Digital BW, The Print

Neil,
I've had pretty good luck scanning 4x5s with an Epson 1680 Pro. I've
tried a variety of ways to do this including oil mounting (to messy) and
have wound up using a piece of anti-newton ring glass to hold the negs
flat on the bed. I had access to an Imacon 848 for a week and found it
to be far superior in sharpness to my Epson. That said, if one is
careful, very nice inkjet prints can be made with a flatbed scan.
There's just less wiggle room\ufffdread up on all the different sharpening techniques.
One piece of advice: I'd buy the scanner locally if possible (so you can
exchange it easily if need be) and give it a thorough work out as soon
as you get it. They seem as idiosyncratic as camera lenses in terms of
focus, etc.
Peter Lindman

Neil Cotty wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> Long time lurker, first time poster. <G> Sorry, this isn't totally
> on-topic
> but I hope someone can give me some good advice. I've recently moved
> countries, and I had to leave my darkroom behind. Instead I've set up
> a
> digital equivalent. LS4000/Epson 1290/Quads etc. I've been shooting
> 35mm as
> thats all I could really bring with me, but now I want to get back
> into 4x5.
> So to cut a long story short and now I've sourced a JOBO, I'm
> wondering
> whether or not I should just get an enlarger, or a flatbed scanner for
> the
> 4x5 stuff. Having never scanned 4x5 I don't know how it will work out
> on a
> flatbed or if it will really suffer using a flatbed - ? I can spend a
> pretty
> good whack on decent product, just nowhere in the range of a 4x5
> slidescanner unfortunately. Any suggestions? Should I not consider
> scanning
> at all if I have to go to a flatbed?
> 
> Cheers,
> Neil
> 
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