, a lovely print, which would
>benefit from a only a little sharpening.
>		I did not ask for colour (neg or slide) tests.  However
>I used my office Primax Colorado 1200 - a 600 dpi budget machine to scan
>a 5" x 4" transparency with a light box on top as source.  I got
>acceptable colour from this - amazing!.  I have also printed Photos 10
>and 12 from http://www.myalbum.ne.jp/cgi-bin/a_menu?id=fa268931  which
>used the Canon 2400 and the Nikon 4000.  I was able to get close colour
>representation one with another, so I doubt that the Epson 2450 Photo
>will fare worse.
>		You might like to check out
>http://www.virtualtraveller.org/epson2450.htm.  In this context the neg
>was in the holder for the 1680Pro which, presumably was how it was
>designed, and on the glass for the 1240 Photo.  If the neg is sharper on
>the glass for the 1680 pro, that would make a difference.
>		In any event, I am buy the 2450 (I am told it will be in
>the store today or tomorrow) - as an amateur, I cannot justify the extra
>expense of the 1680 - if it is indeed justifiable.
>		In the US - I live in Greece - the 2450 comes bundled
>with Silverfast SE and, I think, the 1680 pro with the full version: if
>this checks out the cost difference may be less substantial.  Here,
>neither is bundled as far as I know.  The 2450 costs about $400 in the
>US and here about $510.  QUESTION So do I buy Silverfast (full or SE) or
>Vuescan?  Any advice, from anywhere on the relative advantages of the
>three, would be welcome.
>
>		I hope this helps you and others.
		Colin Conway